The Impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences on Cognitive Functioning By Racial/Ethnic Groups

Background and Purpose: Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) include emotional, physical, sexual, and psychological abuse and neglect that individuals may experience in their childhood. These traumatic early life experiences can have long-term negative impacts on cognitive functioning in later life. Research has reported racial/ethnic differences in ACEs and cognitive functioning in later life. However, less is known about the relationship between ACEs and cognitive functioning among older individuals and how this relationship differs by racial/ethnic groups. This study aims to examine how ACEs affect older adults’ cognitive functioning by racial/ethnic groups.

Data and Methods: Using data drawn from the 2012-2013 National Epidemiological Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions – III (n=4,643), survey weighted regression analysis was performed by four racial/ethnic groups of older adults (65+) respectively. The main independent variable, ACEs, was measured by summing an exposure in ten ACEs categories from 29 questions (Dong et al., 2004) for a total ACE score. As dependent variables, attention and executive function were measured from 9 questions in cognitive functioning (Aharonovich et al., 2017). Covariates included protective factors (i.e., interpersonal social relationships, physical activity participation), risky health behaviors (i.e., lifetime nicotine dependence, lifetime alcohol dependence), the number of stressful life events in the prior year, and sociodemographic variables.

Results: Asians (n=187) were less likely to report ACEs than Whites (n=3,432), Blacks (n=604) and Latinos (n=420). Blacks reported a lower level of attention than other racial/ethnic groups, but racial/ethnic differences were not observed for executive functioning. ACEs were negatively associated with executive functioning for Whites and attention for Asians. Lifetime nicotine dependence was negatively associated with attention for Asians and lifetime alcohol dependence was negatively associated with executive functioning for Latinos. Interpersonal social relationships were positively associated with cognitive functioning except for Latinos, whereas physical activity participation was positively associated with cognitive functioning except for Asians. Perceptions of physical health and mental health functioning were positively associated with cognitive functioning for all groups. Experiencing stressful life events in the prior year were positively associated with attention for Asians and executive function for Blacks and Latinos respectively. P-values were smaller than .05 for all findings.

Conclusion and Implications: The findings suggest that adverse early life experiences have long-term negative impacts on cognitive functioning in later life, but impact differently between racial/ethnic groups. Stress coping also appears to be experienced differentially between ethnic groups. Intervention strategies to mitigate the long-term impact of adverse childhood experiences and to promote cognitive functioning in later life will be discussed, as well as protective factors, risky health behaviors, and resilience experienced by racial/ethnic minority older adults.