Center for Population and Health, Georgetown University, USA.
Department of Sociology, University of California, Riverside, USA.
Soc Sci Med. 2022 Oct;310:115298. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.115298. Epub 2022 Aug 18.
We investigated the contributions of income and wealth (beyond education) to Black-White disparities in cognition and evaluated whether the role of socioeconomic status (SES) varies by age. Based on data from a national survey of Americans (aged 23-94), we used regression models to quantify the overall racial disparities in episodic memory, executive function, and overall cognition, adjusted for sex and age. Potential mediators (i.e., measures of childhood environment, educational attainment, marital status, occupation, income, and wealth) were added in subsequent models. The age- and sex-adjusted Black-White differential in overall cognitive function was around one standard deviation (SD) between ages 25 and 50, but declined to 0.6 SD by age 80. Executive function followed a similar pattern, but the racial disparity in episodic memory declined more rapidly between ages 35 (0.7 SD) and 80 (0.2 SD). Childhood environment and the respondent's educational attainment accounted for 20-25% of the racial disparities in overall cognition. The incremental contribution of household income was small (1-5%). Although wealth had only a small effect at younger ages, the contribution grew with age. Wealth was much more important than income in explaining Black-White disparities in cognition at older ages. Childhood environment, marital status, and SES (including wealth) accounted for one-third of the racial disparity in overall cognition at ages 35-65, but an even greater share at age 80. Our study is the first to demonstrate that, with increasing age, wealth explains more of the Black-White disparity in cognition. A widening racial gap in wealth and the disproportionate financial impact of the Great Recession and the COVID-19 pandemic on minorities do not bode well for Black-White differentials in cognition. Working-age Americans suffered the brunt of the economic impact of those events; the impact on cognition may increase as those cohorts grow older.
我们研究了收入和财富（超出教育水平）对黑人和白人认知差异的贡献，并评估了社会经济地位（SES）的作用是否因年龄而异。基于一项针对美国成年人（年龄在 23-94 岁之间）的全国性调查数据，我们使用回归模型来量化在情景记忆、执行功能和整体认知方面的种族差异，这些差异在调整性别和年龄后得到了量化。在随后的模型中加入了潜在的中介因素（即儿童时期环境、教育程度、婚姻状况、职业、收入和财富的衡量标准）。在 25 岁至 50 岁之间，调整性别和年龄后的黑人与白人整体认知功能差异约为一个标准差（SD），但到 80 岁时下降到 0.6 SD。执行功能也呈现出类似的模式，但情景记忆的种族差异在 35 岁（0.7 SD）和 80 岁（0.2 SD）之间的下降速度更快。儿童时期的环境和受访者的教育程度解释了整体认知种族差异的 20-25%。家庭收入的增量贡献很小（1-5%）。尽管财富在较年轻时的影响较小，但随着年龄的增长，其贡献也会增加。在解释老年人的认知种族差异方面，财富比收入重要得多。儿童时期的环境、婚姻状况和 SES（包括财富）在 35-65 岁时解释了整体认知种族差异的三分之一，但在 80 岁时的解释程度更大。我们的研究首次表明，随着年龄的增长，财富解释了认知方面的黑人和白人差异的更多部分。财富方面的黑人和白人差距不断扩大，以及大衰退和 COVID-19 大流行对少数族裔的不成比例的财务影响，对认知方面的黑人和白人差异来说并不是好兆头。在这些事件中，处于工作年龄的美国人首当其冲地受到了经济影响的冲击；随着这些人群年龄的增长，对认知的影响可能会增加。
