The Correlates of Cognitive and Metacognitive Stability and Change in the First Five Waves of the Health and Retirement Study (1992-2000)

This dissertation explores the correlates of cognition and metacognition over the first five waves of the longitudinal Health and Retirement Study (HRS) out of the University of Michigan. The HRS is a national data base primarily concerned with health and retirement issues of those who were aged 51 to 61 in 1992. A new wave was completed every two years. Using multinomial logistic regression analyses various sociodemographic, health, lifestyle, and baseline, early-wave cognitive functioning variables were viewed as potential predictors of later-wave cognitive functioning four or eight years later and for trajectories of memory performance over the five waves. Several of the demographic and former cognitive functioning variables tended to be robust predictors of future cognitive functioning. Exerting a consistently negative influence were being male, an increase in depression symptoms, and self-reported Instrumental Activities of Daily Living impairments (specifically map-reading). Positive influences were exerted by being in the white racial group, higher educational levels, self-perceived better health, and higher baseline memory, analogies, and vocabulary scores. The current project lays the foundation for future exploration of the correlates of cognitive impairment, including dementia, as this population group heads into their seventh decade.

PREDICTIVE MODEL

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