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

10.1093/geroni/igaa057.2331
igaa057.2331
Abstracts
Session 6025 (Symposium)
AcademicSubjects/SOC02600
Discrimination and Protective Factors to Cognitive Health: Testing NIA’s Health Disparities Framework
Gonzales Ernest 1 Whetung Cliff 1 Lee Jane 3 Wang Yi 4 1 
New York University, New York, New York, United States
3 
University of Hawai’i, Myron B. Thompson School of Social Work, Honolulu, Hawaii, United States
4 
University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, 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”672 672
© 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
Cognitive impairment is a worldwide epidemic. Informed by NIA’s Health Disparities Framework, this study investigated interpersonal, behavioral, and sociocultural risk and protective factors associated with cognitive health trajectories. Mixed models examined factors associated with cognitive health with data from the Health and Retirement Study among Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics (2008-2014, N=4,511). A majority of respondents who experienced everyday discrimination attributed it to ageism among this racially and ethnically diverse sample. Stratified mixed models of everyday discrimination by attribution (racism or ageism) revealed worse cognitive functioning. Major lifetime discrimination was not statistically associated with cognitive functioning. Economic factors (education, income, assets) and religious activity protected cognitive functioning and were particularly salient for Blacks and Hispanics. Strategies that bolster individual resilience as well as social policies that address discrimination and structural inequities will likely reduce health disparities and improve population health.