Journal of Gerontological Social Work · Jun 8, 2026

Association Between Lifecourse Socioeconomic Status and Cognitive Impairment Among Chinese Older Adults: The Mediating Role of Leisure Activity

By Yu X, Liu D, Duan X et al.

This longitudinal cohort study used data from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS) (2005-2018) to examine lifecourse socioeconomic status (SES), leisure activity, and cognitive impairment in 6,289 adults aged ≥65 without baseline impairment. Over 6.42 years, 1,818 (28.9%) developed impairment. Both childhood SES (HR=0.939) and adulthood SES (HR=0.925) significantly reduced risk. Leisure activity mediated 17.8% of childhood SES effect and 34.9% of adulthood SES effect, suggesting higher lifecourse SES protects against cognitive impairment partly through leisure activity.

doi.org/10.1080/01634372.2026.2672011PubMed 42258388Populations