Kiely KM, Anstey KJ, Butterworth P. Testing Age Differences in the links between Recent Financial Difficulties and Cognitive Deficits: Longitudinal Evidence from the PATH Through Life Study.
J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 2020;
76:1993-2002. [PMID:
33254226 DOI:
10.1093/geronb/gbaa215]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/04/2020] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVE
This study investigates whether the within-person associations between a recent major financial crisis and deficits in cognitive performance vary across the lifecourse.
METHOD
Four waves of data from 7442 participants (49% men) spanning 12-years and comprising three narrow age birth cohorts (baseline age: 20-25, 40-45, and 60-65) were drawn from a representative prospective survey from Canberra, Australia (1999-2014). Cognitive performance was assessed by the California Verbal Leaning Test (CVLT) immediate recall trails, Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT), Backwards Digitspan (BDS), and Trail Making Test B (TMT B). A single item from the Threatening Life Experiences Questionnaire assessed self-reported major financial crisis in the past 6-months. Multi-variable adjusted fixed effect regression models tested the time-dependent association between financial crisis and cognition.
RESULTS
A recent financial crisis coincided with contemporaneous declines in CVLT (Mean change = -0.14, 95% CI = -0.262, -0.025), SDMT (Mean change = -0.08, 95% CI = -0.147,-0.004) and TMT-B (Mean change = -0.17, 95% CI = -0.293,-0.039) for adults in the oldest age group, and these associations were larger than in the younger age groups. In contrast, there was an overall association between financial crisis and deficits in BDS (Mean change = -0.06, 95% CI = -0.105, -0.007), with weak evidence of stronger associations in mid-life relative to other age groups. These associations were independent of changes in health and socio-economic circumstances.
DISCUSSION
This study provides important new evidence that financial difficulties in later life are potent stressors associated with occasion specific deficits in cognitive performance.
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