ArticleSocial science & medicine (1982)2018
Childhood socioeconomic status and genetic risk for poorer cognition in later life.
Article in Social science & medicine (1982), 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Beneficial Effect of Societal Factors on APOE-ε2 and ε4 Carriers' Brain Health: A Systematic Review.The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences · 2024Pooled it
- Geographic Measures of Early Life-Course Social Exposome in the Evaluation of Structural Neuroanatomy: A Scoping Review.Biological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging · 2026Review
- Persistent financial adversity and cognitive aging: a life course investigation.Innovation in aging · 2026Article
- Association of Early Life Risk Factors and APOE ε4 With Incident Dementia: Evidence From 14 Years of U.S. Data.Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · 2025Article
- Early-Life Maternal Relationship Quality and Cognitive Function in Later Life: Mediating Role of Social Resources?The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2025Article
- Article
- Sex Differences for Social Determinants Associated with Lewy Body Dementia Onset and Diagnosis.Neuro-degenerative diseases · 2025Article
- Participatory and Receptive Arts Engagement in Older Adults: Associations with Cognition Over a Seven-Year Period.Creativity research journal · 2024Article
- Heterogenous trajectories in physical, mental and cognitive health among older Americans: Roles of genetics and life course contextual factors.SSM - population health · 2023Article
- Higher levels of neuroticism in older adults predict lower executive functioning across time: the mediating role of perceived stress.European journal of ageing · 2022Article
- Pathways From Early-Life SES to Dementia Risk in Old Age: The Role of Personality.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2022Article
- Effect of childhood proximity to lead mining on late life cognition.SSM - population health · 2022Article
- Using sibling models to unpack the relationship between education and cognitive functioning in later life.SSM - population health · 2022Article
- Life course linkages between enriching early-life activities and later life cognition: Evidence from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2022Article
- Using Mixture Modeling to Construct Subgroups of Cognitive Aging in the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2021Article
- The effects of education on cognition in older age: Evidence from genotyped Siblings.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2021Article
- Assessing Dementia Prevalence in the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study: Cohort Profile, Protocol, and Preliminary Findings.Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD · 2021Article
- Parental Education, Household Income, Race, and Children's Working Memory: Complexity of the Effects.Brain sciences · 2020Article
- The Neuroscience of Socioeconomic Inequality.Current opinion in behavioral sciences · 2020Article
- Association Between Episodic Memory and Genetic Risk Factors for Alzheimer's Disease in South Asians from the Longitudinal Aging Study in India-Diagnostic Assessment of Dementia (LASI-DAD).Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · 2020Article
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
The ε4 allele of the APOE gene is associated with poorer cognition in later life. This study aimed to advance understanding of how environments potentially moderate this genetic risk by focusing on childhood socioeconomic status (SES). Previous research across diverse national contexts has found that older adults from higher-SES families in childhood demonstrate better cognitive functioning than their lower-SES counterparts. Nevertheless, few studies have examined whether higher childhood SES might also promote later life cognition by mitigating the effects of ε4 carrier status. To address this gap, we used data from 3017 participants in the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, which has followed a random sample of people who graduated from Wisconsin high schools in 1957. Childhood SES included parents' educational attainment, father's occupational status, and household income in adolescence. We constructed measures of memory and of language/executive functioning using scores from neurocognitive tests administered when participants were approximately ages 65 and 72. APOE ε4 status was measured through saliva samples. Results from cross-controlled multilevel models indicated that APOE ε4 status-and not childhood SES-independently predicted memory, whereas childhood SES-and not APOE ε4 status-independently predicted language/executive functioning. Moreover, a statistical interaction between APOE ε4 status and childhood SES for memory indicated that at baseline, higher childhood SES protected against the risk of APOE ε4 status, whereas lower childhood SES exacerbated the risk of APOE ε4 status. However, by follow-up, these moderating effects dissipated, and APOE ε4 status alone was associated with memory. We interpret these results in light of theorizing on differential susceptibility for poorer cognition across the life course.
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