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American Journal of Epidemiology Advance Access originally published online on May 17, 2006
American Journal of Epidemiology 2006 163(12):1071-1078; doi:10.1093/aje/kwj176
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American Journal of Epidemiology Copyright © 2006 by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health All rights reserved; printed in U.S.A.

Original Contribution

Urban Neighborhood Context, Educational Attainment, and Cognitive Function among Older Adults

Richard G. Wight1, Carol S. Aneshensel1, Dana Miller-Martinez1, Amanda L. Botticello1, Janet R. Cummings1, Arun S. Karlamangla2 and Teresa E. Seeman2

1 Department of Community Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles, CA
2 Division of Geriatrics, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA

Correspondence to Dr. Richard G. Wight, UCLA School of Public Health, 650 Charles E. Young Drive South, Box 951772, Los Angeles, CA 90095 (e-mail: rwight{at}ucla.edu).

Existing research has not addressed the potential impact of neighborhood context—educational attainment of neighbors in particular—on individual-level cognition among older adults. Using hierarchical linear modeling, the authors analyzed data from the 1993 Study of Assets and Health Dynamics Among the Oldest Old (AHEAD), a large, nationally representative sample of US adults born before 1924. Data from participants residing in urban neighborhoods (n = 3,442) were linked with 1990 US Census tract data. Findings indicate that 1) average cognitive function varies significantly across US Census tracts; 2) older adults living in low-education areas fare less well cognitively than those living in high-education areas, net of individual characteristics, including their own education; 3) this association is sustained when controlling for contextual-level median household income; and 4) the effect of individual-level educational attainment differs across neighborhoods of varying educational profiles. Promoting educational attainment among the general population living in disadvantaged neighborhoods may prove cognitively beneficial to its aging residents because it may lead to meliorations in stressful life conditions and coping deficiencies.

aged; cognition; education; residence characteristics; socioeconomic factors

Abbreviations: AHEAD, Study of Assets and Health Dynamics Among the Oldest Old

Editor's note: An invited commentary on this article appears on page 1079, and the authors' response is on page 1083.


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