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CHILDHOOD PHYSICAL ABUSE INCREASES THE
RISK OF SUBJECTIVE MEMORY IMPAIRMENT
Lauren Roach1, Tyler Bell2, and Caitlin Pope3, 1.
University of Kentucky, Holland, Michigan, United States,
2. University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California,
United States, 3. University of Kentucky, Lexington,
Kentucky, United States
Subjective memory impairment, defined as self-reported
difficulties in recall and learning, doubles the risk of
Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementia, despite being
weakly related to objective memory decline. Because of its
strong stability over time, it may be possible that subjective
memory impairment reflects earlier life risk factors for dementia such as adverse childhood experiences. It is reported
that over a fifth of older adults worldwide experienced
physical abuse during childhood. Previous cross-sectional
studies suggest physical abuse is associated with later cognitive impairment. Still unclear, are the longitudinal associations between childhood abuse and subjective memory
impairment in later life. Using a sample of adults drawn
from the Health and Retirement Study (n = 19,185,
Mage = 67.05, SD = 11.33) we assessed associations between reported physical abuse by a parent before the age
of 18 and subjective memory impairment (current memory
problems and perceived memory decline) over periods of
up to 18 years. Generalized linear mixed models examined longitudinal associations between childhood physical
abuse and subjective memory impairment while controlling
for depressive symptoms and other empirically relevant
covariates. Experiencing childhood physical abuse was associated with increased likelihood of reporting more current memory problems (OR = 1.17, 95% CI 1.04, 1.33)
and perceived memory decline in later life (OR = 1.27, 95%
CI 1.13, 1.43). Findings suggest childhood physical abuse
is associated with subjective memory impairment, a strong
predictor of dementia. Understanding early life conditions,
including adverse childhood experiences may help explain
associations between subjective memory impairment and
dementia risk.
IS THE HEALTH OF OLDER AMERICANS WITH
A GED EQUIVALENT TO THEIR PEERS WITH A HIGH
SCHOOL DIPLOMA?
Esme Fuller-Thomson, Robin Grossman, and
Andie MacNeil, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario,
Canada
Previous research has found higher levels of educational
attainment to be strongly associated with better health outcomes in later life, such as better cognitive functioning and
fewer functional and sensory impairments. However, most
studies have grouped General Educational Development
(GED) recipients with high school graduates, neglecting potential differences in socioeconomic status, health behaviours,
and health outcomes among these two groups. The aim of
the current study is to identify differences in the age-sex-racepoverty adjusted prevalence and odds of cognitive impairment, hearing impairment, vision impairment, limitations in
activities of daily living (ADLs), and ambulation limitations
among three groups of older American adults: high school
dropouts, GED recipients, and high school graduates with
no post-secondary education. The present study uses secondary analysis of the 2017 American Community Survey,
a nationally representative survey of community-dwelling
and institutionalized older adults aged 65 years and older,
of whom 20,489 were GED recipients, 154,892 had a high
school diploma and 49,912 had finished grade 8 but had not
completed high school. Our findings indicate that there is a
gradient in health outcomes among Americans aged 65-84,
with the highest prevalence and odds of cognitive impairment, hearing impairment, vision impairment, ADL limitations, and ambulation limitations occurring among high
school dropouts, followed by GED recipients, and the lowest
prevalence among high school graduates. These findings suggestion that although GED recipients have better health outcomes than high school dropouts, there is still a significant
disparity in health status between GED recipients and high
school graduates.
HISTORY OF JOB STRAIN AND RISK OF LATE-LIFE
DEPENDENCY: A NATIONWIDE SWEDISH REGISTERBASED STUDY
Ingemar Kåreholt1, Charlotta Nilsen1, Janne Agerholm2,
Susanne Kelfve3, Jonas Wastesson2, Kirsten Nabe-Nielsen4,
and Bettina Meinow5, 1. Jönköping University, Jönköping,
Jonkopings Lan, Sweden, 2. Karolinska Institutet,
Stockholm, Stockholms Lan, Sweden, 3. Linköping
University, Linköping, Ostergotlands Lan, Sweden, 4.
University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Hovedstaden,
Denmark, 5. Stockholm Gerontology Research Center,
Stockholm, Stockholms Lan, Sweden
There is substantial evidence that work plays a significant
role in post-retirement health. Yet little is known about its
role in when late-life dependency may occur. We examined associations between job strain and the risk of entering late-life
dependency. Individually linked nationwide Swedish registers
were used to identify people 70+ alive in January 2014, and
who did not experience the outcome (late-life dependency)
during two months prior to the start of the follow-up. Late-life
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of cognitive aging, it does not account for the impact of
micro-level measures of neighborhood stressors on cognitive
function. Therefore, the purpose of the current study was to
determine whether violent crime incident proximity (VCIP)
contributes to later-life cognitive function above and beyond
ADI in older African Americans. Participants (N=147; M=
68.34) from an ongoing study, Pathways to Healthy Aging
in African Americans—a Rutgers University-Newark community partnership fostered over 16 years of community engagement, health education, and public service—responded
to measures of cognitive ability, SDOH, and demographic
details. The results show that VCIP is a trending predictor
of cognitive performance, when adjusting for age, gender,
education, depression, and ADI. The result aligns with our
hypothesis that individuals living in areas with greater VCIP
will have poorer performance on cognitive tasks. Our findings suggest that for African Americans in an urban setting,
hyper-local VCIP appears to be more useful at capturing the
impact of neighborhood disadvantage on cognitive decline
and Alzheimer’s disease risk. Therefore, for later-life cognitive health in African Americans, it is important to consider micro-level measures of neighborhood stressors such
as VCIP.
Innovation in Aging, 2022, Vol. 6, No. S1
Innovation in Aging, 2022, Vol. 6, No. S1
SEQUENCING OF PLANNED AND UNPLANNED
BIRTHS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR MID- AND LATERLIFE HEALTH AMONG NLSY79 WOMEN
Mieke Thomeer1, Clifford Ross1, Rin Reczek2, and
Christina Bijou2, 1. University of Alabama at Birmingham,
Birmingham, Alabama, United States, 2. Ohio State
University, Columbus, Ohio, United States
Existing studies demonstrate that unplanned births (e.g.,
unwanted, mistimed) are associated with worse health for
mothers in the short-term and—according to some preliminary evidence—in mid- and later-life. Yet as life course and
reproductive career frameworks highlight, childbearing experiences often unfold over a number of years, with a considerable amount of diversity in pregnancy and birth experiences
even for the same individual. For example, a person may have
an unplanned birth in late adolescence followed by only
planned births in early adulthood. In order to provide a more
holistic understanding of how birthing experiences births
are associated with midlife health, we use Sequence Analysis
(SA) on the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth
(NLSY79; N=3,992) to examine how patterning of planned
and unplanned births is associated with physical and mental
health at ages 50 and 60 (SF-12). Preliminary analysis indicates that compared to respondents with only planned births,
respondents with unplanned birth(s) followed by planned
birth(s) have worse physical and mental health at midlife,
but there is no difference in health for respondents with only
planned births, only unplanned births, and planned birth(s)
followed by unplanned birth(s). Future analysis with SA will
consider how more detailed sequences (e.g., timing, number
and type, ordering, spacing) are associated with these midand later-life health outcomes, taking into account selection
factors such as childhood SES and educational attainment.
This project demonstrates the need for life course perspectives
on the long-term health implications of unplanned births, recognizing diversity within and between individuals.
COGNITIVE AGING IN THE SHADOW OF THE
CLOSET: THE EFFECTS OF IDENTITY CONCEALMENT
AND DISCRIMINATION
Douglas Hanes, and Sean Clousten, Stony Brook
University, Stony Brook, New York, United States
Lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) people tend to experience poorer cognitive health as they age; discrimination
and identity concealment are common LGB experiences
that carry emotional, health, and cognitive tolls. Previous
research utilized data on research participants in same-sex
relationships (SSR) to successfully identify a subset of LGB
people and analyze their aging experiences. The present
study relied on one situation in which identity concealment
was legally mandated: military service. Until 2011, LGB
people were banned from participating in military service in
the U.S., leading to either concealment or institutionalized
discrimination (i.e., discharge) for most LGB servicepeople.
Using Health and Retirement Study (HRS; 1998–2016) data,
this project analyzed the combined effects of veteran status
and SSR on cognitive performance. Using multilevel longitudinal modelling, we found that while non-SSR veterans had
higher mean scores than non-SSR civilian participants (the
reference group), SSR civilians and veterans both had mean
scores lower than the reference (SSR: β=-0.514, p=0.031;
SSR+veteran (β=-1.065 p=0.081). These results may be
limited due to the low number of SSR+veteran participants
(n = 28). Nevertheless, these results suggest the potential for
using veteran status among LGB people to study the health
effects of identity concealment and discrimination on aging.
EARLY-LIFE EXPOSURE TO THE CHINESE FAMINE OF
1959–1961 AND LATER-LIFE HEALTH: EARLY LIFE AS
A CRITICAL PERIOD
Mengling Cheng, Nicolas Sommet, Daniela Jopp, and
Dario Spini, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Vaud,
Switzerland
Barker’s fetal origins hypothesis and the critical period
theory suggest that early life events have long-term health effects. However, evidence of the famine exposure in early life
and its effects on health in later life is scarce and inconsistent.
To explore the effects of early-life exposure to the Chinese
famine of 1959-1961 on later-life multimorbidity, we performed Poisson growth curve models using CHARLS Life
History 2014 and CHARLS 2011-2018 (42,775 observations from 12,060 respondents). Our analyses revealed two
findings. First, there was an overall detrimental effect of the
early-life famine exposure on multimorbidity, although there
was no effect of severity of famine exposure. Second, there
was no overall interaction between famine exposure and life
stages, although a more parsimonious model suggested that
the detrimental effect of famine exposure was more pronounced in earlier life stages than in later life stages. Findings
suggest that early life is a critical period in the life course
and provides developmental origins of health and disease in
later life.
LIFE-COURSE SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS AND
MORBIDITY AND MORTALITY IN THE MIDUS
NATIONAL SAMPLE
Yanping Jiang1, Li Chen2, and Samuele Zilioli3, 1. Rutgers,
The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, New
Jersey, United States, 2. Augusta University, Augusta,
Georgia, United States, 3. Wayne State University, Detroit,
Michigan, United States
Socioeconomic status (SES) is a well-established social determinant of health shaping the distribution of the burden of
morbidity and mortality. In this area, a less understood topic
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dependency was operationalized as use of long-term care.
Information about job strain was obtained via a job exposure
matrice and matched with job titles. Cox regression models
with age as time-scale (adjusted for living situation, educational attainment, country of birth, and sex) were conducted
to estimate hazard ratios (HR) for entering late-life dependency during the 24 months of follow-up (n=993,595). Having
an initial high starting point of job strain followed by an
increasing trajectory throughout working life implied a 23%
higher risk of entering late-life dependency at a younger age,
compared with the reference group (low starting point with a
decreasing trajectory). High initial starting point followed by
a stable trajectory implied a 12% higher risk of entering latelife dependency at a younger age. High initial starting point
followed by a decreasing trajectory implied a 10% risk reduction, and a low starting point with a stable trajectory implied
a 22% risk reduction, of entering late-life dependency at a
younger age. Reducing stressful jobs across working life may
contribute to postponing late-life dependency.
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