High School Curricular Rigor and Cognitive Function among White Older Adults.

Most research on the strong relationship between education and cognitive aging has focused on years of schooling. Using data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study-a sample of White persons born in 1939-we explored whether greater curricular rigor in high school was also associated with better cognitive function in later life. We estimated multilevel structural equation models in data from 2,749 participants who attended 308 Wisconsin high schools, graduating in 1957.

High School Curriculum and Cognitive Function in the Eighth Decade of Life.

Introduction: Formal educational attainment, or years of schooling, has a well-established positive effect on cognitive health across the life course. We hypothesized that the content and difficulty of the curriculum influence this relationship, such that more challenging curricula in high school lead to higher levels of socioeconomic attainment in adulthood and, in turn, to better cognitive outcomes in older adulthood.

Methods: We estimated multilevel structural equation models (MSEMs) in data from 2,405 individuals who attended one of 1,312 US high schools in 1960 and participated in the Project Talent Aging Study in 2018.

Lifetime Abuse Victimization and Prospective Health Outcomes in Older Adults.

The current study examined the associations between lifetime abuse victimization and prospective health outcomes in late adulthood. Data from 4907 older adults (mean age = 80) from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study were analyzed. Multivariate analyses examined the associations of lifetime abuse victimization with depression, physical health status, and memory.

Age integration in the social convoys of young and late midlife adults.

Homophily on the basis of age is a notable characteristic of social convoys across the life course. Ties to older and younger persons, therefore, are both unusual and potentially provide unique social support resources. This study examined relationships with older, younger, and same-aged non-kin ties among young and late midlife adults.

Social Support From Family and Friends, Educational Attainment, and Cognitive Function.

This study assessed the extent to which associations between perceived and received social support from family and friends and changes in older adults' cognitive function were moderated by educational attainment. Sibling pairs in the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS) ( = 4,297) completed a survey about social support in 2011 and a cognitive battery in 2011 and 2020. Participants' mean age in 2020 was 80.

Weighing in: qualitative explorations of weight restoration as recovery in anorexia nervosa.

Background: Anorexia Nervosa (AN) continues to capture the public's imagination, centered around physical appearance, particularly weight. Clinical conceptions of AN also emphasize weight. The objective of this study was to explore how individuals with lived AN experience thought about the role of weight in illness and recovery.

Filial Caregiving and Chinese Adults' Depressive Symptoms: Do Early-Life Parent-Child Relationships Matter?

This study investigated the association between caregiving time and depressive symptoms among Chinese adult children aged 45 and above, and whether early-life relationships with parents moderated the association. We used data from the 2011, 2013, and 2018 waves of China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) and the 2014 CHARLS Life History Survey, which included 4781 respondents with living mothers and 2710 respondents with living fathers. Results from multilevel models showed that caregiving time for mothers or fathers was not significantly associated with adults' depressive symptoms in general.

Race, Childhood Socioeconomic Status, and Region of Childhood Residence as Intersectional Life-Course Predictors of Cognitive Aging in the United States.

Background And Objectives: Race, childhood socioeconomic status (cSES), and region of childhood residence are each associated with later-life cognition, but no studies have examined how the confluence of these factors influences later-life cognitive performance. Guided by intersectionality theory, we examined individuals' social positionality across these dimensions as a predictor of cognitive performance in later life among non-Hispanic White (NHW) and non-Hispanic Black (NHB) older adults.

Research Design And Methods: We used data from the 2010-2016 waves of the Health and Retirement Study with participants aged 65 and older in 2010.

Body Mass Index and Memory Across 18 Years in the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study.

Background: Body weight is a modifiable risk factor for dementia, but results have been mixed as to the ages at which normal body weight is markedly preferable to overweight or obesity. This study assessed the association between change in body mass index (BMI) over 2 periods of the life course with change in memory between the ages of 65 and 72 for males and females.

Methods: Participants were 3 637 White high school graduates, born in 1939, from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study.

Life course linkages between enriching early-life activities and later life cognition: Evidence from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study.

Prior research suggests that participation in enriching early-life activities (EELAs) has long-term benefits for cognitive health and aging. This study aims to examine the life course processes underlying these associations by drawing on theoretical models from life course epidemiology. Specifically, we tested sensitive-period effects, social pathways, and selection effects as potential explanations for linkages between greater participation in EELAs and better later life cognition.

"I Want That Life a Lot…How on Earth Do I Get That?" Examining Challenges for Men With Barth Syndrome in Their Transitions to Adulthood.

vFor youth with life-limiting chronic illnesses, transitioning to adulthood in line with age-norms may be difficult due to symptom severity and shortened survival. This study explores whether individuals with Barth syndrome (BTHS), a condition uniquely characterized by extreme prognostic uncertainty, experience similar or different challenges compared to youth with other conditions. During focus groups with adults with BTHS ( = 12) and caregivers ( = 13), participants reported that the ability to independently manage one's health condition, the social/emotional impacts of BTHS, and the ability to set goals in the context of future uncertainty challenge their transition to adulthood.

Childhood abuse and adult relationships with perpetrating parents: impacts on depressive symptoms of caregivers of aging parents.

Combining the stress process model of caregiving and life course perspective, this study examined the long-term associations among childhood abuse, relationships between perpetrating parents and adult children, and adult children's well-being in the context of caregiving for a perpetrating parent. Using a sample of family caregivers from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, this study investigated (a) whether contact frequency and emotional closeness with an abusive parent mediated the longitudinal effects of parental childhood abuse on adult-child caregivers' depressive symptoms and (b) the moderating effects of self-acceptance and mastery on this mediational association. Key findings indicated that in the caregivers of mothers, maternal childhood abuse was negatively associated with emotional closeness between an adult child caregiver and perpetrating mother care recipient.

Using Mixture Modeling to Construct Subgroups of Cognitive Aging in the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study.

Objectives: Longitudinal surveys of older adults increasingly incorporate assessments of cognitive performance. However, very few studies have used mixture modeling techniques to describe cognitive aging, identifying subgroups of people who display similar patterns of performance across discrete cognitive functions. We employ this approach to advance empirical evidence concerning interindividual variability and intraindividual change in patterns of cognitive aging.

Rethinking the Role of Advance Care Planning in the Context of Infectious Disease.

Advance care planning (ACP) for medical decision-making at the end of life has developed around the expectation of death from long-term, progressive chronic illnesses. We reexamine advance care planning in light of the increased probability of death from COVID-19, an exemplar of death that occurs relatively quickly after disease onset. We draw several conclusions about ACP in the context of infectious diseases: interpersonal and sociostructural barriers to ACP are high; ACP is not well-oriented toward decision-making for treatment of an acute illness; and the U.

College Selectivity and Later-Life Memory Function: Evidence From the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study.

Research has shown a consistent association between college completion and laterlife cognition. We extend this work by examining whether college selectivity-the achievement level required to gain admission to a college-is associated with memory functioning more than 50 years later. We analyze data from 10,317 participants in the 1957-2011 Wisconsin Longitudinal Study to examine the relationship between college selectivity and later-life memory.

Insufficient Advance Care Planning? Correlates of Planning Without Personal Conversations.

Objectives: Advance care planning (ACP) typically comprises formal preparations (i.e., living will and/or durable power of attorney for health care) and informal discussions with family members and health care providers.

Bereavement in the Time of Coronavirus: Unprecedented Challenges Demand Novel Interventions.

COVID-19 fatalities exemplify "bad deaths" and are distinguished by physical discomfort, difficulty breathing, social isolation, psychological distress, and care that may be discordant with the patient's preferences. Each of these death attributes is a well-documented correlate of bereaved survivors' symptoms of depression, anxiety, and anger. Yet the grief experienced by survivors of COVID-related deaths is compounded by the erosion of coping resources like social support, contemporaneous stressors including social isolation, financial precarity, uncertainty about the future, lack of routine, and the loss of face-to-face mourning rituals that provide a sense of community and uplift.

Life Course Pathways From Childhood Socioeconomic Status to Later-Life Cognition: Evidence From the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study.

Objectives: A growing body of research indicates that older adults are at greater risk for poorer cognition if they experienced low socioeconomic status (SES) as children. Guided by life course epidemiology, this study aimed to advance understanding of processes through which childhood SES influences cognition decades later, with attention to the role of scholastic performance in adolescence and SES in midlife.

Method: We used data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS), which has followed a cohort of high school graduates since they were 18 years old in 1957.

Perceived Hearing Loss, Social Disengagement, and Declines in Memory.

A growing body of evidence suggests that age-related hearing loss is related to changes in older adults' memory. We test the hypothesis that the association is due to social disengagement following the onset of perceived hearing loss. At ages 65 (2004) and 72 years (2011), 3,986 participants from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS) self-reported on hearing problems and several types of social engagement and completed three tests of memory.

School Context in Adolescence and Cognitive Functioning 50 Years Later.

To advance understanding of how social inequalities from childhood might contribute to cognitive aging, we examined the extent to which school context in adolescence was associated with individuals' cognitive performance more than 50 years later. Using data from 3,012 participants in the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS), we created an aggregate measure of school-level structural advantage, with indicators such as the proportion of teachers who had at least five years of teaching experience and spending per pupil. Multilevel models indicated that secondary school advantage was associated with small benefits in language/executive function at age 65 among older adults who had lower academic achievement in secondary school.

Sticks and Stones: Perceived Age Discrimination, Well-Being, and Health Over a 20-Year Period.

This study examines associations between perceived day-to-day age discrimination, positive well-being, and physical health over a 20-year span. Data came from all three waves of the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States (1995-2014). Generalized structural equation modeling was used to analyze 6,016 observations of 3,102 participants and test associations between age discrimination and (a) psychological well-being and positive affect, and (b) self-rated health, instrumental activities of daily living, and chronic conditions.

Is College Completion Associated with Better Cognition in Later Life for People Who Are the Least, or Most, Likely to Obtain a Bachelor's Degree?

Objectives: Drawing on insights from theorizing on cumulative dis/advantage (CDA), we aimed to advance understanding of educational attainment as a protective factor for later-life cognition by examining whether associations between obtaining a bachelor's degree and later-life cognition differ according to individuals' likelihood of completing college based on characteristics in adolescence.

Methods: We conducted a propensity score analysis with data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS). Measures to predict college completion were assessed prospectively in adolescence, and a global measure of later-life cognition was based on cognitive assessments at age 65.

Beyond the Individual: Evidence Linking Neighborhood Trust and Social Isolation Among Community-Dwelling Older Adults.

Loneliness and social isolation are significant public health problems. However, the community and neighborhood factors that contribute to this pandemic are less examined. Adopting a neighborhood resource-based social capital theory, we examined whether neighborhood trust was associated with older Americans' loneliness, number of friends, and perceived support from friends.