Childhood and Adulthood Trauma Associate With Cognitive Aging Among Black and White Older Adults

•What is the primary question addressed by this study?To identify community-specific relationships and sensitive periods that can facilitate targeted mitigation, we examined relationships between trauma during childhood and adulthood and cognitive outcomes among Black and White older adults.•What is the main finding of this study?Adulthood but not childhood trauma robustly associates with cognitive outcomes in both Black and White older adults, and relationships are frequently nonlinear.•What is the meaning of the finding?Clinical and/or community intervention on harmful sequelae of past and incident traumas may improve cognitive health in older populations.