Objectives Blacks and Hispanics are at increased risk for dementia, even after socioeconomic and vascular factors are taken into account. This study tests a comprehensive model of psychosocial pathways leading to differences in longitudinal cognitive outcomes among older blacks and Hispanics, compared to non-Hispanic whites. Methods Using data from 10,173 participants aged 65 and older in the Health and Retirement Study, structural equation models tested associations among race/ethnicity, perceived discrimination, depressive symptoms, external locus of control, and 6-year memory trajectories, controlling for age, sex, educational attainment, income, wealth, and chronic diseases. Results Greater perceived discrimination among blacks was associated with lower initial memory level via depressive symptoms and external locus of control, and with faster memory decline directly. Greater depressive symptoms and external locus of control among Hispanics were each independently associated with lower initial memory, but there were no pathways from Hispanic ethnicity to memory decline. Discussion Depression and external locus of control partially mediate racial/ethnic differences in memory trajectories. Perceived discrimination is a major driver of these psychosocial pathways for blacks, but not Hispanics. These results can inform the development of policies and interventions to reduce cognitive morbidity among racially/ethnically diverse older adults.

Introduction: We examined whether educational attainment differentially contributes to cognitive reserve (CR) across race/ethnicity. Methods: A total of 1553 non-Hispanic Whites (Whites), non-Hispanic Blacks (Blacks), and Hispanics in the Washington Heights-Inwood Columbia Aging Project (WHICAP) completed structural magnetic resonance imaging. Mixture growth curve modeling was used to examine whether the effect of brain integrity indicators (hippocampal 70

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Previous research suggests that everyday discrimination is associated with worse episodic memory and partially mediates Black-White disparities in memory aging. The biological mechanisms underlying the link between everyday discrimination and memory are unclear but may involve inflammatory processes. This study aimed to determine whether systemic inflammation, indexed by blood levels of C-Reactive Protein (CRP), mediates associations between everyday discrimination and episodic memory over six years. DESIGN: A longitudinal mediation model quantified associations between baseline everyday discrimination, four-year change in CRP, and six-year change in episodic memory. SETTING: The Health and Retirement Study (HRS). PARTICIPANTS: 12,624 HRS participants aged 51 and older. MEASUREMENTS: Everyday Discrimination Scale, high-sensitivity CRP assays of dried blood spots, composite scores of immediate and delayed recall of a word list. RESULTS: Black participants reported greater everyday discrimination. Greater discrimination was associated with lower baseline memory and faster memory decline. Higher CRP at baseline partially mediated the negative association between discrimination and baseline memory, but CRP change did not mediate the association between discrimination and memory decline. CONCLUSION: This U.S.-representative longitudinal study provides evidence for deleterious effects of discrimination on subsequent episodic memory. The fact that elevated CRP only partially explained the concurrent association between discrimination and memory highlights the need for more comprehensive investigations of biological mechanisms underlying the link between social stress and age-related memory decline in order to better characterize potential intervention targets to reduce racial inequalities in memory aging.