General cognitive ability in high school, attained education, occupational complexity, and dementia risk.

INTRODUCTION: We address the extent to which adolescent cognition predicts dementia risk in later life, mediated by educational attainment and occupational complexity. METHODS: Using data from Project Talent Aging Study (PTAS), we fitted two structural equation models to test whether adolescent cognition predicts cognitive impairment (CI) and Ascertain Dementia 8 (AD8) status simultaneously (NCognitive Assessment = 2477) and AD8 alone (NQuestionnaire = 6491) 60 years later, mediated by education and occupational complexity. Co-twin control analysis examined 82 discordant pairs for CI/AD8. RESULTS: Education partially mediated the effect of adolescent cognition on CI in the cognitive assessment aample and AD8 in the questionnaire sample (Ps < 0.001). Within twin pairs, differences in adolescent cognition were small, but intrapair differences in education predicted CI status. DISCUSSION: Adolescent cognition predicted dementia risk 60 years later, partially mediated through education. Educational attainment, but not occupational complexity, contributes to CI risk beyond its role as a mediator of adolescent cognition, further supported by the co-twin analyses. HIGHLIGHTS: Project Talent Aging Study follows enrollees from high school for nearly 60 years. General cognitive ability in high school predicts later-life cognitive impairment. Low education is a risk partially due to its association with cognitive ability.

Positive life experiences and mortality: Examination of psychobiological pathways.

INTRODUCTION AND RATIONALE: Positive life experiences are potentially-rewarding events and behaviors, such as social and romantic interactions, experiences of relaxation and physical comfort, time spent in nature, and other leisure activities. To date, there is limited evidence linking positive life experiences to long-term health outcomes. OBJECTIVE AND METHODS: The current study used data from N = 1243 participants in the Midlife Development in the US Study Biomarker Project to examine whether greater frequency of a range of different positive experiences and greater level of enjoyment of these experiences was linked to survival over a 12- to-16-year period in Cox proportional hazards models. The potential mediating roles of positive affect, depression, perceived stress, and an allostatic load index of physiological dysregulation in these associations were also examined. RESULTS: Greater frequency of positive experiences and greater enjoyment of positive experiences were both associated with a reduced hazard of mortality over the 12- to 16-year period. Models assessing a single mediator showed that both associations were mediated by decreased depression and decreased perceived stress, but not by positive affect or allostatic load. In supplementary multi-mediation models, depression was the only significant mediator of the frequency-survival and enjoyment-survival associations. CONCLUSIONS: Positive life experiences may confer long-term survival benefits, partially through lessening depressive symptomatology.

Cardiovascular variability, sociodemographics, and biomarkers of disease: the MIDUS study.

Introduction: Like heart rate, blood pressure (BP) is not steady but varies over intervals as long as months to as short as consecutive cardiac cycles. This blood pressure variability (BPV) consists of regularly occurring oscillations as well as less well-organized changes and typically is computed as the standard deviation of multiple clinic visit-to-visit (VVV-BP) measures or from 24-h ambulatory BP recordings (ABPV). BP also varies on a beat-to-beat basis, quantified by methods that parse variation into discrete bins, e.g., low frequency (0.04-0.15 Hz, LF). However, beat-to-beat BPV requires continuous recordings that are not easily acquired. As a result, we know little about the relationship between LF-BPV and basic sociodemographic characteristics such as age, sex, and race and clinical conditions. Methods: We computed LF-BPV during an 11-min resting period in 2,118 participants in the Midlife in the US (MIDUS) study. Results: LF-BPV was negatively associated with age, greater in men than women, and unrelated to race or socioeconomic status. It was greater in participants with hypertension but unrelated to hyperlipidemia, hypertriglyceridemia, diabetes, elevated CRP, or obesity. LF-diastolic BPV (DBPV), but not-systolic BPV (SBPV), was negatively correlated with IL-6 and s-ICAM and positively correlated with urinary epinephrine and cortisol. Finally, LF-DBPV was negatively associated with mortality, an effect was rendered nonsignificant by adjustment by age but not other sociodemographic characteristics. Discussion: These findings, the first from a large, national sample, suggest that LF-BPV differs significantly from VVV-BP and ABPV. Confirming its relationship to sociodemographic risk factors and clinical outcomes requires further study with large and representative samples.

High school quality is associated with cognition 58 years later.

We leveraged a unique school-based longitudinal cohort-the Project Talent Aging Study-to examine whether attending higher quality schools is associated with cognitive performance among older adults in the United States (mean age = 74.8). Participants (n = 2,289) completed telephone neurocognitive testing. Six indicators of high school quality, reported by principals at the time of schooling, were predictors of respondents' cognitive function 58 years later. To account for school-clustering, multilevel linear and logistic models were applied. We found that attending schools with a higher number of teachers with graduate training was the clearest predictor of later-life cognition, and school quality mattered especially for language abilities. Importantly, Black respondents (n = 239; 10.5 percentage) were disproportionately exposed to low quality high schools. Therefore, increased investment in schools, especially those that serve Black children, could be a powerful strategy to improve later life cognitive health among older adults in the United States.

Nature, Nurture, and the Meaning of Educational Attainment: Differences by Sex and Socioeconomic Status.

Estimated heritability of educational attainment (EA) varies widely, from 23% to 80%, with growing evidence suggesting the degree to which genetic variation contributes to individual differences in EA is highly dependent upon situational factors. We aimed to decompose EA into influences attributable to genetic propensity and to environmental context and their interplay, while considering influences of rearing household economic status (HES) and sex. We use the Project Talent Twin and Sibling Study, drawn from the population-representative cohort of high school students assessed in 1960 and followed through 2014, to ages 68-72. Data from 3552 twins and siblings from 1741 families were analyzed using multilevel regression and multiple group structural equation models. Individuals from less-advantaged backgrounds had lower EA and less variation. Genetic variance accounted for 51% of the total variance, but within women and men, 40% and 58% of the total variance respectively. Men had stable genetic variance on EA across all HES strata, whereas high HES women showed the same level of genetic influence as men, and lower HES women had constrained genetic influence on EA. Unexpectedly, middle HES women showed the largest constraints in genetic influence on EA. Shared family environment appears to make an outsized contribution to greater variability for women in this middle stratum and whether they pursue more EA. Implications are that without considering early life opportunity, genetic studies on education may mischaracterize sex differences because education reflects different degrees of genetic and environmental influences for women and men.

Socioeconomic status, positive experiences, and allostatic load.

OBJECTIVE: Socioeconomic disparities in physiological well-being may be a pathway to the poorer health outcomes observed in those of lower socioeconomic status (SES). The present research examined greater frequency of positive life experiences (POS) as a route through which greater cumulative SES (CSES) may be linked to lower allostatic load (AL), a multisystem index of physiological dysregulation, and assessed whether the association between POS and AL varies along the socioeconomic spectrum. METHOD: These associations were examined using data from the Midlife Development in the United States Biomarker Project (N = 2,096). Analyses included tests of whether positive experiences mediated the CSES-AL association, whether CSES moderated associations of positive experiences and AL, and whether CSES moderated positive experience mediation of the CSES-AL association (moderated mediation). RESULTS: The observed association between CSES and AL was weakly mediated by POS. CSES moderated the POS-AL association, such that POS was associated with AL only at lower levels of CSES. The moderated mediation analysis showed that POS mediated the association between CSES and AL only at lower levels of CSES. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest complexity in associations between cumulative socioeconomic advantage, positive life events, and physiological well-being. Positive life events may play a stronger role in physiological health in those of lower socioeconomic advantage, as one of multiple pathways through which lower SES is linked to poor health. Given the modifiability of access to, and frequency of, positive life events, the potential role of positive experiences in lessening health disparities warrants further study. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Ambient air pollution exposure and increasing depressive symptoms in older women: The mediating role of the prefrontal cortex and insula.

Exposures to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) have been associated with the emergence of depressive symptoms in older adulthood, although most studies used cross-sectional outcome measures. Elucidating the brain structures mediating the adverse effects can strengthen the causal role between air pollution and increasing depressive symptoms. We evaluated whether smaller volumes of brain structures implicated in late-life depression mediate associations between ambient air pollution exposure and changes in depressive symptoms. This prospective study included 764 community-dwelling older women (aged 81.6 ± 3.6 in 2008-2010) from the Women's Health Initiative Memory Study (WHIMS) Magnetic Resonance Imaging study (WHIMS-MRI; 2005-06) and WHIMS-Epidemiology of Cognitive Health Outcomes (WHIMS-ECHO; 2008-16). Three-year average annual mean concentrations (scaled by interquartile range [IQR]) of ambient PM2.5 (in µg/m3; IQR = 3.14 µg/m3) and NO2 (in ppb; IQR = 7.80 ppb) before WHIMS-MRI were estimated at participants' addresses via spatiotemporal models. Mediators included structural brain MRI-derived grey matter volumes of the prefrontal cortex and structures of the limbic-cortical-striatal-pallidal-thalamic circuit. Depressive symptoms were assessed annually by the 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale. Structural equation models were constructed to estimate associations between exposure, structural brain volumes, and depressive symptoms. Increased exposures (by each IQR) were associated with greater annual increases in depressive symptoms (ßPM2.5 = 0.022; 95% Confidence Interval (CI) = 0.003, 0.042; ßNO2 = 0.019; 95% CI = 0.001, 0.037). The smaller volume of prefrontal cortex associated with exposures partially mediated the associations of increased depressive symptoms with NO2 (8%) and PM2.5 (13%), and smaller insula volume associated with NO2 contributed modestly (13%) to the subsequent increase in depressive symptoms. We demonstrate the first evidence that the smaller volumes of the prefrontal cortex and insula may mediate the subsequent increases in depressive symptoms associated with late-life exposures to NO2 and PM2.5.

Can I Buy My Health? A Genetically Informed Study of Socioeconomic Status and Health.

BACKGROUND: A large literature demonstrates associations between socioeconomic status (SES) and health, including physiological health and well-being. Moreover, gender differences are often observed among measures of both SES and health. However, relationships between SES and health are sometimes questioned given the lack of true experiments, and the potential biological and SES mechanisms explaining gender differences in health are rarely examined simultaneously. PURPOSE: To use a national sample of twins to investigate lifetime socioeconomic adversity and a measure of physiological dysregulation separately by sex. METHODS: Using the twin sample in the second wave of the Midlife in the United States survey (MIDUS II), biometric regression analysis was conducted to determine whether the established SES-physiological health association is observed among twins both before and after adjusting for potential familial-level confounds (additive genetic and shared environmental influences that may underly the SES-health link), and whether this association differs among men and women. RESULTS: Although individuals with less socioeconomic adversity over the lifespan exhibited less physiological dysregulation among this sample of twins, this association only persisted among male twins after adjusting for familial influences. CONCLUSIONS: Findings from the present study suggest that, particularly for men, links between socioeconomic adversity and health are not spurious or better explained by additive genetic or early shared environmental influences. Furthermore, gender-specific role demands may create differential associations between SES and health.

Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Alzheimer's Disease Risk: Role of Exposure to Ambient Fine Particles.

BACKGROUND: Whether racial/ethnic disparities in Alzheimer's disease (AD) risk may be explained by ambient fine particles (PM2.5) has not been studied. METHOD: We conducted a prospective, population-based study on a cohort of Black (n = 481) and White (n = 6 004) older women (aged 65-79) without dementia at enrollment (1995-1998). Cox models accounting for competing risk were used to estimate the hazard ratio (HR) for racial/ethnic disparities in AD (1996-2010) defined by Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition and the association with time-varying annual average PM2.5 (1999-2010) estimated by spatiotemporal model. RESULTS: Over an average follow-up of 8.3 (±3.5) years with 158 incident cases (21 in Black women), the racial disparities in AD risk (range of adjusted HRBlack women = 1.85-2.41) observed in various models could not be explained by geographic region, age, socioeconomic characteristics, lifestyle factors, cardiovascular risk factors, and hormone therapy assignment. Estimated PM2.5 exposure was higher in Black (14.38 ± 2.21 µg/m3) than in White (12.55 ± 2.76 µg/m3) women, and further adjustment for the association between PM2.5 and AD (adjusted HRPM2.5 = 1.18-1.28) slightly reduced the racial disparities by 2%-6% (HRBlack women = 1.81-2.26). The observed association between PM2.5 and AD risk was ~2 times greater in Black (HRPM2.5 = 2.10-2.60) than in White (HRPM2.5 = 1.07-1.15) women (range of interaction ps: <.01-.01). We found similar results after further adjusting for social engagement (social strain, social support, social activity, living alone), stressful life events, Women's Health Initiative's clinic sites, and neighborhood socioeconomic characteristics. CONCLUSIONS: PM2.5 may contribute to racial/ethnic disparities in AD risk and its associated increase in AD risk was stronger among Black women.

Associations Between Air Pollution Exposure and Empirically Derived Profiles of Cognitive Performance in Older Women.

BACKGROUND: Elucidating associations between exposures to ambient air pollutants and profiles of cognitive performance may provide insight into neurotoxic effects on the aging brain. OBJECTIVE: We examined associations between empirically derived profiles of cognitive performance and residential concentrations of particulate matter of aerodynamic diameter < 2.5 (PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) in older women. METHOD: Women (N = 2,142) from the Women's Health Initiative Study of Cognitive Aging completed a neuropsychological assessment measuring attention, visuospatial, language, and episodic memory abilities. Average yearly concentrations of PM2.5 and NO2 were estimated at the participant's addresses for the 3 years prior to the assessment. Latent profile structural equation models identified subgroups of women exhibiting similar profiles across tests. Multinomial regressions examined associations between exposures and latent profile classification, controlling for covariates. RESULT: Five latent profiles were identified: low performance across multiple domains (poor multi-domain; n = 282;13%), relatively poor verbal episodic memory (poor memory; n = 216; 10%), average performance across all domains (average multi-domain; n = 974; 45%), superior memory (n = 381; 18%), and superior attention (n = 332; 15%). Using women with average cognitive ability as the referent, higher PM2.5 (per interquartile range [IQR] = 3.64µg/m3) was associated with greater odds of being classified in the poor memory (OR = 1.29; 95% Confidence Interval [CI] = 1.10-1.52) or superior attention (OR = 1.30; 95% CI = 1.10-1.53) profiles. NO2 (per IQR = 9.86 ppb) was associated with higher odds of being classified in the poor memory (OR = 1.38; 95% CI = 1.17-1.63) and lower odds of being classified with superior memory (OR = 0.81; 95% CI = 0.67-0.97). CONCLUSION: Exposure to PM2.5 and NO2 are associated with patterns of cognitive performance characterized by worse verbal episodic memory relative to performance in other domains.

Perceived neighborhood cohesion buffers COVID-19 impacts on mental health in a United States sample.

OBJECTIVE: This study examined whether perceived neighborhood cohesion (the extent to which neighbors trust and count on one another) buffers against the mental health effects of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: The XXX University National COVID-19 and Mental Health Study surveyed US adults (N = 3965; M age = 39 years), measuring depressive symptoms, staying home more during than before the 2020 pandemic, and perceived neighborhood cohesion. RESULTS: A series of linear regressions indicated that perceiving one's neighborhood as more cohesive was not only associated with fewer depressive symptoms, but also attenuated the relationship between spending more time at home during the pandemic and depressive symptoms. These relationships persisted even after taking into account several individual-level sociodemographic characteristics as well as multiple contextual features, i.e., median household income, population density, and racial/ethnic diversity of the zip codes in which participants resided. CONCLUSIONS: Neighborhood cohesion may be leveraged to mitigate pandemic impacts on depressive symptoms.

Outdoor air pollution exposure and inter-relation of global cognitive performance and emotional distress in older women.

The interrelationships among long-term ambient air pollution exposure, emotional distress and cognitive decline in older adulthood remain unclear. Long-term exposure may impact cognitive performance and subsequently impact emotional health. Conversely, exposure may initially be associated with emotional distress followed by declines in cognitive performance. Here we tested the inter-relationship between global cognitive ability, emotional distress, and exposure to PM2.5 (particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter <2.5 µm) and NO2 (nitrogen dioxide) in 6118 older women (aged 70.6 ± 3.8 years) from the Women's Health Initiative Memory Study. Annual exposure to PM2.5 (interquartile range [IQR] = 3.37 µg/m3) and NO2 (IQR = 9.00 ppb) was estimated at the participant's residence using regionalized national universal kriging models and averaged over the 3-year period before the baseline assessment. Using structural equation mediation models, a latent factor capturing emotional distress was constructed using item-level data from the 6-item Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale and the Short Form Health Survey Emotional Well-Being scale at baseline and one-year follow-up. Trajectories of global cognitive performance, assessed by the Modified-Mini Mental State Examination (3MS) annually up to 12 years, were estimated. All effects reported were adjusted for important confounders. Increases in PM2.5 (ß = -0.144 per IQR; 95% CI = -0.261; -0.028) and NO2 (ß = -0.157 per IQR; 95% CI = -0.291; -0.022) were associated with lower initial 3MS performance. Lower 3MS performance was associated with increased emotional distress (ß = -0.008; 95% CI = -0.015; -0.002) over the subsequent year. Significant indirect effect of both exposures on increases in emotional distress mediated by exposure effects on worse global cognitive performance were present. No statistically significant indirect associations were found between exposures and 3MS trajectories putatively mediated by baseline emotional distress. Our study findings support cognitive aging processes as a mediator of the association between PM2.5 and NO2 exposure and emotional distress in later-life.

Air Pollution and the Dynamic Association Between Depressive Symptoms and Memory in Oldest-Old Women.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Exposure to air pollution may contribute to both increasing depressive symptoms and decreasing episodic memory in older adulthood, but few studies have examined this hypothesis in a longitudinal context. Accordingly, we examined the association between air pollution and changes in depressive symptoms (DS) and episodic memory (EM) and their interrelationship in oldest-old (aged 80 and older) women. DESIGN: Prospective cohort data from the Women's Health Initiative Memory Study-Epidemiology of Cognitive Health Outcomes. SETTING: Geographically diverse community-dwelling population. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 1,583 dementia-free women aged 80 and older. MEASUREMENTS: Women completed up to six annual memory assessments (latent composite of East Boston Memory Test and Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status) and the 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15). We estimated 3-year average exposures to regional particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter below 2.5 µm (PM2.5 ) (interquartile range [IQR] = 3.35 µg/m3 ) and gaseous nitrogen dioxide (NO2 ) (IQR = 9.55 ppb) at baseline and during a remote period 10 years earlier, using regionalized national universal kriging. RESULTS: Latent change structural equation models examined whether residing in areas with higher pollutant levels was associated with annual changes in standardized EM and DS while adjusting for potential confounders. Remote NO2 (ß = .287 per IQR; P = .002) and PM2.5 (ß = .170 per IQR; P = .019) exposure was significantly associated with larger increases in standardized DS, although the magnitude of the difference, less than 1 point on the GDS-15, is of questionable clinical significance. Higher DS were associated with accelerated EM declines (ß = -.372; P = .001), with a significant indirect effect of remote NO2 and PM2.5 exposure on EM declines mediated by DS. There were no other significant indirect exposure effects. CONCLUSION: These findings in oldest-old women point to potential adverse effects of late-life exposure to air pollution on subsequent interplay between DS and EM, highlighting air pollution as an environmental health risk factor for older women.

Failure to Meet Generative Self-Expectations is Linked to Poorer Cognitive-Affective Well-Being.

OBJECTIVES: Generativity, or concern with contributing to others, is theorized to be an important goal of mid-to-late life. Greater self-perceptions of generativity are associated with better well-being over time. The aim of this study is to examine how generative self-perceptions and failure to meet generative expectations over time are linked to specific cognitive-affective states (feelings of connectedness, self-worth, and positive affect), and consequently, life satisfaction. METHOD: Analyses used data from Waves 2 and 3 of the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS). Multiple mediation was utilized to assess whether these cognitive-affective states linked generative failure to decreased life satisfaction. A Johnson-Neyman moderation analysis determined whether these associations vary with age. RESULTS: In demographically adjusted regressions, generative contributions and expectations were associated with greater perceived social connectedness, self-worth, and positive effect. Generative failure was associated with lower life satisfaction, a link that was strongest in the middle-aged and young-old and mediated by the cognitive-affective states. DISCUSSION: Greater feelings of generativity, and more positive expectations for future contributions, are associated cross-sectionally and over time with better affective well-being. Positive affect, social connectedness, and self-worth may partially explain why generative failure over time is linked to decreased life satisfaction.

Advancing Research on Psychosocial Stress and Aging with the Health and Retirement Study: Looking Back to Launch the Field Forward.

OBJECTIVES: The Health and Retirement Study (HRS) was designed as an interdisciplinary study with a strong focus on health, retirement, and socioeconomic environment, to study their dynamic relationships over time in a sample of mid-life adults. The study includes validated self-report measures and individual items that capture the experiences of stressful events (stressor exposures) and subjective assessments of stress (perceived stress) within specific life domains. METHODS: This article reviews and catalogs the peer-reviewed publications that have used the HRS to examine associations between psychosocial stress measures and psychological, physical health, and economic outcomes. RESULTS: We describe the research to date using HRS measures of the following stress types: traumatic and life events, childhood adversity, caregiving and other chronic stressors, discrimination, social strain and loneliness, work stress, and neighborhood disorder. We highlight how to take further advantage of the longitudinal study to test complex biopsychosocial models of healthy aging. DISCUSSION: The HRS provides one of the most comprehensive assessments of psychosocial stress in existing population-based studies and offers the potential for a deeper understanding of how psychosocial factors are related to healthy aging trajectories. The next generation of research examining stress and trajectories of aging in the HRS should test complex longitudinal and mediational relationships, include contextual factors in analyses, and include more collaboration between psychologists and population health researchers.

Association Between Socioeconomic Status Mobility and Inflammation Markers Among White and Black Adults in the United States: A Latent Class Analysis.

OBJECTIVE: This article examines whether multidimensional indicators of objective and subjective socioeconomic status (SES) across the life course can be categorized into latent classes of SES mobility and tests the associations of these categories with inflammation markers among white and black adults. METHODS: Data are from 592 non-Hispanic white and 158 non-Hispanic black participants who completed both the baseline survey and biomarkers assessment of the Midlife in the United States Refresher study. Groups of different SES mobility were examined using latent class analysis. RESULTS: White and black participants showed different patterns of SES mobility. Among blacks, the latent classes were as follows: 1) objectively always high (24.71%; high objective SES across the life course), 2) subjectively always high (6.48%; high subjective and low objective SES across the life course), 3) downwardly mobile (35.84%; high childhood SES, low adult SES), and 4) always low (32.97%; low childhood SES, education, and adult SES). Among whites, the latent classes were as follows: 1) always high (52.17%; high childhood SES, high education, high adult SES), 2) upwardly mobile (18.14%; low childhood SES, high education, high adult SES), 3) subjectively downward (27.74%; high childhood SES, high education, high objective adult SES, low subjective adult SES), and 4) always low (1.95%; low childhood SES, education, and adult SES). SES mobility was associated with inflammation in white (Wald χ values (3) = 12.89-17.44, p values < .050), but not in black adults (Wald χ values (3) = 2.79-7.22, p values > .050). CONCLUSION: The lack of SES mobility differentiation on inflammation is an indication of diminished return for the most affluent class among black participants.

Social stratification and allostatic load: shapes of health differences in the MIDUS study in the United States.

Social stratification is an important mechanism of human organization that helps to explain health differences between demographic groups commonly associated with socioeconomic gradients. Individuals, or group of individuals, with similar health profiles may have had different stratification experiences. This is particularly true as social stratification is a significant non-measurable source of systematic unobservable differences in both SES indicators and health statuses of disadvantage. The goal of the present study was to expand the bulk of research that has traditionally treated socioeconomic and demographic characteristics as independent, additive influences on health by examining data from the United States. It is hypothesized that variation in an index of multi-system physiological dysregulation - allostatic load - is associated with social differentiation factors, sorting individuals with similar demographic and socioeconomic characteristics into mutually exclusive econo-demographic classes. The data were from the Longitudinal and Biomarker samples of the national Study of Midlife Development in the US (MIDUS) conducted in 1995 and 2004/2006. Latent class analyses and regression analyses revealed that physiological dysregulation linked to socioeconomic variation among black people, females and older adults are associated with forces of stratification that confound socioeconomic and demographic indicators. In the United States, racial stratification of health is intrinsically related to the degree to which black people in general, and black females in particular, as a group, share an isolated status in society. Findings present evidence that disparities in health emerge from group-differentiation processes to the degree that individuals are distinctly exposed to the ecological, political, social, economic and historical contexts in which social stratification is ingrained. Given that health policies and programmes emanate from said legal and political environments, interventions should target the structural conditions that expose different subgroups to different stress risks in the first place.

Impact of Experience Corps® Participation on Children's Academic Achievement and School Behavior.

This article reports on the impact of the Experience Corps® (EC) Baltimore program, an intergenerational, school-based program aimed at improving academic achievement and reducing disruptive school behavior in urban, elementary school students in Kindergarten through third grade (K-3). Teams of adult volunteers aged 60 and older were placed in public schools, serving 15 h or more per week, to perform meaningful and important roles to improve the educational outcomes of children and the health and well-being of volunteers. Findings indicate no significant impact of the EC program on standardized reading or mathematical achievement test scores among children in grades 1-3 exposed to the program. K-1st grade students in EC schools had fewer principal office referrals compared to K-1st grade students in matched control schools during their second year in the EC program; second graders in EC schools had fewer suspensions and expulsions than second graders in non-EC schools during their first year in the EC program. In general, both boys and girls appeared to benefit from the EC program in school behavior. The results suggest that a volunteer engagement program for older adults can be modestly effective for improving selective aspects of classroom behavior among elementary school students in under-resourced, urban schools, but there were no significant improvements in academic achievement. More work is needed to identify individual- and school-level factors that may help account for these results.

Dual Versus Single Parental Households and Differences in Maternal Mental Health and Child's Overweight/Obesity.

Objectives Mothers report higher levels of psychological stress than fathers. s. Psychological stress is posited to influence parenting practices that could increase children's obesity risk. However, previous studies have not investigated several aspects of maternal mental health and the moderating role of household structure on children's obesity risk. The objective was to investigate associations of maternal mental health with child obesity risk, and whether these associations differed by household structure (single-parent vs. dual parent/multigenerational). Methods Mothers and their 8-12 year old children (N = 175 dyads) completed baseline questionnaires on mothers' mental health and child anthropometrics. Separate logistic regressions assessed associations of standardized maternal mental health indicators with the odds of child overweight/obesity, controlling for child age, and women's BMI, age, education, employment status, and annual income. Household structure was investigated as a moderator of these relationships.Results There were no statistically significant relationships between maternal mental health characteristics and odds of child overweight/obesity. Among single mothers only, greater anxiety was associated with higher risk of child overweight/obesity [OR (95% CI) = 3.67 (1.27-10.62); p = 0.0163]; and greater life satisfaction was marginally associated with lower risk of child overweight/obesity [OR (95% CI) = 0.44 (0.19-1.01); p = 0.0522]. Mothers' life satisfaction may lower risk for their children's overweight/obesity, whereas higher anxiety may increase this risk, particularly among children living in single-mother households. Conclusions for Practice Future interventions could increase resources for single mothers to buffer the effects of stress and lower pediatric obesity risk.