Abstract
The MIDUS Refresher sample is the second wave of the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study. The MIDUS study seeks to understand how factors in the lives of American adults such as working conditions, relationships, health, finances, personal outlooks and individual choices impact health and well-being as individuals age from early adulthood to later life. This second wave of the study with the refresher sample also sought to shed light on how U.S. adults have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and how these experiences are linked with their health, broadly defined.
In 2022-2025, the second wave of cognitive assessments were carried out on the MIDUS Refresher participants who had completed the MIDUS Refresher 2 survey interview. The first part of the assessments consists of the Brief Test of Adult Cognition via Telephone (BTACT) including seven subtests: word list recall immediate, word list recall delayed, backward digit span, number series, counting backward speed, category fluency, and an attention switching reaction time task. The second part consists of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA-BLIND), which is newly introduced at the Refresher 2. It is an adapted version of the original MoCA, a rapid screening instrument for mild cognitive dysfunction, and tests seven cognitive domains: attention and concentration, memory, language, conceptual thinking, calculations, and orientation.
The MIDUS Refresher study was designed to replenish the original MIDUS 1 baseline cohort and parallel the five decadal age groups of the MIDUS 1 baseline survey. The MIDUS Refresher sample aimed to strengthen cross-project analyses in MIDUS by increasing the sample sizes available for testing hypotheses dealing with the interplay of key factors (e.g., socioeconomic status, gender, psychosocial factors, biological factors) in mid- and later-life health. The purpose of the cognitive project was to determine how cognition is related to overall mental and physical health and to examine the relationship between biopsychosocial factors and individual differences in cognitive functioning.