Yahirun Jenjira J, Applegate Jaycob S, Mossakowski Krysia N, Hayward Mark D
Department of Sociology, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio, USA.
Department of Sociology, University of Hawaii at Mānoa, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA.
J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2025 May 8;80(6). doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbaf033.
A growing body of research examines how adult children's education influences older parents' cognitive health. Whereas prior studies tend to focus on educational advantage, this study seeks to understand how various measures of educational disadvantage are associated with parents' dementia likelihood. In addition, we ask how the risks associated with one child's educational disadvantage are shaped by a sibling's educational success.
Using data from the U.S. Health and Retirement Study (2000-2018) and event history analyses, comparisons are made between measures of offspring educational disadvantage and their relationships with parents' risk of dementia onset. In addition, analyses are conducted to understand whether the link between one child's educational disadvantage and parental dementia onset is influenced by a sibling's educational advantage.
Educational disadvantage is associated with an increased risk of parental dementia onset, with a threshold measure for whether a parent had at least one child without a high school education providing the best model fit for the data. Moreover, the heightened risks associated with one child's educational disadvantage are not offset by another sibling's educational success.
Children's educational deficits are a hidden source of health disparities among older parents. Although scholars in recent years have rightly focused on the importance of offspring education, more attention should be paid to conceptualizing how educational disadvantage matters for parents and how the educational attainment of each child shapes parents' cognitive health.
越来越多的研究探讨成年子女的教育如何影响老年父母的认知健康。以往的研究往往侧重于教育优势，而本研究旨在了解各种教育劣势指标与父母患痴呆症可能性之间的关联。此外，我们还研究一个孩子的教育劣势所带来的风险如何受到其兄弟姐妹教育成功的影响。
利用美国健康与退休研究（2000 - 2018年）的数据及事件史分析，比较子女教育劣势指标及其与父母痴呆症发病风险的关系。此外，进行分析以了解一个孩子的教育劣势与父母痴呆症发病之间的联系是否受其兄弟姐妹教育优势的影响。
教育劣势与父母患痴呆症的风险增加有关，父母是否至少有一个孩子未接受高中教育这一阈值指标对数据的拟合效果最佳。此外，一个孩子的教育劣势所带来的更高风险不会因另一个兄弟姐妹的教育成功而抵消。
子女的教育缺陷是老年父母健康差异的一个隐藏来源。尽管近年来学者们正确地关注了子女教育的重要性，但应更多地关注如何理解教育劣势对父母的影响以及每个孩子的教育程度如何塑造父母的认知健康。
