Does the Association Between Leisure and Cognition Vary by Life Course Socioeconomic Status and Age?

Although it is established that both cognitive functioning and engaging in leisure activities tend to correlate with each other among older adults, what is less known is whether the association between them becomes weaker or stronger in old age. Building on recent research that shows significant interactions between life course socioeconomic status (SES) and leisure activity engagement on cognitive impairment, we aim to further explore whether such interactions vary by age among older adults by using data from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey of adults aged 65 and older between 2002 and 2018. Results from the Generalized Linear Mixed Model show that virtually all leisure activities are significantly associated with cognitive impairment into old age even after controlling for life course SES. We further find that significant interactions between life course SES and leisure activity engagement on cognitive performance remain in old age. The finding that the association between leisure activity engagement and cognitive impairment is conditional on life course SES even in old age suggests the persistence of heterogeneity in the relationship between cognitive functioning and its associated factors among older adults. It is contradictory to the age-as-leveler hypothesis, which projects a convergence in health inequality in old age.