Positive Childhood Experiences, Cognition, and Biomarkers of Alzheimer’s Disease

Joshua H. Owens, Charles C. Windon (), Dan Mungas, Rachel A. Whitmer, Paola Gilsanz, Jennifer J. Manly and M. Maria Glymour
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Joshua H. Owens: Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, University of Florida, 1225 Center Dr, Gainesville, FL 32603, USA
Charles C. Windon: Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, 675 Nelson Rising Lane, Suite 190, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
Dan Mungas: Department of Neurology, University of California Davis, 4860 Y St., Suite 3900, Sacramento, CA 95817, USA
Rachel A. Whitmer: Division of Epidemiology, Public Health Sciences, School of Medicine, University of California Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, USA
Paola Gilsanz: Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente Oakland, 2000 Broadway, Oakland, CA 94612, USA
Jennifer J. Manly: Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer’s Disease and the Aging Brain, Columbia University, 630 West 168th Street, P&S Box 16, New York, NY 10032, USA
M. Maria Glymour: Department of Epidemiology, Boston University School of Public Health, 715 Albany Street, Boston, MA 02118, USA

IJERPH, 2025, vol. 22, issue 4, 1-20

Abstract: Positive childhood experiences (PCEs) have unknown effects on late life cognition and Alzheimer’s Disease biomarkers. We examined 406 Asian, 1179 Black, 349 Latinx, and 498 White KHANDLE and STAR study participants with data on PCEs, longitudinal cognitive measures, MRI (n = 560), and amyloid PET (n = 281). We conducted mediation and multigroup models within the structural equation modeling framework allowing us to examine the direct association of PCEs with episodic memory level and change as well as the indirect effects of PCEs through education. We additionally conducted linear regressions examining the association of PCEs with MRI and amyloid PET outcomes. Average participant age was 74 (53–90) and 62% were female. Overall, PCEs were positively associated with memory intercept and change. Education significantly mediated the association between PCEs and memory intercept. PCEs were not associated with hippocampal volume or amyloid burden in the combined sample or across individual ethnocultural groups. PCEs are positively related to episodic memory through the promotion of educational attainment.

Keywords: childhood experiences; social determinants; cognition; amyloid; MRI biomarkers; diverse populations (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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