ArticleThe journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences2021
Multigenerational Households During Childhood and Trajectories of Cognitive Functioning Among U.S. Older Adults.
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 18 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
18 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
- Multigenerational Coresidence and Psychological Distress during Adolescence and Young Adulthood: An Exploration among White, Black, and Hispanic Individuals.Journal of health and social behavior · 2026Article
- Rethinking parenting: A function-based framework for understanding caregiving across contexts.Developmental psychology · 2026Article
- Predicting low premorbid cognitive ability with social determinants: A machine learning approach.JAR life · 2026Article
- Article
- Household Environments and Cognitive Decline Among Middle-Aged and Older Adults in China: Exploring Gender, Age, and Residential Variations.International journal of aging & human development · 2025Article
- Linking the 1940 U.S. Census to the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project: Novel Opportunity to Understand the Effects of Early-Life Residential Environment on Cognitive Aging.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2025Article
- Does Religion Mitigate the Effect of Neighborhood Disorder on Cognitive Decline?: Evidence From a National Longitudinal Study of U.S. Older Adults.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2024Article
- Are Depression and Anxiety Underdiagnosed in Socially Vulnerable Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Disease?Inflammatory bowel diseases · 2024Article
- Associations between the Number of Children, Depressive Symptoms, and Cognition in Middle-Aged and Older Adults: Evidence from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- 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
- Links between early-life contextual factors and later-life cognition and the role of educational attainment.Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society : JINS · 2023Article
- Life course engagement in enriching activities: When and how does it matter for cognitive aging?Psychology and aging · 2023Article
- Age-Dependent Differences in Frequent Mental Distress (FMD) of US Older Adults Living in Multigenerational Families versus Living Alone.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- Childhood lead exposure is associated with lower cognitive functioning at older ages.Science advances · 2022Article
- Income, wealth, and Black-White disparities in cognition.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2022Article
- The Validity and Reliability of Retrospective Measures of Childhood Socioeconomic Status in the Health and Retirement Study: Evidence From the 1940 U.S. Census.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2022Article
- Childhood Background Measures and Their Associations With Later-Life Physical, Mental, and Social Health in the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2021Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
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Abstract
objectivesFamily structure in childhood influences early brain development and cognitive performance in adulthood. Much less is known about its long-term impact on later-life cognitive functioning. We extend the two-generation family structure approach to investigate the potential contribution of living with grandparents in multigenerational households to differences in cognitive functioning at older ages.
methodsData were drawn from 9 waves of the Health and Retirement Study (1998-2014) merged with newly collected childhood family history data. Five types of family structure were assessed: two-parent households, two-parent households with grandparents, single-parent households, single-parent households with grandparents, and grandparent-headed households. Growth curve models were used to estimate trajectories of cognitive functioning over time.
resultsChildhood family structure was significantly associated with level of cognitive functioning, but not to rate of cognitive decline. Relative to those from two-parent households, individuals who grew up in multigenerational households showed higher levels of cognitive functioning, including those living with a single parent and grandparents. Those who lived with a single parent alone were the most disadvantaged. The effects of these multigenerational households persisted net of childhood and adulthood socioeconomic status and health outcomes. DISCUSSION: Grandparent coresidence may cultivate a socially enriched home environment, providing resources and protection for early cognitive development that could persist throughout life. Multigenerational living arrangements are likely to increase as the contemporary population ages. More research needs to be done to understand the impact of these living arrangements on future generations' brain health and cognitive aging.
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