Testa Alexander, Mijares Luis, Jackson Dylan B
Department of Management, Policy and Community Health, School of Public Health, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, Texas, USA.
Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2025 Jan 17;80(2). doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbae194.
This study examines the association between prior incarceration and cognition trajectories among older adults in the United States.
Data are from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a nationally representative longitudinal survey of older adults in the United States. The analysis included respondents aged 55 and older who participated in the 2012-2020 HRS surveys and had valid responses on Langa-Weir cognition scores, incarceration history, and covariates (n = 5,663). Cognition trajectories were estimated using group-based trajectory modeling, and multinomial logistic regression was used to assess the relationship between prior incarceration and cognition trajectory group membership.
The study identified four distinct cognition trajectories. Formerly incarcerated individuals were significantly more likely to be in cognition trajectory groups defined by lower cognition scores and steeper declines in cognitive functioning over time. However, these associations were attenuated after accounting for sociodemographic and health-related characteristics, and all associations were rendered statistically nonsignificant after accounting for educational attainment.
These findings highlight poorer cognition among older formerly incarcerated individuals compared with their never incarcerated counterparts, as well as underscore the role of educational attainment in this relationship. Future research and data collection efforts are needed to further understand the nexus between incarceration and cognitive functioning and the mechanisms underpinning this association.
本研究考察了美国老年人先前的监禁经历与认知轨迹之间的关联。
数据来自健康与退休研究（HRS），这是一项对美国老年人具有全国代表性的纵向调查。分析纳入了年龄在55岁及以上、参与了2012 - 2020年HRS调查且在兰加 - 韦尔认知得分、监禁史和协变量方面有有效回答的受访者（n = 5663）。使用基于群体的轨迹模型估计认知轨迹，并使用多项逻辑回归来评估先前的监禁经历与认知轨迹组成员身份之间的关系。
该研究确定了四种不同的认知轨迹。曾被监禁的个体更有可能处于由较低认知得分和随着时间推移认知功能更急剧下降所定义的认知轨迹组中。然而，在考虑了社会人口学和健康相关特征后，这些关联减弱了，并且在考虑了教育程度后，所有关联在统计学上均无显著意义。
这些发现凸显了曾被监禁的老年个体与从未被监禁的同龄人相比认知能力较差，同时也强调了教育程度在这种关系中的作用。需要未来的研究和数据收集工作来进一步理解监禁与认知功能之间的联系以及支撑这种关联的机制。
