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Primary Submission Category: Non-health institutions (business, political, education systems)

Early childhood education is associated with better midlife cognition, especially for children facing greater socioeconomic marginalization

Authors:  Whitney Wells, Jillian Hebert, Chloe Eng, Catherine Duarte, Anusha Vable,

Presenting Author: Whitney Wells*

Background: Education is a strong predictor of cognition, but little work has evaluated the relationship between early childhood education (ECE) and cognition in midlife and beyond.

Methods: In National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 data (n=7,129), we examined the relationship between attending preschool, Head Start, or no ECE, and midlife global cognition based on immediate and delayed word recall, serial 7 subtraction, and backwards counting. We used multivariate linear regression models to estimate overall associations, subgroups more likely eligible for Head Start, and evaluate heterogeneities by sex, race and ethnicity, and family socioeconomic status (SES).

Results: Overall, preschool but not Head Start was associated with better midlife cognition compared to no ECE. Among families more likely eligible for Head Start, both Head Start (β=0.12; 95% CI: -0.05, 0.30) and preschool (β=0.28; 95% CI: 0.04, 0.51) were associated with better midlife cognition. Associations varied such that Head Start was associated with significantly higher midlife cognition for Black men and those with higher family SES marginalization.

Conclusions: Early childhood education is associated with better cognition more than 40 years later, with larger benefits for children facing greater socioeconomic  marginalization and Black men.