A-35: Social Support as a Moderator of the Association Between Everyday Discrimination and Later Global Cognition

Abstract

Objective: The present study examined whether everyday discrimination was associated with later global cognition and whether social relationship quality buffered or exacerbated this association. Family, friend, and spousal support and strain were tested as moderators. Method/Data Selection: Data were drawn from the second and third waves of the Midlife in the United States study (MIDUS), a nationally representative study of adults in the United States. Separate linear regression models were estimated for family and friend support and strain (N = 839) and for spousal support and strain (N = 662). MIDUS III global cognition was regressed on MIDUS II everyday discrimination, each social relationship variable, and their interaction. Models adjusted for age, sex, race, ethnicity, education, body mass index, and marital status in nonspousal models. Continuous predictors were mean-centered prior to analysis. Results/Data Synthesis: Greater everyday discrimination was consistently associated with lower global cognition across models. Higher family support (B=0.015, p<.05) and higher spousal support (B=0.018, p<.05) attenuated the association between discrimination and poorer global cognition. In contrast, higher family strain amplified the negative association between discrimination and global cognition (B = -0.019, p< .01). Friend support, friend strain, and spousal strain did not significantly moderate the association. Conclusions: Everyday discrimination may be associated with poorer later global cognition and that close relationship quality, particularly within family and spousal contexts, may shape cognitive vulnerability. Future research should examine these associations in more diverse samples and consider additional dimensions of the social environment, including the quality and quantity of social interactions.