An Analysis of the Effects of Poverty on Cognitive Status Among Middle-Aged and Older Adults in China: Exploring the Moderating Effects

Abstract

The present study examines whether living in poverty influences cognitive status and whether sociodemographic and lifestyle factors moderate this relationship among middle-aged and older Chinese. Five outcomes were examined including three measures of fluid intelligence capturing memory and quantitative reasoning ability and two measures of crystallized intelligence reflecting acquired math and vocabulary skills. The fluid intelligence measures were only collected in the 2012 and 2016 China Family Panel Study (CFPS) waves and analyzed in a sample 9,420 individuals aged 45 and older and 18,840 observations (two repeated measures). The fluid intelligence measures were only collected in the 2012 and 2016 CFPS waves and analyzed in a sample 9,379 individuals aged 45 and older and 18,758 observations (two repeated measures). The key predictor was poverty defined by two different ways including $1.25 per person day and $1.5 per day. The key moderators included age, gender, social engagement, and physical activity. Both fixed effects modeling and random effects modeling were performed. The results showed different patterns using different analytical methods and poverty definitions, suggesting the poverty effects on cognitive status are sensitive to analytical approach. The findings from fixed effects modeling suggested no poverty effects but those from random effects models showed significant and negative effects of poverty on all five outcomes. In addition, the random effects models documented that the poverty effects on short-term and long-term memory were less detrimental for those active in social engagement. No moderating effects of age, gender, and physical activity were found. As side findings, remarkably consistent and beneficial effects on cognitive status of education, good sleep quality, and active social engagement were found.