Scientific article
OA Policy
English

The relationship between life course socioeconomic conditions and objective and subjective memory in older age

Published inBrain Sciences, vol. 11, no. 1, 61
Publication date2021
Abstract

While objective memory performance in older adults was primarily shown to be affected by education as indicator of life course socioeconomic conditions, other life course socioeconomic conditions seem to relate to subjective memory complaints. However, studies differ in which life course stages were investigated. Moreover, studies have explored these effects in an isolated way, but have not yet investigated their unique effect when considering several stages of the life course simultaneously. This study, therefore, examined the respective influence of socioeconomic conditions from childhood up to late-life on prospective memory (PM) performance as an objective indicator of everyday memory as well as on subjective memory complaints (SMC) in older age using structural equation modeling. Data came from two waves of the Vivre-Leben-Vivere aging study (n=993, Mage=80.56). The results indicate that only socioeconomic conditions in adulthood significantly predicted late-life PM performance. PM performance was also predicted by age and self-rated health. In contrast, SMC in older age were not predicted by socioeconomic conditions at any stage of the life course but were predicted by level of depression. In line with the cognitive reserve hypothesis, present results highlight the significance of education and occupation (adulthood socioeconomic conditions) for cognitive functioning in later life.

Keywords
  • Life course
  • Socioeconomic conditions
  • Prospective memory
  • Subjective memory complaints
  • Aging
Funding
  • Swiss National Science Foundation - The Swiss National Centre Of Competence In Research Lives—Overcoming Vulnerability: Life Course Perspectives grant number 51NF40-185901
  • Autre - the Leenaards Foundation; and other grants of the Swiss National Science Foundation (NCCR Synapsy, grant numbers 32003B_135679, 32003B_159780, 324730_192755, and CRSK-3_190185).
Citation (ISO format)
KUENZI, Morgane et al. The relationship between life course socioeconomic conditions and objective and subjective memory in older age. In: Brain Sciences, 2021, vol. 11, n° 1, p. 61. doi: 10.3390/brainsci11010061
Main files (1)
Article (Published version)
Identifiers
Journal ISSN2076-3425
483views
134downloads

Technical informations

Creation15/01/2021 15:45:00
First validation15/01/2021 15:45:00
Update time16/03/2023 00:56:36
Status update16/03/2023 00:56:35
Last indexation31/10/2024 22:07:18
All rights reserved by Archive ouverte UNIGE and the University of GenevaunigeBlack