Cognitive Resilience to Depressive symptoms in Diverse Older Adults

Laura Beth Zahodne
Associate Professor, Psychology, College of Literature, Science & the Arts
Faculty Associate, Survey Research Center, Institute for Social Research

Abstract

Significant knowledge gaps regarding the depression-dementia link include modifiable factors that attenuate this link and reasons for differences in resilience across racial groups. This pilot addresses these gaps by recruiting a racially diverse, population-representative sample of older adults for psychosocial, cognitive, and functional assessment and by examining how modifiable psychosocial resources that differ across race promote cognitive resilience to depressive symptoms.

Outcomes

  • Zahodne LB, Sol K, Scambray K, Lee JH, Palms JD, Morris EP, Taylor L, Ku V, Lesniak M, Melendez R, Elliott MR, Clarke PJ. Neighborhood racial income inequality and cognitive health. Alzheimers Dement. 2024 Jun 27. doi: 10.1002/alz.13911. Epub ahead of print.
  • Ajrouch KJ, Zahodne LB, Brauer S, Tarraf W, Antonucci TC. COVID-19 Stress and Cognitive Disparities in Black, MENA, and White Older Adults. Gerontologist. 2024 Aug 1;64(8):gnae073. doi: 10.1093/geront/gnae073. PMID: 38853657; PMCID: PMC11266980.
  • Zahodne, L. 2018. Cognitive resilience to depressive symptoms in diverse older adults. 1st annual MiCDA Pilot Project Symposium. May 7, 2018, Ann Arbor, MI.
  • Zahodne, L. Pilot project from P30 AG024824 (Yung) and P30 AG053760 (Paulson). Inflammation, Social Stress, and Racial Disparities in Cognitive Aging 07/10/2018-06/30/2019.
  • Dr. Zahodne’s pilot resulted in initiating a new longitudinal cohort of adults transitioning into older adulthood: the Michigan Cognitive Aging Project (MCAP; PI Zahodne). MCAP has collected comprehensive measures of psychosocial functioning, health, and cognitive domains in over 400 racially and socioeconomically diverse adults assessed face-to-face. MCAP serves as a foundation for an ongoing longitudinal study that now includes the collection of blood-based biomarkers and neuroimaging data.