Cognitive impairment and partnership status in the United States, 1998-2016, by sex, race/ethnicity, and education

Shubhankar Sharma*, Jo Mhairi Hale, Mikko Myrskylä, Hill Kulu

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Cognitively impaired adults without a partner are highly disadvantaged, as partners constitute an important source of caregiving and emotional support. With the application of innovative multistate models to the Health and Retirement Study, this paper is the first to estimate joint expectancies of cognitive and partnership status at age 50 by sex, race/ethnicity, and education in the United States. We find that women live a decade longer unpartnered than men. Women are also disadvantaged as they experience three more years as both cognitively impaired and unpartnered than men. Black women live over twice as long as cognitively impaired and unpartnered compared with White women. Lower-educated men and women live around three and five years longer, respectively, as cognitively impaired and unpartnered than more highly educated men and women. This study addresses a novel facet of partnership and cognitive status dynamics and examines their variations by key socio-demographic factors.
Original languageEnglish
Number of pages11
JournalPopulation Studies
VolumeLatest Articles
Early online date22 Feb 2023
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 22 Feb 2023

Keywords

  • Cognitive impairment
  • Partnership status
  • Multistate model
  • Health disparities
  • Longitudinal analysis

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