ArticleThe journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences2021
Life Course Pathways From Childhood Socioeconomic Status to Later-Life Cognition: Evidence From the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study.
Article in The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
29 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Cognitive impairment and dementia-Are they linked to childhood health and socioeconomic status? A systematic review.PloS one · 2025Pooled it
- Monetary savings and neuropsychological functioning in older adults without dementia.Neuropsychology · 2026Article
- The double-burden of poverty on cognition hypothesis: a systematic review of the mechanisms of the effect of poverty in early life on the development and expression of cognition in adolescence and adulthood.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2026Review
- Is early childhood education associated with better midlife cognition, especially for children facing socioeconomic marginalization?PloS one · 2026Article
- Early-Life Parental Affection, Social Relationships in Adulthood, and Later-Life Cognitive Function.Journal of aging and health · 2026Article
- Early-life influences on the risk for later-life Alzheimer's and non-Alzheimer's dementia: A nearly full life course prospective cohort study.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2026Article
- Life-course socioeconomic trajectories and cognitive aging in Chinese middle-aged and older adults.Innovation in aging · 2026Article
- The impact of early childhood adversity on adult cognitive performance: The mediating roles of childhood cognitive ability and educational attainment.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2025Article
- ChatGPT-estimated occupational complexity predicts cognitive outcomes and cortical thickness above and beyond socioeconomic status among older adults.GeroScience · 2025Article
- Life course socioeconomic position and cognitive aging in later life: A scoping review.Advances in life course research · 2025Article
- Exploring longitudinal associations between social determinants of health during adolescence and self-reported contraceptive use in young adulthood in the United States.Preventive medicine reports · 2025Article
- Individual- and community-level social determinants of health are associated with cognition in older adults with focal epilepsy.Epilepsy & behavior : E&B · 2024Article
- Disparate benefits of higher childhood socioeconomic status on cognition in young adulthood by intersectional social positions.Advances in life course research · 2024Article
- The relationship between childhood socioeconomic status and depression level in older adults: the mediating role of adult socioeconomic status and subjective well-being.BMC geriatrics · 2024Article
- Participatory and Receptive Arts Engagement in Older Adults: Associations with Cognition Over a Seven-Year Period.Creativity research journal · 2024Article
- Early life manganese exposure and reported attention-related behaviors in Italian adolescents.Environmental epidemiology (Philadelphia, Pa.) · 2023Article
- Early learning difficulties, childhood stress, race, and risk of cognitive impairment among US adults over age 50: A cross-sectional analysis.Health science reports · 2023Article
- Education, Social Engagement, and Cognitive Function: A Cross-Lagged Panel Analysis.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2023Article
- Age, Individual Resources, and Perceived Expectations for Active Aging: General and Domain-Specific Effects.International journal of aging & human development · 2023Article
- The Power of Birth Cohorts to Study Risk Factors for Cognitive Impairment.Current neurology and neuroscience reports · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesA growing body of research indicates that older adults are at greater risk for poorer cognition if they experienced low socioeconomic status (SES) as children. Guided by life course epidemiology, this study aimed to advance understanding of processes through which childhood SES influences cognition decades later, with attention to the role of scholastic performance in adolescence and SES in midlife.
methodWe used data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS), which has followed a cohort of high school graduates since they were 18 years old in 1957. Childhood SES was measured prospectively in adolescence, and measures of memory and language/executive functioning were based on neurocognitive assessments at age 72. We used participants' scores on a statewide standardized test in high school as an indicator of scholastic performance in adolescence. The measure of SES in midlife included years of postsecondary education, income, and occupation status at age 53.
resultsFindings from structural equation models indicated that scholastic performance in adolescence and midlife status attainment together fully mediated associations between childhood SES and both memory and language/executive functioning at age 72. Adolescent scholastic performance was directly associated with later-life cognition, as well as indirectly through midlife status attainment. DISCUSSION: Findings provide support for both latency and social pathway processes when considering how SES in childhood influences later-life cognition. Results contribute to growing calls for social policies and programs to support optimal brain health at multiple phases throughout the life course, especially among individuals with lower SES as children.
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