Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/308325 
Year of Publication: 
2024
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 17466
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Disparities in cognition persist between non-Hispanic Black (hereafter, Black) and non-Hispanic White (hereafter, White) older adults, and are possibly influenced by early educational differences stemming from structural racism. However, the relationship between school racial segregation and later-life cognition remains underexplored. We examined a nationally sample of older Americans from the Health and Retirement Study. Utilizing childhood residence data and cognitive assessment data (1995-2018) for Black and White participants aged 65 and older, Black-White dissimilarity index for public elementary schools measuring school segregation, multilevel analyses revealed a significant negative association between school segregation and later-life cognitive outcomes among Black participants, but not among White participants. Potential mediators across the life course, including educational attainment, explained 58-73% of the association, yet the associations remained large and significant among Black participants for all outcomes. Given the rising trend of school segregation in the US, educational policies aimed at reducing segregation are crucial to address health inequities. Clinicians can leverage patients' early-life educational circumstances to promote screening, prevention, and management of cognitive disorders.
Subjects: 
early-life circumstances
school segregation
quality of education
racial disparity
cognition
dementia
health equity
JEL: 
I14
I24
I10
J14
J15
H75
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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