Education, Wealth, and Cognitive Function in Later Life

TLDR

Health studies frequently use education alone as an SES indicator, but rarely separate its effects from other socioeconomic factors. The study examined how educational attainment influences performance on three cognitive domains across race and Latino ethnicity, controlling for wealth and income. The authors used Wave 1 of the Asset and Health Dynamics Among the Oldest Old study to assess these relationships. Education’s effect on cognition is only slightly reduced after accounting for wealth, whereas wealth’s effect is largely explained by education; the education–cognition link is similar for Blacks and Whites but not for Latino elders, suggesting the association reflects education’s direct influence rather than SES gradients.

Abstract

Population-based studies of health often use education as the sole indicator of socioeconomic status (SES); the independent contributions of education and other SES covariates are rarely delineated. Using Wave 1 of the Asset and Health Dynamics Among the Oldest Old study, the authors examined the extent to which educational attainment influences performance on three separate domains of cognitive status by race and Latino ethnicity and introduced controls for wealth and household income. Results indicate that the education effect is minimally weakened after adjusting for wealth; the wealth effect, however, is greatly attenuated after adjusting for education. Blacks and Whites exhibited a similar education–cognition relationship; Latino elderly did not experience commensurate gains in cognitive function with increasing education. Results suggest that although the education–cognition relationship may in part reflect an SES gradient, the association is more likely due to the process and consequences of education itself.