Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 8, 2026
06:58
Highlighting and Reducing the Impact of Negative Aging Stereotypes During Older Adults' Cognitive Testing
Published on: January 24, 2020
Understanding cognitive ageing: individuals, institutions, and inequalities
Ariane Bertogg1, Giulia Tattarini2, Damiano Uccheddu3
1University of Konstanz, Department of History, Sociology, Sports Science and Empirical Education Research, Universitätsstrasse 10, Konstanz, 78464, Germany.
Social Science & Medicine (1982)
|August 6, 2026
Summary
Cognitive ageing is influenced by social, economic, and institutional factors throughout life, not just biology. Understanding these social determinants is crucial for public health and policy regarding cognitive health.
Area of Science:
- Gerontology
- Public Health
- Sociology
Background:
- Population ageing highlights cognitive ageing as a significant public health and social policy concern.
- Cognitive ageing exhibits considerable heterogeneity, influenced by biological, genetic, and cumulative socio-economic factors across the life course.
Purpose of the Study:
- Introduce a Special Issue advancing a social determinants perspective on cognitive ageing.
- Integrate life-course, inequality, and contextual approaches to cognitive ageing research.
- Conceptualize cognitive ageing as a socially structured and relational process.
Main Methods:
- Utilized longitudinal surveys, administrative registers, qualitative interviews, ethnography, and mixed-method designs.
- Included studies from Europe, North America, Latin America, and Asia.
- Examined diverse geographical settings and populations.
Main Results:
- Documented the lasting influence of childhood conditions, education, occupation, family, social participation, neighborhood, and welfare regimes on cognitive functioning.
- Highlighted how inequalities (gender, race, migration, place) shape cognitive health trajectories.
- Demonstrated the role of infrastructure, healthcare, and political-economic factors in cognitive reserve and risk distribution.
Conclusions:
- Cognitive ageing is an institutionally embedded, socially patterned process shaped by interconnected lives and societal contexts.
- Emphasized the need for future research on data quality, theoretical integration, global representativeness, and policy translation.
- Called for a comprehensive understanding of social determinants in cognitive ageing research and practice.
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