Subjective memory, objective memory, and race over a 10-year period: Findings from the ACTIVE study.

Abstract

The longitudinal associations between subjective and objective memory functioning in later life remain unclear. This may be due, in part, to sociodemographic differences across studies, given the hypothesis that these associations differ across racial groups. Using data from the Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly (ACTIVE; N = 2,694; 26% African American), multiple-group, parallel-process latent growth curve models were used to explore relationships between subjective and objective memory over 10 years and assess racial differences in these associations. Across African Americans and whites, we found bidirectional associations between subjective and objective memory such that greater self-reported forgetting at baseline predicted faster subsequent verbal episodic memory declines, and higher baseline objective memory scores predicted less increase in self-reported forgetting over time. However, rates of change in self-reported frequency of forgetting were correlated with rates of change in verbal episodic memory in whites, but not in African Americans. Subjective memory complaints may be a harbinger of future memory declines across African Americans and whites but may not track with objective memory in the same way across these racial groups. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).