Can childhood hardship shape memory in later life?

We often think about memory loss as something that begins in older age: a forgotten name, a misplaced key, a word that sits just out of reach. But what if part of the story starts much earlier — not in retirement, or even in midlife, but in childhood?

Our study, Economic roots of cognitive decline: Tracing early-life shocks to late-life health, explores how economic hardship in childhood is associated with cognitive health many decades later. Using data from older adults across Europe, we examine whether experiences such as growing up in a poor family, having few books at home, or a father losing his job when the child was around age ten are linked to memory and verbal fluency in later life.

The findings point to a clear message: childhood economic adversity can cast a long shadow. It is associated with poorer cognitive outcomes in older age, and much of this link appears to run through education. Health, especially mental health and chronic disease, also plays an important role.

This does not mean that a difficult childhood determines a person’s future. Many people overcome early disadvantage. But it does suggest that the conditions in which children grow up can shape opportunities, health, and resilience across the life course.

Why look at childhood when studying cognitive ageing?

Cognitive decline is one of the most pressing public health challenges facing ageing societies. As people live longer, more families, communities, and health systems are affected by memory problems, dementia risk, and the wider consequences of cognitive impairment.

Much research focuses on later-life risk factors: chronic illness, loneliness, physical activity, diet, social engagement, and access to healthcare. These are all important. But a life-course perspective asks us to look further back. It asks whether the foundations of later-life health are partly built in childhood, through nutrition, education, housing, family resources, stress, and access to opportunity.

Economic shocks in childhood can affect families in many ways. A parent losing a job may reduce household income, increase stress, disrupt routines, or limit spending on learning materials. Growing up in poverty may affect nutrition, housing quality, educational opportunities, and emotional wellbeing. Having few books at home may be a sign of limited educational resources and a less stimulating learning environment.

We used data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe, known as SHARE. This large European dataset follows people aged 50 and over and collects information on health, family, work, education, finances, and earlier-life experiences.

The study focused on two measures of cognitive function. The first was self-rated memory, where participants rated their memory from poor to excellent. The second was verbal fluency, where participants were asked to name as many animals as possible in one minute. This simple task captures aspects of language, memory, and executive function.

We then examined several indicators of childhood economic adversity: whether the participant’s father had lost his job when the participant was around age ten, whether the participant grew up in a poor family, whether there were fewer than 25 books in the home, and a wider measure of childhood socioeconomic status based on household conditions.

We also explored possible pathways linking childhood hardship to later-life cognition, including education, unemployment during working life, chronic diseases, and mental health problems.

Childhood economic hardship was consistently associated with poorer cognitive outcomes later in life. People who experienced early-life disadvantage were less likely to report good memory in older age and tended to perform less well on the verbal fluency test.

Education was one of the clearest pathways. Lower educational attainment explained a substantial part of the link between childhood hardship and later cognitive outcomes. Depending on the measure used, education accounted for around 20% to 25% of the overall association for memory, and in some analyses an even larger share for verbal fluency.

This finding is important. Education can build skills, knowledge, and mental flexibility that may help people maintain cognitive function as they age. It also shapes later employment, income, social networks, health behaviours, and access to resources. If childhood poverty reduces educational opportunity, its consequences may continue to accumulate over decades.

Unemployment also played a role, but a smaller one. Experiencing unemployment during working life explained only a modest share of the association between childhood hardship and later cognitive outcomes.

Health mattered too. Chronic diseases and mental health problems helped explain part of the relationship between early hardship and later cognitive decline. Mental health was particularly important in some analyses, suggesting that emotional wellbeing may be one route through which early adversity leaves a long-term mark.

The findings are relevant for anyone interested in prevention, healthy ageing, and health inequalities.

In primary care, clinicians often meet patients after life-course disadvantage has already accumulated: chronic disease, depression, financial stress, caring responsibilities, or memory concerns. The roots of these problems may stretch back much further.

Primary care cannot solve childhood poverty alone. But it does see the long-term effects of social inequality in everyday consultations. It supports families during periods of stress, identifies children and adults who may need extra help, and plays a central role in prevention, mental health support, and chronic disease management.

For policymakers, the message is broader. Investments in children are also investments in ageing societies. Policies that reduce childhood poverty, protect families from economic shocks, improve educational access, and support mental health may have benefits lasting far beyond childhood.

Education stands out as especially important. If education is one of the main pathways linking early hardship to cognitive ageing, then improving educational access and quality may be a long-term public health intervention.

The study shows associations, not definite proof that childhood economic hardship directly causes cognitive decline. Many factors shape cognitive ageing, including genetics, health behaviours, family environment, neighbourhood conditions, and later-life circumstances. Some childhood information is also based on retrospective recall. Participants were asked in later life to report conditions from childhood, such as whether their family was poor or how many books were in the home. These measures are valuable, but memory of early-life circumstances may not be perfect.

Finally, memory and verbal fluency are important measures, but they do not capture every dimension of cognition, nor do they diagnose dementia.

Our findings add to growing evidence that healthy ageing begins long before old age. If we want to reduce cognitive inequalities in later life, we need to look beyond healthcare for older adults alone. Childhood poverty, educational opportunity, labour market stability, chronic disease prevention, and mental health support are connected parts of the same life-course story.

A difficult childhood does not define a person’s future. But early economic hardship can leave traces that last for decades. If we want people to age well, we need to start earlier — by giving children the resources, stability, and opportunities they need to thrive.