Place, Stress and Cognitive Status Among Black Men during middle and late life

PROJECT SUMMARY Black men experience extremely high levels of stress from unfavorable social and economic circumstances resulting from structural racism, institutional discrimination, and unfair treatment. The accumulation and manifestation of stressors can vary by the spatial contexts in which Black men live, play, work, and worship.

Residential areas are complex constructs that include physical and social attributes that influence health and a small but growing number of researchers have examined the association between place and cognitive health. Residential segregation can have implications for the health and well-being of Black men because place can

influence interactions between social environment, cumulative stress, and biological responses. Few studies have examined Black men and cognitive impairment and no studies to our knowledge consider place, stress, and their implications for cognitive status among this population. Our proposed study addresses this gap by

leveraging resources from the Johns Hopkins Alzheimer’s Disease Resource Center for Minority Aging and by building on collaborations with its leaders to advance an emerging program of research founded on the NIA Health Disparities Framework, Seeman and Crimmins biopsychosocial framework, and Diez Roux and Mair’s

neighborhood and health heuristic model. The objective of our study is to introduce and evaluate a theory- driven conceptual model specifying how place has implications for the association between stress and cognitive impairment among middle age and older Black men using data from the Health and Retirement Study

and U. S. Census. Knowledge gained from this small study can provide evidence for observational cohort studies investigating the synergistic effects of individual and geographic factors on cognitive function, decline, impairment, and premature mortality among Black men. Results from this work can inform future, risk reduction

interventions designed to preserve cognitive function, prevent cognitive impairment, and extend longevity among middle age and older Black men.