TY - JOUR
T1 - Cohort Changes and Sex Differences After Age 50 in Cognitive Variables in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing
AU - O'Keefe, Patrick
AU - Muniz-Terrera, Graciela
AU - Voll, Stacey
AU - Clouston, Sean
AU - Wanström, Linda
AU - Mann, Frank D.
AU - Lee Rodgers, Joseph
AU - Hofer, Scott M.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.
PY - 2023/10/9
Y1 - 2023/10/9
N2 - OBJECTIVES: This paper models cognitive aging, across mid and late life, and estimates birth cohort and sex differences in both initial levels and aging trajectories over time in a sample with multiple cohorts and a wide span of ages. METHODS: The data used in this study came from the first 9 waves of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, spanning 2002-2019. There were n = 76,014 observations (proportion male 45%). Dependent measures were verbal fluency, immediate recall, delayed recall, and orientation. Data were modeled using a Bayesian logistic growth curve model. RESULTS: Cognitive aging was substantial in 3 of the 4 variables examined. For verbal fluency and immediate recall, males and females could expect to lose about 30% of their initial ability between the ages of 52 and 89. Delayed recall showed a steeper decline, with males losing 40% and females losing 50% of their delayed recall ability between ages 52 and 89 (although females had a higher initial level of delayed recall). Orientation alone was not particularly affected by aging, with less than a 10% change for either males or females. Furthermore, we found cohort effects for initial ability level, with particularly steep increases for cohorts born between approximately 1930 and 1950. DISCUSSION: These cohort effects generally favored later-born cohorts. Implications and future directions are discussed.
AB - OBJECTIVES: This paper models cognitive aging, across mid and late life, and estimates birth cohort and sex differences in both initial levels and aging trajectories over time in a sample with multiple cohorts and a wide span of ages. METHODS: The data used in this study came from the first 9 waves of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, spanning 2002-2019. There were n = 76,014 observations (proportion male 45%). Dependent measures were verbal fluency, immediate recall, delayed recall, and orientation. Data were modeled using a Bayesian logistic growth curve model. RESULTS: Cognitive aging was substantial in 3 of the 4 variables examined. For verbal fluency and immediate recall, males and females could expect to lose about 30% of their initial ability between the ages of 52 and 89. Delayed recall showed a steeper decline, with males losing 40% and females losing 50% of their delayed recall ability between ages 52 and 89 (although females had a higher initial level of delayed recall). Orientation alone was not particularly affected by aging, with less than a 10% change for either males or females. Furthermore, we found cohort effects for initial ability level, with particularly steep increases for cohorts born between approximately 1930 and 1950. DISCUSSION: These cohort effects generally favored later-born cohorts. Implications and future directions are discussed.
KW - Cohort shifts
KW - ELSA
KW - Flynn effect
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U2 - 10.1093/geronb/gbad089
DO - 10.1093/geronb/gbad089
M3 - Article
C2 - 37326391
AN - SCOPUS:85173579739
SN - 1079-5014
VL - 78
SP - 1636
EP - 1641
JO - The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences
JF - The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences
IS - 10
ER -