A – 74 Ethnicity moderates the relationship between education and chronic stress in an aging cohort

Abstract Objective The negative association between educational attainment and chronic stress is stronger in non-Hispanic whites (NHW) than ethnic minority groups (e.g., Hispanic/Latinos [HL]). However, this has not been well examined in the context of aging given that chronic stress is a known risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease. We hypothesized that the association between education and chronic stress will vary between older adult NHW and HL groups within an observational cohort aging study. Method Data were obtained from 968 (529 NHW and 439 HL) clinically normal (Clinical Dementia Rating Scale=0) participants from the Health and Aging Brain Study-Health Disparities (341 men and 627 women; age: M=65.69, SD=8.28). Linear regression examined whether ethnicity moderates the relationship between education and chronic stress (Chronic Burden Scale) with age and sex as covariates. Results Ethnicity significantly moderated the overall relationship between education and chronic stress (β=-.632, p<.001). However, lower education was associated with greater chronic stress (β=-.422, p<.001) in the NHW cohort, whereas higher education was associated with greater chronic stress (β=.221, p=.003) in the HL cohort. Conclusion This study amplifies prior findings such that educational attainment results in variable risk for increased chronic stress in older adults based on ethnicity. This is salient as education is considered a protective factor against Alzheimer’s disease and cognitive aging and our results suggest that education may not provide the same protective function in HL individuals, contributing to increasing chronic stress as a cognitive risk factor. These results may inform the further development of culturally sensitive interventions and aid in addressing health disparities.