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Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have been associated with worse cognitive health in older adulthood. This study aimed to extend findings on the specificity, persistence, and pathways of associations between two ACEs and cognition by using a comprehensive neuropsychological battery and a time-lagged mediation design. Participants were 3304 older adults in the Health and Retirement Study Harmonized Cognitive Assessment Protocol. Participants retrospectively reported whether they were exposed to parental substance abuse or experienced parental physical abuse before age 18. Factor scores derived from a battery of 13 neuropsychological tests indexed cognitive domains of episodic memory, executive functioning, processing speed, language, and visuospatial function. Structural equation models examined self-reported years of education and stroke as mediators, controlling for sociodemographics and childhood socioeconomic status. Parental substance abuse in childhood was associated with worse later-life cognitive function across all domains, in part via pathways involving educational attainment and stroke. Parental physical abuse was associated with worse cognitive outcomes via stroke independent of education. This national longitudinal study in the United States provides evidence for broad and persistent indirect associations between two ACEs and cognitive aging via differential pathways involving educational attainment and stroke. Future research should examine additional ACEs and mechanisms as well as moderators of these associations to better understand points of intervention.

Sedentary behavior has been associated with poor health outcomes, especially in older adulthood. Given that sedentary behavior is a highly prevalent, modifiable health behavior, there has been a recent increased interest in examining how sedentary behavior relates to cognition and brain health. The current body of literature is limited and mixed. The purpose of this systematic review was to examine the associations of sedentary behavior with cognition and brain health in older adults across the cognitive spectrum. This study was pre-registered with PROSPERO (CRD42023477868). Six comprehensive databases were searched with pre-registered search terms. A total of 33 studies were included. Overall, results indicated that greater sedentary behavior was associated with worse cognition and brain health, although associations varied based on differences in measurement and classification of sedentary behavior. We discuss next steps and implications for future research.

Social engagement may be an important protective resource for cognitive aging. Some evidence suggests that time spent with friends may be more beneficial for cognition than time spent with family. Because maintaining friendships has been demonstrated to require more active maintenance and engagement in shared activities, activity engagement may be one underlying pathway that explains the distinct associations between contact frequency with friends versus family and cognition. Using two waves of data from the national survey of Midlife in the United States (n = 3707, Mage = 55.80, 51% female at baseline), we examined longitudinal associations between contact frequency with friends and family, activity engagement (cognitive and physical activities), and cognition (episodic memory and executive functioning) to determine whether activity engagement mediates the relationship between contact frequency and cognition. The longitudinal mediation model revealed that more frequent contact with friends, but not family, was associated with greater concurrent engagement in physical and cognitive activities, which were both associated with better episodic memory and executive functioning. These findings suggest that time spent with friends may promote both cognitively and physically stimulating activities that could help to preserve not only these social relationships but also cognitive functioning.

Abstract Study Objectives Insomnia may be a modifiable risk factor for later-life cognitive impairment. We investigated: (1) which insomnia symptoms are associated with subsequent cognitive functioning across domains; (2) whether insomnia–cognition associations are mediated by mental and physical health; and (3) whether these associations are modified by gender. Methods Participants included 2595 adults ages 51–88 at baseline (Mage=64.00 ± 6.66, 64.5% women) in the Health and Retirement Study. The frequency of insomnia symptoms (difficulty initiating sleep, night time awakenings, early awakenings, and feeling unrested upon awakening) at baseline (2002) were quantified using a modified Jenkins Sleep Questionnaire. Cognition was assessed in 2016 via the Harmonized Cognitive Assessment Protocol and operationalized with factor scores corresponding to five domains. Depressive symptoms and vascular conditions in 2014 were assessed via self-report. Structural equation models estimated total, indirect, and direct effects of insomnia symptoms on subsequent cognition through depressive symptoms and vascular diseases, controlling for baseline sociodemographic and global cognition. Results Frequent difficulty initiating sleep was associated with poorer episodic memory, executive function, language, visuoconstruction, and processing speed 14 years later (−0.06 ≤ β ≤ −0.04; equivalent to 2.2–3.4 years of aging). Depressive symptoms explained 12.3%–19.5% of these associations and vascular disease explained 6.3%–14.6% of non-memory associations. No other insomnia symptoms were associated with cognition, and no associations were modified by gender. Conclusions Difficulty initiating sleep in later life may predict future cognitive impairment through multiple pathways. Future research with longitudinal assessments of insomnia, insomnia treatments, and cognition is needed to evaluate insomnia as a potential intervention target to optimize cognitive aging. Graphical Abstract Graphical Abstract

Educational attainment is a well-documented predictor of later-life cognition, but less is known about upstream contextual factors. This study aimed to identify which early-life contextual factors uniquely predict later-life global cognition and whether educational attainment mediates these relationships. Participants were drawn from the Michigan Cognitive Aging Project ( = 485; = 63.51; = 3.13; 50% non-Hispanic Black). Early-life exposures included U.S. region of elementary school (Midwest, South, Northeast), average parental education, household composition (number of adults (1, 2, 3+), number of children), school racial demographics (predominantly White, predominantly Black, diverse), self-reported educational quality, and school type (public/private). Later-life global cognition was operationalized with a factor score derived from a comprehensive neuropsychological battery. Sequential mediation models controlling for sociodemographics estimated total, direct, and indirect effects of early-life contextual factors on cognition through educational attainment (years). Higher educational quality, higher parental education, and attending a private school were each associated with better cognition; attending a predominantly Black or diverse school and reporting three or more adults in the household were associated with lower cognition. After accounting for educational attainment, associations remained for educational quality, school type, and reporting three or more adults in the household. Indirect effects through educational attainment were observed for school region, educational quality, school racial demographics, and parental education. School factors appear to consistently predict later-life cognition more than household factors, highlighting the potential long-term benefits of school-level interventions for cognitive aging. Future research should consider additional mediators beyond educational attainment such as neighborhood resources and childhood adversity.

INTRODUCTION Neighborhood characteristics are increasingly implicated in cognitive health disparities, but no research has investigated how the historical context of neighborhoods shapes these disparities. METHODS Four hundred sixty‐four Black (55%) and White older adults (Mage = 63.6) were drawn from the Michigan Cognitive Aging Project, a community‐based, prospective study of older adults. Participants’ addresses at baseline (2017–2020) were geocoded and linked to 2000–2017 measures of neighborhood socioeconomic status (NSES): disadvantage [NDis] and affluence [NAff]. Latent class growth analysis (LCGA) characterized 18 interpolated year trajectories of NSES across 1344 census tracts. Path analysis examined whether NSES trajectory classes mediated the association between race and a global cognition composite. RESULTS LCGA identified three NDis and two NAff trajectory classes, which were associated with participant race. Only one NDis class was associated with cognition, and it mediated the association between the Black race and cognition. DISCUSSION Disinvestment in neighborhoods may be particularly salient in race disparities in cognitive function. Highlights Race is implicated in the likelihood of living in more disadvantaged neighborhoods. Historical trends in neighborhood disadvantage are associated with cognitive function in older adulthood. Identifying patterns of neighborhood change may inform neighborhood‐level interventions.

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) may be a risk factor for later-life cognitive disorders such as dementia; however, few studies have investigated underlying mechanisms, such as cardiovascular health and depressive symptoms, in a health disparities framework. 418 community-dwelling adults (50% nonHispanic Black, 50% nonHispanic White) aged 55+ from the Michigan Cognitive Aging Project retrospectively reported on nine ACEs. Baseline global cognition was a z-score composite of five factor scores from a comprehensive neuropsychological battery. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. Cardiovascular health was operationalized through systolic blood pressure. A mediation model controlling for sociodemographics, childhood health, and childhood socioeconomic status estimated indirect effects of ACEs on global cognition via depressive symptoms and blood pressure. Racial differences were probed via t-tests and stratified models. A negative indirect effect of ACEs on cognition was observed through depressive symptoms [ = -.040, 95% CI (-.067, -.017)], but not blood pressure, for the whole sample. Black participants reported more ACEs (Cohen's = .21), reported more depressive symptoms (Cohen's = .35), higher blood pressure (Cohen's = .41), and lower cognitive scores (Cohen's = 1.35) compared to White participants. In stratified models, there was a negative indirect effect through depressive symptoms for Black participants [ = -.074, 95% CI (-.128, -.029)] but not for White participants. These results highlight the need to consider racially patterned contextual factors across the life course. Such factors could exacerbate the negative impact of ACEs and related mental health consequences and contribute to racial disparities in cognitive aging.

Stress is a risk factor for numerous negative health outcomes, including cognitive impairment in late-life. The negative association between stress and cognition may be mediated by depressive symptoms, which separate studies have identified as both a consequence of perceived stress and a risk factor for cognitive decline. Pathways linking perceived stress, depressive symptoms, and cognition may be moderated by sociodemographics and psychosocial resources. The goal of this cross-sectional study was to identify modifying factors and enhance understanding of the mechanisms underlying the stress-cognition association in a racially and ethnically diverse sample of older adults. A linear regression estimated the association between perceived stress and episodic memory in 578 older adults (Mage = 74.58) in the Washington Heights-Inwood Columbia Aging Project. Subsequent models tested whether depressive symptoms mediated the stress-memory relationship and whether sociodemographics (gender, race, and ethnicity) or perceived control moderated these pathways. Independent of sociodemographics and chronic diseases, greater perceived stress was associated with worse episodic memory. This relationship was mediated by more depressive symptoms. Higher perceived control buffered the association between stress and depressive symptoms. There was no significant moderation by gender, race, or ethnicity. Depressive symptoms may play a role in the negative association between perceived stress and cognition among older adults; however, longitudinal analyses and studies using experimental designs are needed. Perceived control is a modifiable psychological resource that may offset the negative impact of stress.

Being married may protect late-life cognition. Less is known about living arrangement among unmarried adults and mechanisms such as brain health (BH) and cognitive reserve (CR) across race and ethnicity or sex/gender. The current study examines (1) associations between marital status, BH, and CR among diverse older adults and (2) whether one's living arrangement is linked to BH and CR among unmarried adults. Cross-sectional data come from the Washington Heights-Inwood Columbia Aging Project ( = 778, 41% Hispanic, 33% non-Hispanic Black, 25% non-Hispanic White; 64% women). Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) markers of BH included cortical thickness in Alzheimer's disease signature regions and hippocampal, gray matter, and white matter hyperintensity volumes. CR was residual variance in an episodic memory composite after partialing out MRI markers. Exploratory analyses stratified by race and ethnicity and sex/gender and included potential mediators. Marital status was associated with CR, but not BH. Compared to married individuals, those who were previously married (i.e., divorced, widowed, and separated) had lower CR than their married counterparts in the full sample, among White and Hispanic subgroups, and among women. Never married women also had lower CR than married women. These findings were independent of age, education, physical health, and household income. Among never married individuals, living with others was negatively linked to BH. Marriage may protect late-life cognition via CR. Findings also highlight differential effects across race and ethnicity and sex/gender. Marital status could be considered when assessing the risk of cognitive impairment during routine screenings.

INTRODUCTION Comparing sleep and rest–activity rhythms across different cognitive aging pathways can identify novel risk factors and potential mechanisms. However, our current understanding is restricted by differences in sleep measurement, limited longitudinal data, and heterogeneous cognitive aging processes. METHODS We applied cubic splines to longitudinal self‐reported sleep and actigraphy data from 1449 participants in the Rush Memory and Aging Project and quantified differences in the levels and trajectories of sleep amount, regularity, and timing within and between three cognitive aging pathways: normal, stable mild cognitive impairment, dementia. RESULTS Sleep amount was lowest in the dementia pathway prior to cognitive impairment but increased with age, most rapidly after dementia. Regularity declined across all pathways, most rapidly after cognitive diagnoses. Timing advanced across all pathways. DISCUSSION Shorter sleep amount in cognitively healthy older adults may be a risk factor or prodromal indicator of dementia, while longer sleep amounts and decreasing regularity may reflect neurodegeneration. Highlights We quantified longitudinal changes in sleep across three cognitive‐aging pathways. We incorporated both subjective and objective measures of sleep health. Self‐report duration increased noticeably from before to after cognitive diagnosis. Sleep irregularity increased most prominently after cognitive diagnosis. Advances in sleep timing occurred in both normal and pathological aging.