Early-Life Bilingualism and Midlife Cognitive Health: Evidence from High School and Beyond

This study examines the relationship between early-life bilingualism and midlife cognitive health. Using data from the 1980, 1982, and 2021 waves of High School and Beyond: 1980 (N ≈ 13,980), we find that bilingual adults show higher midlife cognition scores, but the association weakens after adjusting for early-life academic achievement and educational expectations. Becoming bilingual before school entry is not associated with stronger midlife cognition than monolingualism or becoming bilingual after school entry. English-first bilingual speakers do not exhibit better midlife cognition than either English monolingual speakers or non-English-first bilingual speakers. By situating the debate about the cognitive benefits of bilingualism within broader educational and stratification contexts, our results highlight early-life educational inequalities as a key mechanism driving the apparent relationship between early-life bilingualism and midlife cognition.