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As You Sow, So Shall You Reap: Gender-Role Attitudes and Late-Life Cognition

Author

Listed:
  • Éric Bonsang

    (LEDa - Laboratoire d'Economie de Dauphine - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - Université Paris Dauphine-PSL - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • Vegard Skirbekk

    (University of the District of Columbia - University of the District of Columbia)

  • Ursula M. Staudinger

    (University of the District of Columbia - University of the District of Columbia)

Abstract

Some studies have found that women outperform men in episodic memory after midlife. But is this finding universal, and what are the reasons? Gender differences in cognition are the result of biopsychosocial interactions throughout the life course. Social-cognitive theory of gender development posits that gender roles may play an important mediating role in these interactions. We analyzed country differences in the gender differential in cognition after midlife using data from individuals age 50 and above (N = 226,661) from 27 countries. As expected, older women performed relatively better in countries characterized by more equal gender-role attitudes. This result was robust to cohort differences as well as reverse causality. The effect was partially mediated by education and labor-force participation. Cognition in later life thus cannot be fully understood without reference to the opportunity structures that sociocultural environments do (or do not) provide. Global population aging raises the importance of understanding that gender roles affect old-age cognition and productivity.

Suggested Citation

  • Éric Bonsang & Vegard Skirbekk & Ursula M. Staudinger, 2017. "As You Sow, So Shall You Reap: Gender-Role Attitudes and Late-Life Cognition," Post-Print hal-01636130, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01636130
    DOI: 10.1177/0956797617708634
    as

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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Ariane Bertogg & Anja K. Leist, 2023. "Gendered life courses and cognitive functioning in later life: the role of context-specific gender norms and lifetime employment," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 1-15, December.
    2. Aurea Grané & Irene Albarrán & Roger Lumley, 2020. "Visualizing Inequality in Health and Socioeconomic Wellbeing in the EU: Findings from the SHARE Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(21), pages 1-18, October.
    3. Alina Schmitz & Patrick Lazarevič, 2020. "The gender health gap in Europe’s ageing societies: universal findings across countries and age groups?," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 509-520, December.
    4. Martin Asperholm & Sanket Nagar & Serhiy Dekhtyar & Agneta Herlitz, 2019. "The magnitude of sex differences in verbal episodic memory increases with social progress: Data from 54 countries across 40 years," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(4), pages 1-11, April.

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