Older Black and Hispanic adults report more religious involvement, and religious involvement has been linked to better cognition. This study examined which aspects of religious involvement are associated with better longitudinal episodic memory and whether religious involvement offsets racial and ethnic inequalities in episodic memory. Using Health and Retirement Study data (N = 16,069), latent growth curves estimated independent indirect pathways between race and ethnicity and 6-year memory trajectories through religious attendance, private prayer, and religious belief, controlling for nonreligious social participation, depressive symptoms, chronic health diseases, age, education, and wealth. Negative direct effects of Black race and Hispanic ethnicity on memory were partially offset by positive indirect pathways through more private prayer and religious attendance. While results were significant for memory intercept and not subsequent memory change, religious attendance and private prayer were independently associated with better cognitive health among diverse older adults. Findings may inform culturally relevant intervention development to promote successful aging and reduce older adults’ cognitive morbidity.
AndersonN. B. (1989). Racial differences in stress-induced cardiovascular reactivity and hypertension: Current status and substantive issues. Psychological Bulletin, 105, 89–105.
2.
AyeleH.MulliganT.GheorghiuS.Reyes-OrtizC. (1999). Religious activity improves life satisfaction for some physicians and older patients. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 47, 453–455.
3.
BackmanL.SmallB. J.FratiglioniL. (2001). Stability of the preclinical episodic memory deficit in Alzheimer’s disease. Brain, 124, 96–102.
4.
BarnesL. L.LewisT. T.BegenyC. T.YuL.BennettD. A.WilsonR. S. (2012). Perceived discrimination and cognition in older African Americans. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 18, 856–865.
5.
BassukS. S.GlassT. A.BerkmanL. F. (1999). Social disengagement and incident cognitive decline in community-dwelling elderly persons. Annals of Internal Medicine, 131, 165–73.
6.
BeeriM. S.Ravona-SpringerR.SilvermanJ. M.HaroutunianV. (2009). The effects of cardiovascular risk factors on cognitive compromise. Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience, 11, 201–12.
7.
CarvalhoJ. O.TommetD.CraneP. K.ThomasM. L.ClaxtonA.HabeckC.…RomeroH. R. (2015). Deconstructing racial differences: The effects of quality of education and cerebrovascular risk factors. Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 70, 545–556.
8.
ClarkR.AndersonN. B.ClarkV. R.WilliamsD. R. (1999). Racism as a stressor for African Americans. A biopsychosocial model. The American Psychologist, 54, 805–816.
9.
CorsentinoE. A.CollinsN.Sachs-EricssonN.BlazerD. G. (2009). Religious attendance reduces cognitive decline among older women with high levels of depressive symptoms. Journals of Gerontology, Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, 64A, 1283–1289.
10.
CrowtherM. R.ParkerM. W.AchenbaumW. A.LarimoreW. L.KoenigH. G. (2002). Rowe and Kahn’s model of successful aging revisited. The Gerontologist, 42, 613–620.
11.
EarlyD. R.WidamanK. F.HarveyD.BeckettL.ParkL. Q.FariasS. T.…MungasD. (2013). Demographic predictors of cognitive change in ethnically diverse older persons. Psychology and Aging, 28, 633–645.
12.
EllisonC. G.LevinJ. S. (1998). The religion-health connection: Evidence, theory, and future directions. Health Education & Behavior, 25, 700–720.
13.
Fetzer Institute. (2003). Brief multidimensional measure of religiousness/spirituality: 1999. In GroupN. W. (Ed.), Multidimensional measurement of religiousness/spirituality for use in health research: A report of the Fetzer Institute/National Institute on Aging Working Group (pp. 85–88). Kalamazoo, MI: Fetzer Institute.
14.
FratiglioniL.Paillard-BorgS.WinbladB. (2004). An active and socially integrated lifestyle in late life might protect against dementia. The Lancet Neurology, 3, 343–353.
15.
GervaisW. M.NorenzayanA. (2012). Analytic thinking promotes religious disbelief. Science (New York, N.Y.), 336, 493–496. doi:10.1126/science.1215647
16.
GlymourM. M.ManlyJ. J. (2008). Lifecourse social conditions and racial and ethnic patterns of cognitive aging. Neuropsychology Review, 18, 223–254.
17.
GrossA. L.MungasD. M.CraneP. K.GibbonsL. E.MacKay-BrandtA.ManlyJ. J.…JonesR. N. (2015). Effects of education and race on cognitive decline: An integrative study of generalizability versus study-specific results. Psychology and Aging, 30, 863–880.
18.
HillT. D. (2008). Religious involvement and healthy cognitive aging: Patterns, explanations, and future directions. Journals of Gerontology, Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, 63, 478–479.
19.
HillT. D.BurdetteA. M.AngelJ. L.AngelR. J. (2006). Religious attendance and cognitive functioning among older Mexican Americans. Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 61, P3–P9.
20.
HosseiniS.ChaurasiaA.OremusM. (2017). The effect of religion and spirituality on cognitive function: A systematic review. The Gerontologist, 12, gnx024.
21.
HuL.BentlerP. M. (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 6, 1–55. doi:10.1080/10705519909540118
22.
HultschD. F.HertzogC.SmallB. J.DixonR. A. (1999). Use it or lose it: Engaged lifestyle as a buffer of cognitive decline in aging?Psychology and Aging, 14, 245–263.
23.
InzelbergR.AfginA.MassarwaM.SchechtmanE.Israeli-KornS.StrugatskyR.…FriedlandR. (2013). Prayer at midlife is associated with reduced risk of cognitive decline in Arabic women. Current Alzheimer Research, 10, 340–346.
24.
KingG. (1996). Institutional racism and the medical/health complex: A conceptual analysis. Ethnicity and Disease, 6, 30–46.
25.
KoenigH. G.FordS. M.GeorgeL. K.BlazerD. G.MeadorK. G. (1993). Religion and anxiety disorder: An examination and comparison of associations in young, middle-aged, and elderly adults. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 7, 321–340.
26.
KoenigH. G.GeorgeL. K.HaysJ. C.LarsonD. B.CohenH. J.BlazerD. G. (1998). The relationship between religious activities and blood pressure in older adults. The International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine, 28, 189–213.
27.
KoenigH. G.GeorgeL. K.TitusP.ÃkC. (2004). Religion, spirituality, and health in medically ill hospitalized older patients. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 52, 554–562.
28.
LevinJ. S. (2003). Private religious practices. In GroupN. W. (Ed.), Multidimensional measurement of religiousness/spirituality for use in health research: A report of the Fetzer Institute/National Institute on Aging Working Group (pp. 39–42). Kalamazoo, MI: Fetzer Institute.
29.
LevinJ. S.ChattersL. M.TaylorR. J. (1995). Religious effects on health status and life satisfaction among Black Americans. Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 50, S154–S163.
30.
LevinJ. S.ChattersL. M.TaylorR. J. (2011). Theory in religion, aging, and health: An overview. Journal of Religion and Health, 50, 389–406.
31.
LevinJ. S.TaylorR. J.ChattersL. M. (1995). A multidimensional measure of religious involvement for African Americans. The Sociological Quarterly, 36, 157–173.
32.
LezakM. D. (1995). Neuropsychological assessment. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
33.
MaldonadoD. (1995). Religion and persons of color. In KimbleM. A. (Ed.), Aginig, sprituality, and religion (pp. 119–128). Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press.
34.
ManlyJ. J.MungasD. (2015). JGPS special series on race, ethnicity, life experiences, and cognitive aging. Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 70, 509–511.
35.
MayedaE. R.GlymourM. M.QuesenberryC. P.WhitmerR. A. (2016). Inequalities in dementia incidence between six racial and ethnic groups over 14 years. Alzheimer’s & Dementia, 12, 216–224.
36.
McculloughM. E.HoytW. T.LarsonD. B.KoenigH. G.ThoresenC. (2000). Religious involvement and mortality: A meta-analytic review. Health Psychology, 19, 211–222.
37.
NguyenA. W.ChattersL. M.TaylorR. J.ArandaM. P.LincolnK. D.ThomasC. S. (2018). Discrimination, serious psychological distress, and church-based emotional support among African American men across the life span. Journals of Gerontology, Series B, 73, 198–207.
38.
PaternitiS.Verdier-TailleferM.-H.DufouilC.AlpérovitchA. (2002). Depressive symptoms and cognitive decline in elderly people. Longitudinal study. The British Journal of Psychiatry: The Journal of Mental Science, 181, 406–410.
39.
RabinL. A.BarrW. B.BurtonL. A. (2005). Assessment practices of clinical neuropsychologists in the United States and Canada: A survey of INS, NAN, and APA division 40 members. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 20, 33–65.
40.
RadloffL. S. (1977). The CES-D Scale: A self-report depression scale for research in the general population. Applied Psychological Measurement, 1, 385–401.
41.
Reyes-OrtizC. A.BergesI. M.RajiM. A.KoenigH. G.KuoY.-F.MarkidesK. S. (2008). Church attendance mediates the association between depressive symptoms and cognitive functioning among older Mexican Americans. Journals of Gerontology, Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, 63, 480–486.
42.
RitchieS. J.GowA. J.DearyI. J. (2014). Religiosity is negatively associated with later-life intelligence, but not with age-related cognitive decline. Intelligence, 46, 9–17.
43.
RoweJ. W.KahnR. L. (1998). Successful aging. New York, NY: Gerontologist.
44.
SaleebyD. (Ed.) (2012). The strengths perspective in social work practice (6th ed.). London, England: Pearson.
45.
SeemanT. E.DubinL. F.SeemanM. (2003). Religiosity/spirituality and health. A critical review of the evidence for biological pathways. The American Psychologist, 58, 53–63.
46.
SonnegaA.FaulJ. D.OfstedalM. B.LangaK. M.PhillipsJ. W.WeirD. R. (2014). Cohort profile: The health and retirement study (HRS). International Journal of Epidemiology, 43, 576–585.
47.
TangM. X.CrossP.AndrewsH.JacobsD. M.SmallS.BellK.…MayeuxR. (2001). Incidence of AD in African-Americans, Caribbean Hispanics, and Caucasians in Northern Manhattan. Neurology, 56, 49–56.
48.
TaylorR. J.ChattersL. M.LevinJ. S. (2004). Religion in the lives of African Americans: Social, psychological, and health perspectives. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
49.
TownsendM.KladderV.AyeleH.MulliganT. (2002). Systematic review of clinical trials examining the effects of religion on health. Southern Medical Journal, 95, 1429–1434.
50.
ValeriL.VanderWeeleT. J. (2013). Mediation analysis allowing for exposure–mediator interactions and causal interpretation: Theoretical assumptions and implementation with SAS and SPSS macros. Psychological Methods, 18, 137–150.
51.
Van NessP. H.KaslS. V. (2003). Religion and cognitive dysfunction in an elderly cohort. Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 58, S21–S29.
52.
WeuveJ.BarnesL. L.Mendes de LeonC. F.RajanK. B.BeckT.AggarwalN. T.…EvansD. A. (2018). Cognitive aging in Black and White Americans. Epidemiology, 29, 151–159.
53.
WilsonR. S.CapuanoA. W.SytsmaJ.BennettD. A.BarnesL. L. (2015). Cognitive aging in older Black and White persons. Psychology and Aging, 30, 279–285.
54.
YeagerD. M.GleiD. A.AuM.LinH.-S.SloanR. P.WeinsteinM. (2006). Religious involvement and health outcomes among older persons in Taiwan. Social Science & Medicine, 63, 2228–2241.
55.
ZahodneL. B.SolK.KraalA. Z. (2019). Psychosocial pathways to racial inequalities in late-life memory trajectories. Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 74, 409–418.
56.
ZissimopoulosJ.CrimminsE.St ClairP. (2015). The value of delaying Alzheimer’s disease onset. Forum for Health Economics and Policy, 18, 25–39.
57.
ZuckermanM.SilbermanJ.HallJ. A. (2013). The relation between intelligence and religiosity. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 17, 325–354.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
