Racial and Ethnic Differences in Community Belonging and its Impact on Cognitive Function in Older Adults

Objectives This study adds to the literature on the relationship between social relationships and cognitive function by using social integration theory to examine whether a sense of community belonging at different ages is related to cognitive function in later life. We also examine whether the relationship between community belonging, and cognitive function is distinct among White, Black, and Hispanic older adults. Methods Using data from the Health and Retirement Study including the 2017 Life History Mail Survey (N = 3,302), we use parallel measures of community belonging across 3 periods in the life course. We estimated relationships using ordinary least squares (OLS) regression and lagged dependent variable models. Results Respondents who experienced greater community belonging at age 10 and during later life (i.e., age in 2016) had higher levels of cognitive function in 2018 than those who reported feeling less belonging with their community at those ages (b = 0.193, p < .001; b = 0.090, p < .05, respectively). The main effects of community belonging at any age were not related to change in cognitive function from 2016 to 2018; however, there were significant interaction effects between community belonging at age 10 on cognitive function in 2018 and from 2016 to 2018 (p < .05 and p < .01, respectively) with the beneficial effects of community belonging at age 10 being stronger for Black older adults compared with White older adults. Discussion These findings highlight the importance of early and later life community belonging for the cognitive functioning of older adults, and particularly for Black older adults' cognitive function.