Available Studies
MAP, MARS, LATC
Categories
Lifestyle
This variable is only available in MAP, MARS, and LATC.
Childhood cognitive activity is an 11-item composite measure of frequency of participation in cognitively stimulating activities, issued at baseline. Participants are asked how often they engaged in cognitively simulating activities at age 6 (3 items) and at age 12 (8 items).
Participants are asked to rate the items on a 5-point scale. Values for questions #1-3 and 5-10 are flipped so that higher values indicate more frequent participation across all items (see table below). The composite measure ranges from 1 to 5 and is the mean of the individual item scores, with higher scores indicating greater cognitive activity.
Participants are asked the following questions:
Response choices for each question:
Value | Items 1-3, 5-10 (flipped) | Items 4, 11 |
---|---|---|
1 | Once a year or less | None |
2 | Several times a year | Less than one hour |
3 | Several times a month | One to less than two hours |
4 | Several times a week | Two to less than three hours |
5 | Every day/almost every day | Three or more hours |
Note: The variable is calculated if at least half of the items are non-missing.