HBCU Attendance May Provide Late-Life Cognitive Benefits for Black Adults.
HBCU Attendance May Provide Late-Life Cognitive Benefits for Black Adults
A new study found that Black adults who attended an historically black college or university scored higher in memory, language, and overall cognition later in life than Black adults who attended a predominantly White institution.
Attending a historically black college or university (HBCU) could provide long-term cognitive benefits to Black adults, according to a new study led by the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine (UCSF) and the School of Public Health.
Published in JAMA Network Open, the study found that Black adults who were college-aged between 1940 and 1980 and attended an HBCU in the United States demonstrated better command of memory, language, and overall intellectual functioning later in life, compared to Black adults who attended a predominantly White institution (PWI). These higher cognitive scores applied to people who attended college before and after legal racial segregation and racial discrimination in education, practices that were outlawed with the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka Supreme Court ruling and the 1964 Civil Rights Act, respectively.
Research has long suggested that people with higher education are less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, in part by maintaining greater cognitive reserve, or the ability to solve problems and navigate life challenges as brain integrity diminishes with age. However, not all college-educated people reap these cognitive benefits equally, and racial disparities in reduced ADRD risk persist. The new study is the first national analysis that compares HBCU and PWI attendance with cognition in older Black adults, and the results underscore how Black students’ exposure to institutions that foster Black culture and scholarship may provide long-lasting benefits beyond education.
“ADRD risk is influenced by social and institutional environments, particularly educational experiences,” says Marilyn D. Thomas, assistant professor in the Department of Medicine at UCSF. “Our findings are important because they suggest that culturally affirming college experiences matter over the life course, and that these experiences may be robust to various forms of prejudice and discrimination. Because Black HBCU students report lower racial stress, a greater sense of belonging, stronger connections to faculty and social groups, and better academic achievements, HBCU experiences likely improve early life cognitive engagement, social networks, and economic opportunities which, in turn, contributes to better access to health-promoting resources, social support, and economic security in later life and lower risk of cognitive impairment.”
Maria Glymour, chair and professor of epidemiology, is the senior author of the study.
For the study, the research team utilized data on memory, language, and global cognition among 1,978 Black adults from the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke study, a prospective cohort study that recruited Black and White US adults 45 years and older from 2003 to 2007. More than half of the participants lived in eight states within the Stroke Belt (the region of southern states that have significantly higher stroke mortality rates) while all attended high school in a state that was home to an HBCU. Memory scores were based on immediate and delayed recall, while language tests measured fluency in naming animals or other words that begin with the same letter, and global cognition reflected a composite score of memory and language.
Black HBCU college-goers had better memory, language, and global cognition at an average age of 62.
For Black students, exposure to an HBCU education may help alleviate long-term negative consequences of racial segregation and discrimination that remain across housing, employment, schools, and healthcare, as these schools typically prioritize economic empowerment, as well as commitments to service and to uplifting their surrounding communities.
“As the U.S. population ages, protecting cognitive health—and closing persistent racial disparities in dementia risk—will require structural solutions,” says study coauthor Justin White, associate professor of health law, policy & management. “These findings suggest that strengthening the educational environments and community conditions that support Black students’ success may provide benefits that extend well beyond graduation.”
The researchers also found that HBCU students were more likely to have college-educated mothers or female caregivers and receive academic and other social support during their childhood. Many HBCUs also value family legacies within their student bodies, which can enhance generational wealth, reinforce a sense of community and cultural pride, and provide opportunities for built-in mentorship and other academic or emotional support.
“Many of the conditions in which we live and work as we age are shaped by decisions we make and experiences that we have early in our lives, such as choosing our professional careers, where we live, and who we share our lives with,” Thomas says. “Building strong networks and community can have long-lasting health benefits, especially for groups exposed to historical and ongoing oppression and exclusion.”
The researchers say future studies should examine the extent to which individual or institutional-level factors, such as socioeconomic status, academic achievements, funding, and prestige, may influence the role of HBCUs on the cognitive health of Black adults.