LAUSR

The growing body of evidence linking intergenerational education and late-life cognitive decline is almost exclusively from high-income countries, despite rapid intergenerational changes in education in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). We used data from the Mexican Health and Aging Study (n = 8,822), a cohort of Mexican adults aged > 50 years (2001- 2018) to evaluate whether parental (none vs. any formal schooling), own (< primary school vs. primary completion), or adult child (< high school vs. high school completion) education was associated with verbal memory z-scores. We used linear mixed models with inverse probability of attrition weights. Educational attainment in all three generations was associated with baseline verbal memory scores, independent of the prior generation's education. Lower parental (ß= -0.005; 95% CI: -0.009, -0.002) and respondents' education (ß= -0.013; 95% CI: -0.017, -0.010) were associated with faster decline in delayed (not immediate) verbal memory z-scores. Associations between adult child education and respondent's verbal memory decline varied by exposure specification. Educational attainment of parents and adult children may influence the cognitive aging of middle-aged and older adults in LMICs. These results have important implications given recent structural shifts in educational attainment in many LMICs.