title: Depressive symptoms are more strongly related to executive functioning and episodic memory among African American compared with non-Hispanic White older adults.
abstract: We examined whether the reserve capacity model can be extended to cognitive outcomes among older African Americans. Two hundred and ninety-two non-Hispanic Whites and 37 African Americans over age 54 participated in the normative study for the NIH Toolbox for the Assessment of Neurological and Behavioral Function. Multiple-group path analysis showed that associations between depressive symptoms and cognition differed by race, independent of age, education, reading level, income, health, and recruitment site. Depressive symptoms were associated with slowed processing speed among Whites and worse task-switching, inhibition, and episodic memory among African Americans. African Americans may be more vulnerable to negative effects of depression on cognition than non-Hispanic Whites. Further research is needed to explicate the psychological and neurobiological underpinnings of this greater vulnerability.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology and Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and The Aging Brain, Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons, New York 10032, USA lbz2105@columbia.edu.
authors.forename: Laura B
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Zahodne
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Social Sciences, Northwestern University, Chicago 60611, USA.
authors.forename: Cindy J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Nowinski
authors.affiliation: Departments of Medical Social Sciences and Preventive Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago 60611, USA.
authors.forename: Richard C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Gershon
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology and Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and The Aging Brain, Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons, New York 10032, USA.
authors.forename: Jennifer J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Manly
mesh_terms: D001741:Black or African American / Q000208:ethnology*; D000368:Aged; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000208:ethnology*; D003863:Depression / Q000208:ethnology*; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D061212:Memory, Episodic; D008875:Middle Aged; D020377:Self Efficacy; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000208:ethnology; D044465:White People / Q000208:ethnology
keywords: Cross-cultural/minority; Depression; Elderly/geriatrics/aging; Executive functions