Intergenerational Discrimination, Dispossession, and Political Persecution: Associations with Memory in Older Adults from Central and Eastern Europe

BACKGROUND: Discrimination and persecution can have lasting effects on socioeconomic status (SES) and health, including cognitive function. Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) has a history of war, political repression, and systemic discrimination, contributing to historical adversity across generations. However, the long-term effects of these experiences on memory performance in older adults remain largely unexplored. AIM: To examine the association between an intergenerational index of discrimination, persecution, and dispossession and memory performance in older adults from CEE countries. METHODS: Respondents from 11 CEE countries were interviewed in wave 7 of the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (n = 21,989; 59% female; 67.1 mean age). We constructed a categorical index for intergenerational experiences of discrimination, persecution, and dispossession: (0) no personal or parental exposure, (1) parental experience only (e.g., forced displacement, labor camp, or injury), (2) personal experience only (e.g., job-related consequences of discrimination, or property dispossession), and (3) both personal and parental exposure. The memory performance z-score was created by standardizing and combining immediate and delayed recall scores. First linear regression model adjusted for age, sex, CEE region, birth cohort and included country-fixed effects. Second model additionally included self-reported math and language abilities at age 10, childhood SES, and educational attainment; potential confounders depending on the timing of discrimination. RESULT: 36.7% had some experience of discrimination or persecution, with 23.2% reporting parental exposure, 6% reporting only personal exposure and 7.5% reporting both. Respondents whose parents experienced discrimination or persecution had -0.03 lower memory scores (95%CI: -0.05; 0.00), whereas those reporting personal or both experiences had higher memory scores (β=0.08 95%CI: 0.03;0.12 & β=0.10 95%CI 0.06; 0.15). However, after adjusting for early life factors and educational attainment only the negative association between parental experiences of persecution and memory persisted (β=-0.04, 95%CI: -0.06; -0.01). CONCLUSION: Having parents who were exposed to discrimination or persecution was associated with lower memory performance in older age. These findings suggest that adversity may have a lasting negative impact on cognitive function across generations. SUPPORT: PRIMUS research program (PRIMUS/22/MED; PI Seblova).