title: Different Context but Similar Cognitive Structures: Older Adults in Rural Bangladesh.
abstract: Most research in cognitive aging is based on literate participants from high-income and Western populations. The extent to which findings generalize to low-income and illiterate populations is unknown. The main aim was to examine the structure of between-person differences in cognitive functions among elderly from rural Bangladesh. We used data from the Poverty and Health in Aging (PHA) project in Bangladesh. The participants (n = 452) were in the age range 60-92 years. Structural equation modeling was used to estimate the fit of a five-factor model (episodic recall, episodic recognition, verbal fluency, semantic knowledge, processing speed) and to examine whether the model generalized across age, sex, and literacy. This study demonstrates that an established model of cognition is valid also among older persons from rural Bangladesh. The model demonstrated strong (or scalar) invariance for age, and partial strong invariance for sex and literacy. Semantic knowledge and processing speed showed weak (or metric) sex invariance, and semantic knowledge demonstrated also sensitivity to illiteracy. In general, women performed poorer on all abilities. The structure of individual cognitive differences established in Western populations also fits a population in rural Bangladesh well. This is an important prerequisite for comparisons of cognitive functioning (e.g., declarative memory) across cultures. It is also worth noting that absolute sex differences in cognitive performance among rural elderly in Bangladesh differ from those usually found in Western samples.
authors: Institute of Gerontology, School of Health and Welfare, Jönköping University, Box 1026, SE-551 11, Jönköping, Sweden. ola.sternang@ju.se.|Stockholm Brain Institute, Stockholm, Sweden. ola.sternang@ju.se.
authors: Ola
authors: O
authors: Sternäng
authors: Aging Research Center, Karolinska Institutet, Solna, Sweden.
authors: Martin
authors: M
authors: Lövdén
authors: Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet, Solna, Sweden.
authors: Zarina N
authors: ZN
authors: Kabir
authors: International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
authors: Jena D
authors: JD
authors: Hamadani
authors: Institute of Gerontology, School of Health and Welfare, Jönköping University, Box 1026, SE-551 11, Jönköping, Sweden.|Aging Research Center, Karolinska Institutet, Solna, Sweden.|Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.|School of Medicine, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
authors: Åke
authors: Å
authors: Wahlin
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology*; D001459:Bangladesh; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D011939:Mental Recall; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D012424:Rural Population; D012660:Semantics; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D012737:Sex Factors; D014705:Verbal Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D014706:Verbal Learning
keywords: Cognitive sex differences; Cognitive structure; Individual differences; Literacy; Low-income countries