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Innov Aging
Innov Aging
innovateage
Innovation in Aging
2399-5300 Oxford University Press US 

10.1093/geroni/igaa057.206
igaa057.206
Abstracts
Session 2853 (Poster)
Cognition and Cognitive Assessment
AcademicSubjects/SOC02600
The Correlates of Cognitive Status Among Older Americans Living in the Community: Does Gender Make a Difference?
Cheung Ethan Siu Leung 1 Mui Ada 2 Hoffman Seth 3 1 
Columbia University, Bronx, New York, United States
2 
Columbia University, New York, New York, United States
3 
Columbia University, Rego Park, New York, United States
2020 
16 12 2020 
16 12 2020 
4 Suppl 1 Program Abstracts from The GSA 2020 Annual Scientific Meeting “Turning 75: Why Age Matters”63 63
© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America.2020This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Abstract
Utilizing the data in National Social Life, Health and Aging Project (n = 3,104; 54% female), the study examined the predictors of cognitive impairments in terms of community harmony, community safety, frequency of neighbor contacts, depression, and demographic factors. Bivariate analyses suggest that there were no gender differences in cognitive status (Mean of MoCA Short Form = 9.89; SD = 3.33); nor were there gender differences in age (mean age = 72.95; SD=8.29), ethnic composition (76.1% whites; 15.3% Blacks, 8.6% Asian), community harmony, community safety, frequency of neighbor contacts. On the other hand, men had more education and income than women. Psychologically, older women reported higher level of stress and depression scores than older men. Multiple regression results show that gender has a significant independent effect and joint effects with stressors and community factors in explaining cognitive impairments. Parallel regression analyses for each gender group were conducted and models were significant (P < .0001). There were common predictors of cognitive impairments for the two groups but variables had differential impacts on older men and older women. Specifically, IADL had stronger effect on older men than on older women in predicting cognitive impairments (b = -.23 vs. b=-.10); perceived community harmony had stronger impact on older women in explaining their cognitive status (b = .26 vs. b=.22); older women’s cognitive status benefitted more from perceived community safety than older men (b = .61 vs. b=.43). Regardless of gender, older Whites scored higher than Black and Asian elders in their cognition scores.