Early-Life Circumstances and Racial Disparities in Cognition for Older Americans: The Importance of Educational Quality and Experiences

Zhuoer Lin, Justin Ye, Heather Allore, Thomas M. Gill and Xi Chen

No 1442, GLO Discussion Paper Series from Global Labor Organization (GLO)

Abstract: Given the critical role of neurocognitive development in early life, this study assesses how racial differences in early-life circumstances are collectively and individually associated with racial disparities in late-life cognition. Leveraging uniquely rich information on life history from the U.S. Health and Retirement Study for non-Hispanic White (White) and non-Hispanic Black (Black) Americans 50 years or older, we employ the Blinder-Oaxaca method to decompose racial gaps in cognitive outcomes into early-life educational experiences, cohort, regional, financial, health, trauma, family relationship, demographic and genetic factors. Overall, differences in early-life circumstances are associated with 61.5% and 82.3% of the racial disparities in cognitive score and impairment, respectively. Early-life educational experience is associated with 35.2% of the disparities in cognitive score and 48.6% in cognitive impairment. Notably, school racial segregation (all segregated schooling before college) is associated with 28.8%-39.7% of the racial disparities in cognition. Policies that improve educational equity have the potential to reduce racial disparities in cognition into older ages. Clinicians may leverage early-life circumstances to promote the screening, prevention, and interventions of cognitive impairment more efficiently, thereby promoting health equity.

Keywords: Early Life Circumstances; Life Course; School Segregation; Quality of Education; Racial Disparity; Cognition (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H75 I14 I20 J13 J14 J15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-age, nep-neu and nep-ure
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Related works:
Working Paper: Early-Life Circumstances and Racial Disparities in Cognition for Older Americans: The Importance of Educational Quality and Experiences (2024)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:glodps:1442

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