Gendered racial differences and similarities in subjective cognitive decline and life satisfaction: results from a...

The objectives of this study were to: 1) Determine the association between subjective cognitive decline (SCD) and life satisfaction; and 2) Assess the gendered racial/ethnic disparities in the association between SCD and life satisfaction.

Data were obtained from 3,795 participants from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey. SCD was operationalized by "During the past 12 months, have you experienced confusion or memory loss that is happening more often or is getting worse?" Life satisfaction was operationalized by the question "In general how satisfied are you with your life?" Interaction terms of SCD*sex, SCD*race/ethnicity, and SCD*sex*race/ethnicity were used to determine potential effect measure modification. Crude and adjusted linear regression models, controlling for age, education, income and employment, were used to assess the association between SCD and life satisfaction by sex, race, and by gendered racial/ethnic groups: Black women, White women, Hispanic women, Other women; and Black men, White men, Hispanic men and Other men.

SCD was negatively associated with life satisfaction in the overall sample (β: -0.55; 95% CI: -0.66, -0.43). However, the negative associations seen across gender, race/ethnicity, and gendered racial/ethnic groups were statistically similar (p for interaction terms > 0.05). The highest effect estimate was seen for Other men (β: -1.22; 95% CI: -1.37, -1.09).

Interventions geared towards improving cognition may improve life satisfaction for all groups, irrespective of gender and/or race/ethnicity. Future research may include longitudinal studies to determine the temporal sequence between SCD and life satisfaction.