ArticleSocial science & medicine (1982)2022
A life course approach to understanding stress exposures and cognitive function among middle-aged and older adults.
Article in Social science & medicine (1982), 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 37 citations in OpenAlex.
- The effects of work on cognitive functions: a systematic review.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Pooled it
- The Timing of Police Encounters in Adolescence and Adult Cognitive Function: Heterogeneity by Race/Ethnicity.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2026Article
- Social network characteristics and cognitive function, decline, and mortality: A joint modeling approach.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2026Article
- Income Volatility During Early to Mid-adulthood and 10-year Memory Decline in a Longitudinal Synthetic Cohort.Epidemiology (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2026Article
- Association of neighborhood and individual-level socioeconomic disadvantage in childhood and adulthood with cognitive function in mid-adulthood: Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study.American journal of epidemiology · 2026Article
- Life-course Psychosocial Adversity and Biological Aging in the Hispanic Community Health Study / Study of Latinos: A Life-course Model Analysis.Research square · 2026Article
- Disentangling social isolation, loneliness, and later-life cognitive function for older adults in the United States: evidence from causal inference modeling.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2026Article
- Independent and joint associations of key social exposome components with cognitive aging: triangulating evidence through cross-national data.American journal of epidemiology · 2026Article
- Modeling approaches for estimating the effects of risk factors using longitudinal lifecourse exposure data in dementia research.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2025Review
- The National Study of Daily Experiences: Protocol for Assessments of Daily Stress, Well-Being, Health, and Salivary Biomarkers in a Longitudinal Cohort.JMIR research protocols · 2025Article
- Psychosocial stressors and cognitive function: An analysis using data from the English longitudinal study of ageing.The journal of prevention of Alzheimer's disease · 2025Article
- Midlife financial stress and cognitive and physical impairments in older age: The role of potentially modifying factors.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2025Article
- 20-Year income volatility and cognitive function in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (1979) cohort: A replication and extension of CARDIA findings.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2025Article
- Sex Differences in the Associations Among Early Life Adversity, Inflammation, and Cognition.Biomolecules · 2025Review
- 2024 Alzheimer's disease facts and figures.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2024Article
- Cognitive function following early life war-time stress exposure in a cohort of Vietnamese older adults.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2024Article
- Race, community disadvantage, and cognitive decline: Findings from KHANDLE and STAR.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2024Article
- Cumulative Stress Exposure and Cognitive Function Among Older Adults: The Moderating Role of a Healthy Lifestyle.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2023Article
- Late-life food insecurity and cognition: exploring timing, duration, and mechanisms among older Mexican adults.BMC geriatrics · 2023Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundMany studies have evaluated the stress-cognition association, but few have captured the cumulative nature of stress or distinguished the influences of stressors occurring in childhood versus adulthood. Using a lifecourse approach, we investigated whether cumulative stress exposures are associated with poorer cognitive function and faster cognitive decline.
methodsWe used data from the Midlife Development in the United States Study (N = 3,954, mean baseline age: 56 years). We fit marginal structural generalized estimating equations models to estimate the difference in baseline cognitive function per SD increment in the continuous stressor score, and, separately, between persons in each life course stressor profile and those who did not experience high stress in either childhood or adulthood. We also characterized differences in cognitive decline across levels of stress exposures.
resultsHigher cumulative stress exposure was associated with lower executive function (difference per SD in continuous stressor score = -0.12 SD units, 95% CI = -0.16, -0.08) and episodic memory (difference = -0.09 SD units, 95% CI = -0.13, -0.05). Baseline executive function and episodic memory were lower among those with high stress only in childhood, only in adulthood, and both, than among those without high stress in childhood or adulthood. There was little evidence that rate of change in executive function and episodic memory differed across levels of cumulative stress exposures.
conclusionsThese findings offer support to the hypothesis that stress exposures, accumulated over the life course, worsen cognitive performance, but limited support for the hypothesis that these exposures promote cognitive decline.
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