INTRODUCTION Social and economic conditions in childhood have been found to predict cognitive ability in midlife and old age in high-income countries. This study examines the long-term effect of childhood conditions on cognition among a nationally representative sample of older adults in a low- and middle-income country. MATERIALS AND METHODS Data were obtained from the 2014 to 2015 Indonesia Family Life Survey Wave 5 (6676 respondents, aged 50 years and older). Cognitive function was assessed based on total score on a series of tests adapted from the Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status. Retrospective information was collected on childhood poverty, with questions including whether respondents ever experienced hunger before age 15, whether basic facilities were available, and the number of books in the childhood home. We used linear regression to examine the association between childhood conditions and cognitive function in later life. RESULTS The findings show that the numbers of facilities and books available in childhood homes are substantially associated with cognition in later life after taking adulthood characteristics into account. Childhood hunger has no significant association with cognitive ability in later life. Belonging to an older birth cohort and living in a rural area were shown to have negative associations with cognitive ability in Indonesia. CONCLUSIONS Our findings suggest that childhood poverty, birth cohort, and living in a rural area may contribute to cognitive aging in Indonesia. Policies and interventions that target childhood poverty in developing countries may also recognize the rural-urban divide in access to educational and other socioeconomic resources.

中文翻译：

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童年后的儿童社会经济地位和认知功能：来自印度尼西亚的一项全国调查提供的证据。

引言在高收入国家，发现儿童的社会和经济状况可以预测其中年和老年的认知能力。这项研究考察了儿童状况对中低收入国家老年人的全国代表性样本的长期影响。材料和方法数据来自2014年至2015年印度尼西亚家庭生活调查第五次调查（6676名年龄在50岁以上的受访者）。认知功能是根据总分评估得出的，该分数是根据“电话访问”进行的。收集了有关儿童贫困的回顾性信息，这些问题包括受访者在15岁之前是否曾经历饥饿，是否有基本设施，以及儿童家庭中的书籍数量。我们使用线性回归来检验儿童期状况与晚年认知功能之间的关联。结果研究结果表明，考虑到成年后的特征，儿童家庭中可用的设施和书籍的数量与以后的生活中的认知能力密切相关。童年饥饿与以后的生活中的认知能力没有明显关系。在印度尼西亚，属于较老的出生队列并居住在农村地区与认知能力呈负相关。结论我们的研究结果表明，儿童贫困，出生队列和在农村地区生活可能会导致印度尼西亚的认知老化。