Perceptions of societal ageism and declines in subjective memory during the COVID-19 pandemic: Longitudinal evidence from US adults aged ≥55 years

Abstract

The cognitive health of older adults since the COVID-19 pandemic onset is unclear, as is the potential impact of pandemic-associated societal ageism on perceived cognition. We investigated associations between perceptions of societal ageism and changes in subjective memory over a 10-month period during the COVID-19 pandemic. We collected longitudinal data from monthly online questionnaires in the nationwide COVID-19 Coping Study of US adults aged ≥55 from April 2020 to January 2021 (N = 4444). We analyzed the data using multivariable longitudinal multilevel models. We identified an overall decline in subjective memory, especially in the initial months of the pandemic. Adults who perceived that societal respect for older adults decreased during the pandemic experienced more rapid declines in their subjective memory. These findings suggest that aging adults perceived a decline in their memory, especially during the initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Societal interventions to combat ageism may help improve subjective memory and could decrease risk for cognitive decline among middle-aged and older adults.

FIGURE 1

Estimated changes in subjective memory during the COVID‐19 pandemic according to perception of societal ageism, after controlling for the study covariates, COVID‐19 Coping Study, United States, April 2020–January 2021. The figure shows the estimated trajectories of subjective memory for the two extreme responses for the measure of perceived societal ageism (“Strongly disagree” and “Strongly agree”). Less extreme responses are not shown