Education Desegregation and Cognitive Change in African American Older Adults

• Published in: The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences Vol. 70; no. 3; p. 348
• Main Authors: Aiken-Morgan, Adrienne T, Gamaldo, Alyssa A, Sims, Regina C, Allaire, Jason C, Whitfield, Keith E
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.05.2015
• Subjects: Age Factors; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Aging - ethnology; Black or African American - ethnology; Cognition - physiology; Cognition Disorders - ethnology; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Race Relations - legislation & jurisprudence; Schools - legislation & jurisprudence; Cognitive change; African Americans; Cognition; Desegregation
• ISSN: 1758-5368
• DOI: 10.1093/geronb/gbu153

The present study examined the relationship between desegregated schooling and cognitive change in a sample of 420 community-dwelling African American elders (mean age = 68.6; SD = 9.1). Participants were recruited for the Baltimore Study of Black Aging - Patterns of Cognitive Aging. Cognitive measures from six domains of function were administered at baseline and follow-up 33 months later. Repeated measures multivariate analysis of covariance was conducted; the between subjects factors were schooling type and age cohort, and the within subjects factor was time. Analyses controlled for age, years of education, and sex, and follow-up univariate analyses were used to determine which individual cognitive scores drove the multivariate effects. There were significant multivariate within-group, between-group, and interaction effects (p < .05). Univariate analyses indicated that the desegregated schooling group scored significantly better on Language and Perceptual Speed (p < .01), and the youngest age cohort (50- to 59-year-olds) performed better on measures of Perceptual Speed. There were no significant univariate interactions between schooling group or age cohort and cognitive change over time. Overall, these findings suggest a slight advantage of desegregated schooling for cognitive performance, but no advantage of desegregated schooling on the rate of cognitive change over time in this sample.