Older Adult Dementia Risk and Offspring Education in the United States

在美国，患有阿尔茨海默病和相关痴呆症（ADRD）的老年人数量正在增加。记忆和推理能力的严重丧失会破坏个人及其家庭成员的生活质量。然而，教育是一种保护性资源：受教育程度较高的老年人ADRD风险较低。教育和认知功能之间的积极联系也延伸到家庭成员的教育资源。考虑到寿命延长、生育率下降和婚姻不稳定的人口趋势，成年子女的教育可能特别重要，所有这些都突出了成年子女在老年人家庭网络中的突出作用。该项目将评估如何，为什么，以及谁的孩子的教育与老年父母中ADRD的风险有关。利用美国健康与退休研究（HRS）的全国代表性面板数据，该项目有三个目标。第一个目标将比较后代教育的各种概念化。虽然先前的工作认为儿童教育水平较高对健康有益，但对子女教育水平较低对父母健康的意义知之甚少。此外，评估“阈值”（例如，受教育程度最高或最低的儿童的教育水平）与“累积”（例如，高学历儿童的比例）儿童后代教育的措施更好地预测ADRD风险将有助于澄清后代教育如何与父母的大脑健康相关。第二个目标将确定解释途径（代际支持和父母的健康行为和结果）之间的儿童教育和父母的ADRD风险。 该项目的第三个目标将调查儿童教育与父母ADRD风险之间的关系是否在关键亚组中存在差异，包括种族，性别和社会阶层。这项工作将产生积极的影响，纵向扩展研究的差距，纳入家庭和生命历程的角度，重点是一系列的资源，个人借鉴，以保护和提高他们的认知健康在以后的生活。因此，该项目的目标与NIA在其世纪老龄化研究战略计划中描述的研究优先事项相一致。与R15奖励机制相一致，我们将在研究过程中指导和培训本科生和研究生，他们将学习数据管理和分析技能，写作和沟通技巧，并获得机会在当地，地区和全国范围内展示研究成果。该项目将改善绿色保龄球州立大学的研究环境，并帮助推出下一代人口健康科学家。

In the U.S., the number of older adults living with Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias (ADRD) is increasing. Significant loss of memory and reasoning skills can destroy quality of life for the individual as well as their family members. However, education is a protective resource: Older adults with more education experience lower ADRD risk. The positive association between education and cognitive functioning also extends to the educational resources of family members. The education of adult children may be particularly important given demographic trends of increasing longevity, declining fertility, and less marital stability, all of which underscore the salient role of adult children in older adults’ family networks. This project will evaluate how, why, and for whom children’s education is related to the risk of ADRD among older parents. Using nationally representative panel data from the U.S. Health and Retirement Study (HRS), this project has three aims. The first aim will compare various conceptualizations of offspring education. Whereas prior work has considered higher levels of children’s education as a health benefit, less is known about the meaning of lower levels of offspring schooling for parents’ health. In addition, assessing whether “threshold” (e.g., the education level of the highest or least-educated child) versus “cumulative” (e.g., the share of highly-educated children) measures of children’s offspring education better predict ADRD risk will help clarify how offspring education is correlated with parents’ brain health. The second aim will identify explanatory pathways (intergenerational support and parental health behavior and outcomes) between children’s education and parental ADRD risk. The project’s third aim will investigate whether the relationship between children’s education and parents’ ADRD risk differs across key subgroups, including by race, gender, and social class. This work will have a positive impact by vertically extending research on disparities to incorporate a family and life course perspective that focuses on the array of resources individuals draw on to protect and enhance their cognitive health in later life. Thus, the goals of this project align with the research priorities of the NIA described in its strategic plan for research on aging in the 21st century. Consistent with the R15 award mechanism, we will mentor and train undergraduate and graduate students in the research process where they will learn data management and analytical skills, writing and communication skills, and gain opportunities to present research findings locally, regionally, and nationally. This project will enhance the research environment at Bowling Green State University and help launch the next generation of population health scientists.