Association of work-family experience with mid- and late-life memory decline in US women
Abstract
Objective
To test the hypothesis that life course patterns of employment, marriage, and childrearing influence later-life rate of memory decline among women, we examined the relationship of work-family experiences between ages 16 and 50 years and memory decline after age 55 years among US women.
Methods
Participants were women ages ≥55 years in the Health and Retirement Study. Participants reported employment, marital, and parenthood statuses between ages 16 and 50 years. Sequence analysis was used to group women with similar work-family life histories; we identified 5 profiles characterized by similar timing and transitions of combined work, marital, and parenthood statuses. Memory performance was assessed biennially from 1995 to 2016. We estimated associations between work-family profiles and later-life memory decline with linear mixed-effects models adjusted for practice effects, baseline age, race/ethnicity, birth region, childhood socioeconomic status, and educational attainment.
Results
There were 6,189 study participants (n = 488 working nonmothers, n = 4,326 working married mothers, n = 530 working single mothers, n = 319 nonworking single mothers, n = 526 nonworking married mothers). Mean baseline age was 57.2 years; average follow-up was 12.3 years. Between ages 55 and 60, memory scores were similar across work-family profiles. After age 60, average rate of memory decline was more than 50% greater among women whose work-family profiles did not include working for pay after childbearing, compared with those who were working mothers.
Conclusions
Women who worked for pay in early adulthood and midlife experienced slower rates of later-life memory decline, regardless of marital and parenthood status, suggesting participation in the paid labor force may protect against later-life memory decline.
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© 2020 American Academy of Neurology.
Publication History
Received: February 4, 2020
Accepted: August 3, 2020
Published online: November 4, 2020
Published in print: December 8, 2020
Disclosure
The authors report no disclosures relevant to the manuscript. Go to Neurology.org/N for full disclosures.
Study Funding
This work was supported by National Institute on Aging grant numbers R00AG053410 and R01AG040248 and the Karen Toffler Charitable Trust.
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