Childhood Socioeconomic Status and Cognitive Function in Later Life: Differences between Whites and Blacks

This study was aimed to examine the race/ethnicity differences in the longitudinal relationship between childhood socioeconomic status (SES) and cognitive function among U.S. older adults longitudinally. Using a nationally representative longitudinal sample from the 1998 to 2010 Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a total of 7,710 non-Hispanic whites and 1,137 non-Hispanic blacks were analyzed separately. Cognitive status and change in cognition were examined over 12 years using growth curve models. The results showed that the association between individual childhood SES factor and cognitive function differed by race/ethnicity. The effects of childhood SES factors on cognitive function were mostly mediated among blacks when adult SES factors were controlled. The association between cumulative SES and cognitive function was significantly different by race/ethnicity. Findings show that individual childhood SES indicators have different impacts on cognitive function longitudinally by each race/ethnicity, and there still remains a lot of heterogeneity.