Resilience Shields and Grit Intensifies Subjective Cognitive Decline in Middle-To-Older Aged Black Americans

There is growing interest on the relationship between psychosocial factors and cognitive health trajectories in adulthood. While grit and resilience have been shown to influence health outcomes, their differential effects on subjective cognitive decline (SCD) in Black American adults remain understudied. The purpose of this study is to help fill this gap.

The study utilized a cross-sectional research design. Black American participants (N = 242; Mean age = 44.32) responded to a survey assessing SCD, grit, resilience, and sociodemographic factors. Linear regression analysis was performed to test the associations between grit and resilience and SCD, and to explore if the associations differed by sex.

Analysis showed that grit (β = 0.386, p < 0.001) was positively associated with SCD, but the effect size was larger in Black men (β = 0.527, p < 0.001) than women (β = 0.285, p < 0.001). Also, resilience (β = -0.220, p < 0.001) was negatively associated with SCD and the effect size was larger in Black men (β = -0.266, p < 0.001) than women (β = -0.187, p < 0.01).

Our findings suggest that while higher levels of resilience may be a protective factor against SCD, higher grit may be associated with greater likelihood of SCD. Future studies should assess whether these associations persist when using objective measures of cognitive decline and further examine these factors as potential targets for cognitive health interventions.