Spousal Education and Memory Decline: Evidence From the English Longitudinal Study of Aging

Most studies on educational links to health focus on individuals' own educational attainment, with little attention to a spouse's education. This study examines spouse's educational attainment in relation to both partners' memory trajectories among married and cohabiting older couples.

Data were drawn from 9 waves of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing 2002/3-2018/9, including 6,918 different-sex couple dyads (6,468 married and 450 cohabiting). Latent growth curve Actor-Partner Interdependence Models were used to estimate the associations of husbands' and wives' education with each other's memory trajectories, with a focus on economic resources and health behaviors as potential mediators. We further examined potential differences between married and cohabitating couples.

Wives' lower education was associated with both lower initial levels and an accelerated decline in memory for themselves (actor effects) and their husbands (partner effects). Husbands' lower education was associated with lower initial memory levels for both themselves (actor effects) and their wives (partner effects) but not with changes in memory trajectories. These patterns were primarily evident in married couples, with no significant partner effects in cohabiting couples. Economic resources were the primary mechanism linking spousal education to memory trajectories.

Older adults with lower-educated spouses face a higher risk of memory decline, highlighting the need for targeted interventions to promote healthy cognitive aging in this vulnerable group.