b'AGING IN THE 21ST CENTURYthis seems to be explained by the effect of educa- (Alley et al. 2007). Similarly, over time, the riskeducation from the HRS to investigate the tion and APOEe 4 (Plassman et al. 2007). Similardifference between those with lower and highereffects of mothers education on dementia risk. risks are identified in the study of incident, oreducational levels remains the same (Karlamang- Compared to participants whose mothers had at new cases of dementia (Plassman et al. 2011),la et al. 2009). least eight years of education, those with mothers except that male gender is significantly associ- Figure 2-5 demonstrates the strong relation- having fewer than eight years of education have ated with incident AD. Further, race is not a riskship between educational level and cognition.a significantly elevated risk of CIND or dementia, factor for new diagnosis of CIND, AD, or otherThe figure shows a mean cognition score in 201231% versus 45%, respectively. This strong risk re-dementias. More recently, Hurd et al. (2013)(that goes from zero to 27) across four levels ofmains even after taking into account other known used a predicted probability of dementia in theeducation, and across four different age groups.dementia risk factors, such as the APOEe 4 allele HRS, validated against ADAMS. Nonwhite race,At every age group, there is a positive associationand the individuals own educational level. female gender, single status, older age, lowerbetween education and cognitive functioning. educational level, and lower household incomeInterestingly, the mean score for those with less are associated with greater dementia risk inthan a high-school education at ages 55 to 64 is 2010. While there are race differences in cogni- the same as that for those with a college degree orThe APOEe 4 allele is also tive functioning at baseline, Castora-Binkley etmore at age 85 and older. associated with an increased al. (2015) find no racial difference in the rate ofThe benefits of education for dementia cognitive decline over time. risk appear to span generations. Rogers et al.risk of dementia.Interestingly, as individuals begin to expe- (2009) use ADAMS data combined with parental rience symptoms of cognitive impairment, they appear to be aware of it. In addition to objectiveFIGURE 2-5Mean cognitive score by age and educational level: 2012tests, the HRS asks participants to give theirSource: HRS 2012.own subjective assessments of their memory. Hlr et al. (2015) find that those who reportScoresteeper declines of subjective memory indeed18show steeper declines of memory performance16over time. 14Education 12Higher educational levels have long been thought10to confer protection against cognitive decline in8older adults. A number of studies use data from the oldest HRS cohort to evaluate the effects of6education on late-life cognitive functioning. As4expected, higher educational levels are associated2with higher cognitive functioning, but these 0studies show that the effect of education does notAge: 55-64 Age: 65-74 Age: 75-84 Age: 85+affect the rate of decline in cognitive functioning Years of education: 12 12 13-15 16+42'