Abstract
Occupational Stress and Cognitive Function of Return US Migrants in Mexico.
Xi Mao, PhD, Assistant Professor, Economics, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV)
Stress and life course exposures likely impact cognitive function (10). Most research on the role of stress in AD/ADRD refers to life events, with limited population-based studies on occupational exposures (11), a source of physical, mental, and cognitive stress for US Hispanics, particularly immigrants. The cognitive health of migrants returning to the sending country is not well understood, distorting our view of US immigrant health and the role of these exposures. Further, protective factors leading to stress and chronic diseases resilience among Mexican migrants are not well understood in cognitive aging. Aim 1: Examine the association between occupational stress and both cognitive decline and dementia among Mexicans who are US return migrants and non-migrants, and the mediating role of social support. Aim 2: Investigate how this association varies across return migrant cohorts according to socioeconomic status and experiences in the U.S. The project will use data from waves 3-6 (2012-2021) of the MHAS, a longitudinal cohort representative of Mexican adults aged 50+ in Mexico. Occupational stress scores come from a recently released cross-walk between participants’ main lifetime occupation and levels of cognitive stress and demand from O*NET (12), including measures of attentiveness, idea generation, and memory. Instrumental mediation analysis uses 1) changes in the educational attainment of Mexican cohorts due to major expansion of the public educational system in the 1950s-1960s(13); and 2) changes in immigration laws with “random” variation in legal statuses and experiences. This research will improve understanding of socio-structural and life course factors of cognitive vulnerability/resilience among Mexicans. The project will help Dr. Mao center her research on Hispanic ADRD, providing preliminary studies for an NIA grant proposal examining Mexicans on both sides of the border, using comparable data from MHAS and the US Health and Retirement Study.