The effect of educational attainment on cognition of older adults: results from the Mexican Health and Aging Study 2001 and 2012

Figures & data

Table 1. Education Characteristics of Older Mexicans Stratified by Age, Gender, and Cross-Section.

Variable	2001 Cross-section
	Men			Women			Overall
	Age (years)		All	Age (years)		All
	60-69	70+	Ages	60-69	70+	Ages
Education***	Percent Distribution
No Education	21.5	39.5	22.7	30.4	38.0	27.9	31.1
1-5 years	40.9	36.1	36.9	38.2	35.5	37.0	38.0
6 years	19.2	10.5	17.7	15.0	13.2	16.3	15.0
7 or more years	18.4	13.9	22.7	16.4	13.3	18.8	15.9
Mean Years of Schooling (SD)	4.43 (4.32)	3.21 (4.20)	3.94 (4.31)	3.70 (3.97)	3.12 (3.84)	3.48 (3.93)	3.70 (4.13)
Total Sample Size	1,507	969	2,476	1,809	1,036	2,845	5,321
Variable	2012 Cross-section
	Men			Women			Overall
	Age (years)		All	Age (years)		All
	60-69	70+	Ages	60-69	70+	Ages
Education***	Percent Distribution
No Education	13.4	26.8	11.9	16.8	29.3	12.9	19.9
1-5 years	31.7	35.8	27.8	34.5	40.4	28.5	34.9
6 years	23.6	16.3	21.7	20.3	15.8	22.2	19.8
7 or more years	31.3	21.1	38.6	28.4	14.5	36.4	25.4
Mean Years of Schooling (SD)	6.27 (5.16)	4.49 (4.71)	5.55 (5.04)	5.10 (4.05)	3.62 (3.84)	4.56 (4.04)	5.08 (4.60)
Total Sample Size	2,107	1,460	3,567	2,536	1,675	4,211	7,778

Note: Weighted data and unweighted sample size totals. Standard deviations appear in parentheses.

Significance: Asterisks refer to Chi-square test for differences by gender in each cross-section and represent statistically significant differences in each of the four education categories.

*** p ≤ .001.

Source: Authors’ own elaboration with data for older adults aged 60 years or older from the Mexican Health and Aging Study, Wave 1 (2001) and Wave 3 (2012).

Table 2. Z-Scores of Total and Task-Specific Cognitive Assessments of Older Mexicans Stratified by Age, Gender, and Cross-Section.

Variable	2001 Cross-section
	Men			Women			Overall	Raw Mean
	Age (years)		All Ages	Age (years)		All Ages
	60-69	70+		60-69	70+
Cognition Score	Mean Z-Scores
Total (0-80)***	−0.28	−0.76	−0.47	−0.39	−0.94	−0.60	−0.54	32.70
Tasks
Visuospatial Ability*** (raw score: 0-2)	0.07	−0.34	−0.10	−0.23	−0.69	−0.41	−0.26	1.53
Visuospatial Recall*** (raw score: 0-2)	−0.04	−0.36	−0.17	−0.34	−0.58	−0.43	−0.31	0.56
Verbal Learning*** (raw score: 0-8)	−0.19	−0.75	−0.41	−0.03	−0.61	−0.25	−0.32	4.51
Verbal Recall*** (raw score: 0-8)	−0.19	−0.59	−0.35	−0.01	−0.51	−0.20	−0.27	4.85
Visual Scanning*** (raw score: 0-60)	−0.24	−0.64	−0.40	−0.37	−0.84	−0.55	−0.48	21.25
Total Sample Size	1,507	969	2,476	1,809	1,036	2,845	5,321
Variable	2012 Cross-section
	Men			Women			Overall	Raw Mean
	Age (years)		All Ages	Age (years)		All Ages
	60-69	70+		60-69	70+
Cognition Score	Mean Z-Scores
Total (0-80)***	−0.01	−0.61	−0.23	−0.03	−0.69	−0.27	−0.25	37.51
Tasks
Visuospatial Ability*** (raw score: 0-2)	0.05	−0.12	−0.01	0.01	−0.38	−0.14	−0.08	1.83
Visuospatial Recall*** (raw score: 0-2)	0.15	−0.31	−0.03	0.05	−0.43	−0.12	−0.08	1.52
Verbal Learning*** (raw score: 0-8)	−0.04	−0.55	−0.23	0.19	−0.32	0.01	−0.11	4.65
Verbal Recall*** (raw score: 0-8)	−0.10	−0.48	−0.24	0.18	−0.24	0.03	−0.10	4.17
Visual Scanning*** (raw score: 0-60)	0.03	−0.52	−0.18	−0.04	−0.64	−0.25	−0.22	25.34
Total Sample Size	2,107	1,460	3,567	2,536	1,675	4,211	7,778

Note: Weighted data and unweighted sample size totals.

Significance: Asterisks refer to Chi-square test for differences by gender in each cross-section and represent statistically significant differences in each of the four education categories.

*** p ≤ .001.

Source: Authors’ own elaboration with data for older adults aged 60 years or older from the Mexican Health and Aging Study, Wave 1 (2001) and Wave 3 (2012)

Table 3. OLS Regression of Z-Scores in Total Cognitive Scores and in the Five Domains of Cognition, 2001 and 2012.

2001 Cross-Section
Variables	Total Score	Visuospatial Ability	Visuospatial Recall	Verbal Learning	Verbal Recall	Visual Scanning
Female	−0.15*** (0.03)	−0.32*** (0.04)	−0.19*** (0.03)	0.22*** (0.04)	0.23*** (0.04)	−0.19*** (0.02)
Years of Education	0.14*** (0.008)	0.17*** (0.09)	0.07*** (0.09)	0.10*** (0.01)	0.07*** (0.01)	0.13*** (0.07)
Years of Education Squared	−0.004*** (0.00)	−0.008*** (0.001)	−0.001 (0.00)	−0.002*** (0.001)	−0.002** (0.001)	−0.004*** (0.000)
Female* Education	0.02*** (0.01)	0.03*** (0.01)	0.007 (0.006)	−0.00 (0.01)	−0.001 (0.01)	0.02*** (0.005)
Adjusted R^2	0.33	0.20	0.13	0.20	0.11	0.31
Unweighted N	5,033
2012 Cross-Section
Female	−0.07* (0.03)	−0.24*** (0.06)	−0.19*** (0.04)	0.27*** (0.03)	0.29*** (0.04)	−0.12*** (0.02)
Years of Education	0.14*** (0.006)	0.17*** (0.01)	0.11*** (0.09)	0.11*** (0.08)	0.07*** (0.007)	0.13*** (0.07)
Years of Education Squared	−0.003*** (0.00)	−0.008*** (0.00)	−0.005*** (0.00)	−0.002*** (0.00)	−0.001*** (0.00)	−0.003*** (0.00)
Female* Education	0.01*** (0.04)	0.02** (0.01)	0.01** (0.006)	0.001 (0.004)	0.001 (0.005)	0.01*** (0.004)
Adjusted R^2	0.42	0.13	0.13	0.27	0.18	0.39
Unweighted N	6,564

Note: Respondents were aged 60 or older in 2001 and 2012. Bootstrapped standard errors appear in parenthesis. Regressions also control for age, urban/rural, number of chronic conditions, and total CES-D score and include the constant term. These were omitted due to space limitations.

Significance:

* p ≤ .05; **p ≤ .01; ***p ≤ .001.

Source: Authors’ own elaboration with data for older adults aged 60 years or older from the Mexican Health and Aging Study, Wave 1 (2001) and Wave 3 (2012).

Figure 1. Predicted Total Cognition Z-Scores for Older Mexicans by Years of Education, Gender, and Cross-Section. Note: Solid lines correspond to 2001 and dashed lines to 2012. Black corresponds to men and gray to women. Source: Authors’ own elaboration with data for older adults aged 60 years or older from the Mexican Health and Aging Study, Wave 1 (2001) and Wave 3 (2012).

Mexican Health and Aging Study. (2012). Data Files and Documentation (Public Use): Wave 3. Retrieved from http://www.mhasweb.org

 Google Scholar