Table 3.
Percent of the Black–White Disparity Explained at Selected Ages for Each Cognitive Health Outcome by Education Measure (Self-Reported Years of School vs. Duration in School), Health and Retirement Study (n = 4,343)
| Cognitive function | Episodic memory | Working memory | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Self-report | Duration | Self-report | Duration | Self-report | Duration | |
| Age 55 | 32% | 45% | 33% | 45% | 29% | 44% |
| Age 65 | 31% | 45% | 33% | 47% | 29% | 43% |
| Age 75 | 31% | 45% | 33% | 48% | 29% | 42% |
| Age 85 | 30% | 45% | 33% | 51% | 28% | 41% |
| Age 95 | 30% | 45% | 33% | 55% | 28% | 41% |
Notes: Self-report = self-reported years of schooling, top-coded at 12. Duration = duration in school accounting for proportion of school term attended. Estimates based on a model that adjusted for gender, education cohort, state of childhood residence, parental education, mode of interview, and degree attainment. Percent of race disparity explained is calculated as (b1–bm)/b1 × 100, where b1 is the race difference in the predicted values at each age from Model 1 (estimated using margins in Stata 17), bm is the race difference in the predicted values at each age from either Model 2 (self-report) or Model 3 (duration).