State Policy Liberalism in Adolescence and Risk for Dementia from 2000 to 2016 among Older U.S. Adults

Although prior research identifies many social determinants of dementia, few studies look upstream toward dementia's macrosocial correlates, and fewer still consider macrosocial conditions in early life. This study focuses on state policy contexts in adolescence and, specifically, on state policy liberalism, defined as the overarching conservative-liberal orientation of state policies. We link panel data from a nationally representative sample of 6,410 U.S. adults ages 65 to 80 in the 2000 wave of the Health and Retirement Study with longitudinal data on state policy liberalism extending back in time to when respondents were young. Discrete-time hazard models examine relationships between state policy liberalism and the development of dementia from 2000 to 2016. Results show that more liberal state policy contexts in adolescence are associated with lower dementia risk in older age. Policy contexts over the life course and especially in early life warrant further exploration as macrosocial determinants of dementia.