Gender Differences in Cognitive Decline in Korea: Age Changes and Cohort Differences

초록

To assess socio-cultural and gender differences in cognitive aging in Korea, I separated age and cohort effects on cognitive aging and examined gender differences in aging trajectories of cognitive function across birth cohorts. I applied growth curve models to nationally representative longitudinal data from Korea that spanned 10 years (N=5,270; 31,620 person years). The main findings are 1) cognitive aging is not only an age but also a cohort-related phenomenon (significant cohort differences found in both the levels and the rate of cognitive aging); 2) gender gaps in cognitive aging vary across birth cohorts, with smaller gender gaps in cognitive aging among recent cohorts; 3) individual socioeconomic and health status explain some cohort and gender effects on cognitive aging, but significant effects still exist when these elements are controlled for. These findings provide important policy implications for predicting the future social and economic burdens of cognitive aging-related diseases.

키워드