Race Inequity in School Attendance Across the Jim Crow South and Its Implications for Black-White Disparities in Trajectories of Cognitive Function Among Older Adults.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

Although education is a key determinant of cognitive function, its role in determining Black-White disparities in cognitive function is unclear. This may be due, in part, to data limitations that have made it difficult to account for systemic educational inequities in the Jim Crow South experienced by older cohorts, including differences in the number of days Black students attended school compared to their White counterparts or Black peers in better-funded southern states. We determine if accounting for differential rates of school attendance across race, years, and states in the Jim Crow South better illuminates Black-White disparities in trajectories of cognitive function.

Methods

We linked historical state-level data on school attendance from the 1919/1920 to

SUBMITTER: Walsemann KM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9371452 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature