The impact of social stress and strain on cognitive function in older people

Abstract

Abstract Background Social stress and strain, especially discrimination and inequality might have an impact on memory and cognitive function. This is a major concern for older individuals, their families, communities and societies. We sought to assess changes in episodic memory (EM) and executive functioning (EF) among men and women in the 'Midlife in the United States' (MIDUS) cohort study, to delineate variations in EM and EF by gender, and to determine the impact of social stress/strain at three levels (family, work, society) on longitudinal changes in EM and EF in men and women. Methods We used data from the MIDUS study - a national probability sample of non-institutionalized, English speaking respondents aged 25-74 living in the 48 contiguous states of the United States. The initial wave in our study (1995) included 4963 non-institutionalized adults aged 32 to 84 (M = 55, SD = 12.4). The dependent variables are EM and EF, which were assessed with the Brief Test for Cognition. The independent variables were social stress and discrimination variables at the family/partner level, the work level and the society level, assessed with validated discrimination measures. To assess cognition changes we estimated adjusted linear regression models. Results Women report more perceived inequality for their family and more family strain than men across all age groups. After controlling for other explanatory variables, the main effect on cognition for all age groups was found for perceived inequality of one's family opportunities. Conclusions Reducing social stress and providing opportunities might be an important measure to support episodic memory and executive functioning in aging populations.