Journal
JOURNAL OF AGING AND HEALTH
Volume 33, Issue 3-4, Pages 217-226Publisher
SAGE PUBLICATIONS INC
DOI: 10.1177/0898264320972547
Keywords
cumulative advantage; childhood happiness; cognitive function; self-mastery; National Social Life; Health and Aging Project
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Funding
- Multidisciplinary Research Training in Gerontology at the University of Southern California [T32AG000037]
- NSHAP Fellows Program at NORC at the University of Chicago
- National Institute on Aging
- National Institutes of Health [R01AG043538, R01AG048511]
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The study found a significant positive correlation between growing up in a happy family environment and cognitive functioning levels, which is partly explained by enhancing self-mastery in adulthood.
Objectives: We examine whether childhood family well-being is associated with cognitive functioning and to what extent the association between the family context and cognitive functioning is explained by adulthood resources. Methods: Data are drawn from the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project Wave 3 (2015/2016; N = 3361). We measured cognitive functioning using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment. Childhood family factors included family-life happiness, family structure, and family socioeconomic status. Education, social connectedness, self-mastery, and self-rated health were assessed as adulthood resources. Results: Respondents who grew up in a happy family had significantly higher levels of cognitive functioning. The formal mediation test suggests that a happy family life during childhood has a positive association with later cognition, in part, by enhancing self-mastery in adulthood. Discussion: Our findings provide evidence that positive childhood experiences are linked to later life cognition. The sense of control people have over their life circumstances is one potential pathway explaining this association.
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