Depressive symptoms but not chronic stress mediate the link between income and cognition in Latino and Black older adults: findings from the Health and Aging Brain Study-Health Disparities

OBJECTIVES: The mechanisms linking economic resources to cognition in older ethnic/racial minorities remain unclear. This study examined whether depressive symptoms and chronic stress mediate the link between income and both episodic memory and executive functioning in Black and Latino older adults. METHODS: We analyzed data from 579 Black and 1,056 Latino older participants in the Health and Aging Brain Study-Health Disparities. Mediation models estimated the total, direct, and indirect effects of income on memory and executive functioning through depressive symptoms and chronic stress. RESULTS: Among Black adults, depressive symptoms significantly mediated the association between income and both memory (B = 0.025, confidence interval [CI] = [0.007, 0.052]) and executive functioning (B = 0.036, CI = [0.016, 0.069]), while chronic stress did not significantly mediate the link between income and memory (B = 0.003, CI = [-0.019, 0.025]) or executive functioning (B = 0.009, CI = [-0.014, 0.036]). For Latino adults, depressive symptoms also significantly mediated the link between income and both memory (B = 0.025, CI = [0.010, 0.044]) and executive functioning (B = 0.021, CI = [0.008, 0.040]), whereas chronic stress was not a significant mediator for the income on memory (B = -0.002, CI = [-0.011, 0.004]) or executive functioning (B = 0.003, CI = [-0.005, 0.012]) associations. DISCUSSION: These initial results suggest that the development of interventions targeted toward depressive symptoms in Black and Latino older adults may help promote well-being and alleviate the detrimental consequences of income inequalities on cognition in older adulthood.