Gesundheitswesen 2016; 78 - A15
DOI: 10.1055/s-0036-1586525

Level of and Change in Cognitive Functioning among Dutch Older Adults: Does Neighborhood Socioeconomic Status Matter?

J Wörn 1, L Ellwardt 2, 3, M Huisman 4, 5, M Aartsen 6
  • 1Research Training Group SOCLIFE, University of Cologne, Cologne
  • 2Cologne Graduate School in Economics, Management and Social Sciences, University of Cologne, Cologne
  • 3Department of Sociology and Social Psychology, University of Cologne, Cologne
  • 4Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences, VU University, Amsterdam
  • 5VU Medical Center, VU University, Amsterdam
  • 6Centre for Welfare and Labour Research, Norwegian Social Research, Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences, Oslo

Along with demographic changes, issues of age-related cognitive decline and impaired cognitive functioning have become more prevalent. In attempts to identify predictors of cognitive functioning (i.e. the abilities to attend, think, reason and to recall information) in older adults, researchers have looked into features of the residential neighborhood of older adults, especially neighborhood socioeconomic status. Yet, previous findings have been inconclusive due to cross-sectional designs of the majority of studies. Since a true contextual neighborhood effect requires differences in the strength of cognitive decline over time, this study goes beyond the cross-sectional examination of level differences in cognitive functioning and additionally investigates whether the socioeconomic status of a neighborhood also predicts the strength of cognitive decline. We argue that neighborhoods with a higher (vs. lower) socioeconomic status are more likely to provide experiences that are beneficial for cognitive functioning, especially opportunities for social, intellectual and physical activities.

Official statistics on neighborhood socioeconomic status were combined with three waves of data from the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (LASA; waves from 1995, 1998, 2001), thus covering a 6-year period. The LASA data contain different cognitive tests which we use to model the change of cognitive functioning over time, applying a multilevel approach to growth curve modeling. Individual socioeconomic characteristics are controlled for to account for selection into neighborhoods. The analyses are based on more than 1,200 individuals aged 57 to 88 years at baseline in 1995.

Preliminary findings show that the average level of older adults' cognitive functioning is higher in socioeconomically better off neighborhoods than in worse off neighborhoods. These socioeconomic differences at the neighborhood level are strongly reduced once individual socioeconomic characteristics are introduced to the models. As regards cognitive decline, we do not find systematic differences by neighborhood socioeconomic status. Thus, this study among Dutch older adults does not provide support for a strong role of neighborhood socioeconomic status in cognitive functioning and decline.