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. 2015 May;70(3):348-56.
doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbu153. Epub 2014 Oct 31.

Education Desegregation and Cognitive Change in African American Older Adults

Adrienne T Aiken-Morgan  1 , Alyssa A Gamaldo  2 , Regina C Sims  3 , Jason C Allaire  4 , Keith E Whitfield  5
Affiliations

Education Desegregation and Cognitive Change in African American Older Adults

Adrienne T Aiken-Morgan et al. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2015 May.

Abstract

Objectives: 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).

Method: 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.

Results: 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.

Discussion: 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.

Keywords: African Americans; Cognition; Cognitive change; Desegregation..

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Cognitive estimated marginal means by schooling group.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Cognitive estimated marginal means by age cohort group.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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