A - 70 Contextualizing Racial/Ethnic Differences in Baseline Assessment among Collegiate Athletes

Abstract Objective Compared to other factors that influence neuropsychological test performance, few studies have examined the relationship between racial/ethnic identity and baseline assessment performance in collegiate athletes, and even fewer have contextualized results using structural factors linked to test performance (e.g., premorbid cognitive ability). This study examined racial/ethnic differences in baseline assessment performance before and after controlling for premorbid functioning. We hypothesized that there would be racial/ethnic differences in performance but that controlling for premorbid functioning would reduce these differences. Method Participants included 875 collegiate athletes who were grouped based on racial/ethnic identity (White = 661, Black = 165, Another Race = 49) and underwent a comprehensive neuropsychological battery. Cognitive composite scores and intraindividual variability (IIV) were calculated for two neurocognitive domains: attention/processing speed and memory. Premorbid functioning was assessed with the Wechsler Test of Adult Reading (WTAR). ANCOVAs were used to examine racial/ethnic differences in these four cognitive domains before and after controlling for WTAR scores. Results Before controlling for WTAR scores, there were significant racial/ethnic differences in the attention/processing speed and memory composite scores and in attention/processing speed IIV, p’s < 0.001, ηp2 = 0.02–0.03. However, there were no significant racial/ethnic differences in memory IIV, p = 0.97. After controlling for WTAR scores, there were no significant racial/ethnic differences in the attention/processing (p = 0.530, ηp2 = 0.001) or memory (p = 0.183, ηp2 = 0.004) composite scores, and the relationship between racial/ethnic identity and attention/processing speed IIV became less significant (p = 0.014, ηp2 = 0.01). Conclusions Results suggest that racial/ethnic differences at baseline assessment can be largely accounted for by premorbid functioning, which underscores the importance of considering sociocultural context when assessing racially/ethnically diverse athletes.