Susceptibility to Scams in Older Black and White Adults.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Han SD
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8311557 | biostudies-literature | 2021
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Publications
Susceptibility to Scams in Older Black and White Adults.
Han S Duke SD Barnes Lisa L LL Leurgans Sue S Yu Lei L Stewart Christopher C CC Lamar Melissa M Glover Crystal M CM Bennett David A DA Boyle Patricia A PA
Frontiers in psychology 20210712
Previous reports on racial differences in scam susceptibility have yielded mixed findings, and few studies have examined reasons for any observed race differences. Older Black and White participants without dementia (<i>N</i> = 592) from the Minority Aging Research Study and the Rush Memory and Aging Project who completed a susceptibility to scam questionnaire and other measures were matched according to age, education, sex, and global cognition using Mahalanobis distance. In adjusted models, ol ...[more]
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Project description:IntroductionEvidence suggests that older Black adults are frequent victims of financial fraud and exploitation. This study aims to identify the factors associated with scam susceptibility in older Black adults.MethodsParticipants were 383 older Black adults living in the Chicago metropolitan area (mean age = 78 years and 82% female). A scam susceptibility measure assessed perceptions and behaviors that predispose older adults to fraud and scams. Categories of age-associated factors, including cognition, physical health, psychosocial factors, personality, and behavioral economics, were measured using uniform systematic assessments. For each category separately, measures associated with scam susceptibility were identified via stepwise variable selection.ResultsOlder age was associated with greater scam susceptibility. Further, the analysis revealed a robust association of cognitive health with scam susceptibility, particularly the domains of semantic and working memory. Psychological well-being was associated with susceptibility, as was neuroticism. Behavioral economic measures including financial and health literacy and financial and health decision-making ability were also implicated. In a final model that included all the measures initially retained by variable selection, semantic memory, psychological well-being, and financial and health literacy were independently associated with scam susceptibility. Moreover, the association of age was attenuated and no longer significant after adjusting for these correlates.DiscussionAge-associated vulnerabilities, rather than age itself, predispose older Black adults to financial fraud and scams. The correlates of scam susceptibility in community-living older Black adults primarily involve cognitive health, psychological, and behavioral economic factors.
| S-EPMC9125480 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Susceptibility to scams is a significant issue among older adults, even among those with intact cognition. Age-related changes in brain macrostructure may be associated with susceptibility to scams; however, this has yet to be explored. Based on previous work implicating frontal and temporal lobe functioning as important in decision making, we tested the hypothesis that susceptibility to scams is associated with smaller grey matter volume in frontal and temporal lobe regions in a large community-dwelling cohort of non-demented older adults. Participants (N = 327, mean age = 81.55, mean education = 15.30, 78.9 % female) completed a self-report measure used to assess susceptibility to scams and an MRI brain scan. Results indicated an inverse association between overall grey matter and susceptibility to scams in models adjusted for age, education, and sex; and in models further adjusted for cognitive function. No significant associations were observed for white matter, cerebrospinal fluid, or total brain volume. Models adjusted for age, education, and sex revealed seven clusters showing smaller grey matter in the right parahippocampal/hippocampal/fusiform, left middle temporal, left orbitofrontal, right ventromedial prefrontal, right middle temporal, right precuneus, and right dorsolateral prefrontal regions. In models further adjusted for cognitive function, results revealed three significant clusters showing smaller grey matter in the right parahippocampal/hippocampal/fusiform, right hippocampal, and right middle temporal regions. Lower grey matter concentration in specific brain regions may be associated with susceptibility to scams, even after adjusting for cognitive ability. Future research is needed to determine whether grey matter reductions in these regions may be a biomarker for susceptibility to scams in old age.
| S-EPMC4689662 | biostudies-literature
Project description:ImportanceFinancial fraud and scams targeting older adults are on the rise and pose serious public health and economic threats. Research on the vulnerability of older adults to fraud and scams relies almost exclusively on self-reported data, which have several intrinsic limitations. Thus, how older adults truly respond to fraud attempts remains unclear.ObjectiveTo explore the vulnerability of older adults to a US government impersonation scam.Design, setting, and participantsThis cross-sectional study, conducted from October to December 2021 among communities in the greater Chicago metropolitan area, was framed as a fictitious government agency reaching out to older adults about a potential compromise of personal information relevant to their Social Security and Medicare benefits. Participants were older adults participating in the Rush Memory and Aging Project, an ongoing cohort study of chronic conditions of aging. Data analysis was performed from February to August 2023.ExposuresParticipants were exposed to deceptive materials through mailers, emails, and phone calls by a live agent.Main outcomes and measuresBased on the phone call data, participants were classified into 3 groups: no engagement (participants who did not answer the phone or call in), engagement (those who answered or called in but were skeptical about the legitimacy of the outreach and did not give away personal information), and conversion (participants who answered or called in without skepticism, or confirmed that they did not change their personal information, or provided the last 4 digits of their Social Security number).ResultsA total of 644 older adults (501 [77.8%] female, 143 [22.2%] male), with a mean (SD) age of 85.6 (7.5) years, were included. A total of 441 (68.5%) participants did not engage, 97 (15.1%) engaged but raised skepticism, and 106 (16.4%) converted. Older adults who engaged but with skepticism had the highest cognition and financial literacy, while those in the conversion group had the lowest scam awareness. No differences were observed in psychological and other behavioral measures by the levels of engagement.Conclusions and relevanceIn this cross-sectional study using a behavioral experiment that mimicked a real-world imposter scam, a sizable number of older adults engaged without skepticism. Results suggest that many older adults, including those without cognitive impairment, are vulnerable to fraud and scams.
| S-EPMC10517371 | biostudies-literature
Project description:ObjectivesRisk aversion has a substantial impact on decision making and is associated with key demographic characteristics. However, few studies have investigated whether risk aversion varies by race.MethodsWe investigated racial differences in financial risk aversion in 684 older Black and White adults without dementia in the Minority Aging Research Study and Rush Memory and Aging Project matched for age, education, sex, and cognition using Mahalanobis distance. We also investigated whether select contextual factors (self-reported discrimination, socioeconomic status, and literacy) mediated or affective factors (trust, loneliness, and neuroticism) moderated any observed racial differences.ResultsIn regression models adjusted for age, education, sex, and cognitive function, older Black adults were more risk averse than older White adults (Beta = 0.1264, standard error = 0.0227, p value ≤ .00001). None of the contextual or affective factors mediated or moderated this association.DiscussionOlder Black adults are more financially risk averse than older White adults. Because risk aversion may be associated with important financial and health outcomes in older age, more research is needed to investigate the reasons for this difference.
| S-EPMC10824163 | biostudies-literature
Project description:ObjectiveThe study objective was to assess the efficacy of problem-solving therapy for primary care (PST-PC) for preventing episodes of major depression and mitigating depressive symptoms of older black and white adults. The comparison group received dietary coaching.MethodsA total of 247 participants (90 blacks, 154 whites, and three Asians) with subsyndromal depressive symptoms were recruited into a randomized depression prevention trial that compared effects of individually delivered PST-PC and dietary coaching on time to major depressive episode and level of depressive symptoms (Beck Depression Inventory) over two years. Cumulative intervention time averaged 5.5-6.0 hours in each study arm.ResultsThe two groups did not differ significantly in time to major depressive episodes, and incidence of such episodes was low (blacks, N=8, 9%; whites, N=13, 8%), compared with published rates of 20%-25% over one year among persons with subsyndromal symptoms and receiving care as usual. Participants also showed a mean decrease of 4 points in depressive symptoms, sustained over two years. Despite greater burden of depression risk factors among blacks, no significant differences from whites were found in the primary outcome.ConclusionsBoth PST-PC and dietary coaching are potentially effective in protecting older black and white adults with subsyndromal depressive symptoms from developing episodes of major depression over two years. Absent a control for concurrent usual care, this conclusion is preliminary. If confirmed, both interventions hold promise as scalable, safe, nonstigmatizing interventions for delaying or preventing episodes of major depression in the nation's increasingly diverse older population.
| S-EPMC4050338 | biostudies-literature
Project description:This cross-sectional study assessed cortical bone properties via impact microindentation in adults with normoglycemia, prediabetes, and early-stage T2D. Bone material strength index was stable across the glycemia categories in whites but it declined in blacks. Blacks may be more susceptible than whites to impaired cortical bone properties in early diabetes.IntroductionIndividuals with long-standing type 2 diabetes (T2D) have altered cortical bone material properties as determined by impact microindentation. This cross-sectional study was done to determine whether altered cortical bone material properties could be detected in adults with prediabetes or early-stage T2D.MethodsMen and postmenopausal women aged ≥ 50 years with no diabetes (50 white, 6 black), prediabetes (75 white, 13 black), and T2D of ≤ 5 years duration (24 white and 16 black) had assessments of bone material strength index (BMSi) by impact microindentation, trabecular bone score (TBS), and bone mineral density (BMD) by DXA and the advanced glycation end product, urine pentosidine.ResultsThe association between glycemia category and BMSi differed by race (interaction p = 0.037). In the whites, BMSi did not differ across the glycemia categories, after adjustment for age, sex, and BMI (no diabetes 76.3 ± 1.6 (SEM), prediabetes 77.2 ± 1.3, T2D 76.2 ± 2.5, ANCOVA p = 0.887). In contrast, in the blacks, BMSi differed (ANCOVA p = 0.020) and was significantly lower in subjects with T2D than in those with prediabetes (p < 0.05) and no diabetes (p < 0.05) (mean ± SEM BMSi in no diabetes 86.0 ± 4.3, prediabetes 91.0 ± 3.2, and T2D 71.6 ± 2.9). Neither TBS nor urine pentosidine differed significantly across the glycemia categories in either whites or blacks.ConclusionsThese findings suggest different associations of glycemia with cortical bone material properties in blacks and whites, with blacks possibly being more susceptible to impaired cortical bone properties than whites in early diabetes. A larger study is needed to verify these observations.
| S-EPMC6879849 | biostudies-literature
Project description:ObjectiveTo investigate olfaction in relation to incident Parkinson disease (PD) in US white and black older adults.MethodsThe study included 1,510 white (mean age 75.6 years) and 952 black (75.4 years) participants of the Health, Aging, and Body Composition study. We evaluated the olfaction of study participants with the Brief Smell Identification Test (BSIT) in 1999-2000. We retrospectively adjudicated PD cases identified through August 31, 2012, using multiple data sources. We used multivariable Cox models to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs).ResultsDuring an average of 9.8 years of follow-up, we identified a total of 42 incident PD cases, including 30 white and 12 black participants. Overall, poor sense of smell, as indicated by a lower BSIT score, was associated with higher risk of PD. Compared with the highest tertile of BSIT (t3), the HR was 1.3 (95% CI 0.5-3.6) for the second tertile (t2) and 4.8 (95% CI 2.0-11.2) for the lowest tertile (t1) (ptrend < 0.00001). Further analyses revealed significant associations for incident PD in both the first 5 years of follow-up (HRt1/[t2+t3] 4.2, 95% CI 1.7-10.8) and thereafter (HRt1/[t2+t3] 4.1, 95% CI 1.7-9.8). This association appeared to be stronger in white (HRt1/[t2+t3] 4.9, 95% CI 2.3-10.5) than in black participants (HRt1/[t2+t3] 2.5, 95% CI 0.8-8.1), and in men (HRt1/[t2+t3] 5.4, 95% CI 2.3-12.9) than in women (HRt1/[t2+t3] 2.9, 95% CI 1.1-7.8).ConclusionsPoor olfaction predicts PD in short and intermediate terms; the possibility of stronger associations among men and white participants warrants further investigation.
| S-EPMC5631167 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Scam susceptibility places older adults - even those with intact cognition - at great risk. Lower grey matter volumes, particularly within right medial temporal regions, are associated with higher scam susceptibility; however, very little is known about white matter associates. We investigated associations between white matter integrity measured using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and scam susceptibility in 302 non-demented older adults (75% female; mean years: age = 81.3 + 7.5, education = 15.7 + 2.9). Participants completed comprehensive neuroimaging (including DTI, T1- and T2-weighted imaging), a self-report measure of scam susceptibility, and neuropsychological testing. Tract-Based Spatial Statistics (TBSS) investigated associations of DTI-derived measures of fractional anisotropy (FA), trace of the diffusion tensor, axial and radial diffusivity (separately) with scam susceptibility adjusting for age, sex, education, and white matter hyperintensities (WMH; total volume and voxelwise separately). Statistical significance was determined at p < 0.05, Family Wise Error corrected. TBSS revealed significant negative associations between FA in tracts connecting a number of right hemisphere white matter regions and scam susceptibility, particularly after additional adjustment for global cognitive functioning. The pathways implicated were mainly in right temporal-parietal and temporal-occipital regions. Association of trace, axial, and radial diffusivity with scam susceptibility were not significant in fully-adjusted models. Lower white matter integrity within right hemisphere tracts was associated with higher scam susceptibility independent of relevant confounds including global cognition. Thus, a right hemisphere brain network that includes key structures implicated in multi-sensory processing of immediate and future consequences may serve as a neurobiologic substrate of scam susceptibility in vulnerable older adults.
| S-EPMC6754317 | biostudies-literature
Project description:ObjectivesCoping styles refer to cognitive and behavioral patterns used to manage the demands of stressors, and effective coping represents a psychological resource. Some studies have linked coping styles to executive functioning, but less is known about coping styles and their associations with cognition across social groups known to differ in stress exposure and dementia risk. This study aimed to characterize associations between coping styles and cognitive functioning across non-Hispanic Black and non-Hispanic White older adults.MethodsParticipants were drawn from the Michigan Cognitive Aging Project (N = 453; age mean (SD) = 63.6 (3.2); 53% non-Hispanic Black). Problem-focused and emotion-focused coping were measured using the Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced Inventory. Global cognition was a composite of 5 cognitive domain scores derived from comprehensive neuropsychological tests. Cross-sectional associations between coping styles and cognition were examined using race-stratified regressions controlling for demographic and health covariates.ResultsBlack older adults reported more emotion-focused coping than White older adults, but there were no race differences in problem-focused coping. Among Black older adults, less problem-focused coping and more emotion-focused coping were each associated with worse cognition. Among White older adults, emotion-focused coping was marginally linked to cognition.DiscussionGreater emotion-focused coping among Black older adults may reflect greater exposure to stressors that are uncontrollable. Patterns of racial differences in coping-cognition links are in line with the social vulnerabilities hypothesis. Coping style may be a particularly important psychosocial resource for cognitive health among Black older adults that could be incorporated into culturally relevant interventions.
| S-EPMC10174202 | biostudies-literature
Project description:IntroductionWe examined the Mediterranean-Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay (MIND) diet's association with cognitive decline by race among older adults in the Chicago Health and Aging Project.MethodsFive thousand two hundred fifty-nine participants (73.5 [± 6.0] years, 62% Black participants, 62% female) completed a food frequency questionnaire, and two or more cognitive assessments over 7.8 ± 4.6 years.ResultsOverall, higher MIND diet was associated with slower cognitive decline (p for trend = 0.0025). The MIND score (range:0-15) was different between Black and White older adults(6.97 vs. 7.12, p = 0.010). Compared to the lowest tertile, among White participants, the two highest tertiles (MIND score -7: β = 0.0121 [95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.0006, 0.0237]; MIND score -8.5: β = 0.0146 [95% CI: 0.0003, 0.0260]) and among Black participants, only the highest tertile (MIND score -8.5: β = 0.0088 [95% CI: 0.0003, 0.0172]) had association with cognitive decline. Vascular and lifestyle factors attenuated the association only for Black older adults.DiscussionThe MIND diet was associated with slower cognitive decline in Black and White older adults, but this may vary with other lifestyle and vascular factors. Further research is warranted on race-specific cultural diets considering other risk factors for cognitive decline.HighlightsThe intake of Mediterranean-Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay (MIND) diet components varies by race. The MIND diet may slow cognitive decline in both Black and White older adults. This association may vary with other lifestyle and vascular risk factors.
| S-EPMC11667540 | biostudies-literature