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How and when education improves cognitive capacity is an issue of profound societal importance. Education and later-life education-related factors, such as occupational complexity and engagement in cognitive-intellectual activities, are frequently considered indices of cognitive reserve, but whether their effects are truly causal remains unclear. In this study, after accounting for general cognitive ability (GCA) at an average age of 20 y, additional education, occupational complexity, or engagement in cognitive-intellectual activities accounted for little variance in late midlife cognitive functioning in men age 56–66 (n = 1009). Age 20 GCA accounted for 40% of variance in the same measure in late midlife and approximately 10% of variance in each of seven cognitive domains. The other factors each accounted for <1% of the variance in cognitive outcomes. The impact of these other factors likely reflects reverse causation—namely, downstream effects of early adult GCA. Supporting that idea, age 20 GCA, but not education, was associated with late midlife cortical surface area (n = 367). In our view, the most parsimonious explanation of our results, a meta-analysis of the impact of education, and epidemiologic studies of the Flynn effect is that intellectual capacity gains due to education plateau in late adolescence/early adulthood. Longitudinal studies with multiple cognitive assessments before completion of education would be needed to confirm this speculation. If cognitive gains reach an asymptote by early adulthood, then strengthening cognitive reserve and reducing later-life cognitive decline and dementia risk may really begin with improving educational quality and access in childhood and adolescence.

Background Socioeconomic status has been operationalised in a variety of ways, most commonly as education, social class, or income. In this study, we also use occupational complexity and a SES-index as alternative measures of socioeconomic status. Studies show that in analyses of health inequalities in the general population, the choice of indicators influence the magnitude of the observed inequalities. Less is known about the influence of indicator choice in studies of older adults. The aim of this study is twofold: i) to analyse the impact of the choice of socioeconomic status indicator on the observed health inequalities among older adults, ii) to explore whether different indicators of socioeconomic status are independently associated with health in old age. Methods We combined data from two nationally representative Swedish surveys, providing more than 20 years of follow-up. Average marginal effects were estimated to compare the association between the five indicators of SES, and three late-life health outcomes: mobility limitations, limitations in activities of daily living (ADL), and psychological distress. Results All socioeconomic status indicators were associated with late-life health; there were only minor differences in the effect sizes. Income was most strongly associated to all indicators of late-life health, the associations remained statistically significant when adjusting for the other indicators. In the fully adjusted models, education contributed to the model fits with 0–3% (depending on the outcome), social class with 0–1%, occupational complexity with 1–8%, and income with 3–18%. Conclusions Our results indicate overlapping properties between socioeconomic status indicators in relation to late-life health. However, income is associated to late-life health independently of all other variables. Moreover, income did not perform substantially worse than the composite SES-index in capturing health variation. Thus, if the primary objective of including an indicator of socioeconomic status is to adjust the model for socioeconomic differences in late-life health rather than to analyse these inequalities per se, income may be the preferable indicator. If, on the other hand, the primary objective of a study is to analyse specific aspects of health inequalities, or the mechanisms that drive health inequalities, then the choice of indicator should be theoretically guided.

INTRODUCTION We addressed whether higher education plays a causal role in reducing dementia risk by comparing two indices of cognitive reserve: education and young adult general cognitive ability (GCA). METHODS We conducted a 52‐year survival analysis to examine associations of GCA and education with dementia in 16,619 male conscripts identified in Swedish national health registries born between 1936 and 1958 and with available data for models including midlife occupational complexity, physical activity, and socioeconomic status (SES). RESULTS Higher GCA was associated with lower dementia risk (hazard ratio = 0.865, 95% confidence interval = 0.756 to 0.990). After accounting for GCA, no other measure contributed significantly to dementia risk. DISCUSSION Putative reserve effects of education or occupational complexity likely reflect largely downstream effects of prior GCA. From a lifespan perspective on reducing dementia risk, the results may suggest favoring interventions aimed at enhancing cognitive development during childhood when there is substantial brain development as opposed to later‐life cognitive training. Highlights Education and GCA serve as indices of cognitive reserve. Education is a modifiable risk factor that is associated with dementia risk. The effect of higher education on reduced dementia risk is not directly causal. Education is largely a downstream effect of prior level of GCA. Increasing GCA during childhood may be more effective than later cognitive training.

INTRODUCTION Occupational characteristics are less commonly measured social determinants of health that may contribute to racial dementia disparities. We assessed whether occupational position (OP) or complexity (OC) mediated racial cognitive disparities. METHODS Participants were Black and White older adults from the Michigan Cognitive Aging Project (MCAP) (n = 536; Mage = 63.64 ± 3.07; 59% women; 53% Black). We assessed whether OP (six US Census categories) or OC (mental/social/physical demands) mediated cognitive disparities. Sequential mediation analyses assessed whether OP explained cognitive disparities through OC, income, and/or wealth. RESULTS Black participants had low (vs high) OP, which predicted worse episodic memory and global cognition (4% to 7% mediated). OC did not mediate cognitive disparities. Disparities in cognition operated through inequities in OP, education, and income. Effects were driven by participants not currently working. DISCUSSION Occupation may influence cognitive disparities primarily through socioeconomic, rather than cognitive stimulation, pathways. Policies targeting workforce inequities may reduce racial disparities in dementia risk. Highlights OP mediated 4% to 7% of racial cognitive disparities. OC did not uniquely mediate racial cognitive disparities. Sequential mediation highlighted life course socioeconomic pathways of disparities. Socioeconomic factors more strongly relate to cognitive disparities than engagement. Findings were driven by participants who were not currently in the workforce.

While dialectal variation is often investigated from a geographical angle, there exists substantial variation both within the community and individual. The aim of the present article is to investigate the extent to which spatial, occupational, and age-related factors are associated with the diversity of linguistic variants reported per informant at a given locality. Drawing on colloquial language data from the Atlas zur deutschen Alltagssprache ‘Atlas of Colloquial German,’ we found that informants from southeastern Germany and Austria reported familiarity with more variants. Moreover, we multifactorially operationalize occupational complexity, a variable that can capture the effects of different communicative, technical, and physical skills required in a job (via the Dictionary of Occupational Titles). Bayesian multilevel modeling revealed that informants in occupations involving physical precision work and communicative complexity reported less familiarity with variants, and that younger informants were familiar with a wider range of variants.

Introduction Engagement in cognitively stimulating work and activities may slow cognitive decline and dementia. We examined the individual and combined associations of four cognitive engagement indices (educational attainment, occupational complexity, social engagement, and cognitively stimulating leisure activities) with objective and subjective cognition. Methods Middle‐aged adults (n = 1864) enrolled in the Healthy Brain Project completed the Cogstate Brief Battery, the Cognitive Function Instrument, and self‐report questionnaires of cognitive engagement. Results Educational attainment and leisure activity engagement were individually associated with memory performance. Participants were classified based on whether they rated highly in zero to four cognitive engagement indices. Compared to participants with no indices, participants with two or more indices performed moderately better on memory. Discussion Results suggest that greater variety of cognitive engagement across different areas of life is related to better memory in midlife. Possible explanation for this relationship may be increased opportunity for enhancing cognitive reserve, but further investigations are required.

The basic cognitive skill of numeracy is a recognized form of human capital, associated with economic and social well being for individuals and for nations. In this study, we explore how occupational complexity relates to proficiency in numeracy, among adults in full-time employment. We operationalize occupational complexity by constructing three measures of task complexity: complexity with data, complexity with people and complexity with things. Data from the international OECD survey of adult skills, 2012, is employed to investigate both the distribution of these three dimensions of occupational task complexity and how these relate to numeracy in 13 countries. The analysis indicates that data occupational complexity predicts numeracy scores, when controlling for age, gender and educational level. The findings open for a hypothesis that occupational activities may enhance basic skills in adult populations. If elaborated and supported through further studies this finding has practical implications for workplace organization and contributes to theoretical understandings of the development of basic skills in adults.

Background and Aims Lower occupational cognitive complexity (OCC) and physical inactivity have been associated with advanced brain aging and cognitive decline in older adulthood. We examined whether the association of occupational sedentary time with cognitive function remains after adjustment for OCC and education. Methods In this cross‐sectional study, we included participants from the Framingham Heart Study who did not have dementia, were not retired or unemployed, and completed the neuropsychology and occupation assessments, and wore an accelerometer for at least 3 days (n = 1821, 47% men, mean age 48.5). Three cognitive function assessments were used: logical memory delayed recall (LMD), Weschler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) similarities subtest (SIM), and Trail Making Test B minus A (Trails B‐A). Lastly, OCC was measured using data from the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Information Network (O*NET). Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) models were used to evaluate the association of occupational sedentary time (independent variable) with cognitive function (dependent variable), including models adjusting for age, sex, leisure time physical activity (LTPA), education, and OCC. Results Higher self‐reported occupational sedentary time (“often/always” compared to “never/seldom”) was associated with higher cognitive function after adjusting for age, sex, and LTPA (beta = 0.72 [SE = 0.21], 0.76 [0.18], and 0.04 [0.01], for LMD, SIM, Trails B‐A, respectively, all with p < 0.001). OCC was also associated with higher cognitive function. When additionally adjusting for education and OCC, the association of occupational sedentary time with cognitive performance was attenuated and no longer statistically significant for LMD and SIM (beta= 0.18 [SE = 0.22], 0.11 [0.19], p > 0.05). Conclusion Our findings indicate that the association of higher occupational sedentary time with higher cognitive function was partially explained by a combination of higher OCC and education level. Occupations with higher OCC, may contribute to cognitive resilience despite these occupations being more sedentary. Summary Our results suggest that occupational cognitive complexity partially explains the positive association of occupational sitting time and cognitive function in middle‐aged adults. Individuals with more cognitively complex occupations spend more time sitting at work and performed better on cognitive function tests, even after adjusting for the higher educational status often required to obtain cognitively complex occupations. The context for sedentary behaviors (whether they are cognitively engaging or not) is an important consideration not typically studied when investigating the complex relationships among physical activity, sedentary time, and brain health.

This article reviews three dramatic workplace changes and examines their implications for employees and their families. The changes include downsizing, diffusing information via computerized telecommunication technologies, and increasing reliance on high-involvement team approaches. It is proposed that these changes are related to workplace characteristics that impact families, including work stress, social support, and occupational complexity. Conclusions focus on program and policy implications of these work-family dynamics.