Digital Commons Network^™

After Hurricanes Katrina And Rita: Gender Differences In Health And Religiosity In Middle-Aged And Older Adults, Jennifer Silva Brown, Katie E. Cherry, Loren D. Marks, Erin M. Jackson, Julia Volaufova, Christina Lefante, S. Michal Jazwinski

Faculty Publications

We examined health-related quality of life in adults in the Louisiana Health Aging Study (LHAS) after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita (HK/R) that made landfall on the U.S. Gulf Coast region in 2005. Analyses of pre- and post-disaster SF-36 scores yielded changes in physical function and bodily pain. Mental health scores were lower for women than men. Gender differences were observed in religious beliefs and religious coping, favoring women. Religious beliefs and religious coping were negatively correlated with physical function, implying that stronger reliance on religiosity as a coping mechanism may be more likely among those who are less physically capable. …

Hras1 And Lass1 With Apoe Are Associated With Human Longevity And Healthy Aging, S. Michal Jazwinski, Sangkyu Kim, Jianliang Dai, Li Li, Xiuhua Bi, James C. Jiang, Jonathan Arnold, Mark A. Batzer, Jerilyn A. Walker, David A. Welsh, Christina M. Lefante, Julia Volaufova, Leann Myers, L. Joseph Su, Dorothy B. Hausman, Michael V. Miceli, Eric Ravussin, Leonard W. Poon, Katie E. Cherry, Michael A. Welsch

Faculty Publications

The search for longevity-determining genes in human has largely neglected the operation of genetic interactions. We have identified a novel combination of common variants of three genes that has a marked association with human lifespan and healthy aging. Subjects were recruited and stratified according to their genetically inferred ethnic affiliation to account for population structure. Haplotype analysis was performed in three candidate genes, and the haplotype combinations were tested for association with exceptional longevity. An HRAS1 haplotype enhanced the effect of an APOE haplotype on exceptional survival, and a LASS1 haplotype further augmented its magnitude. These results were replicated in …

Social Relationships And Mortality Risk: A Meta-Analytic Review, Timothy B. Smith, Julianne Holt-Lunstad, J. Bradley Layton

Faculty Publications

Background: The quality and quantity of individuals' social relationships has been linked not only to mental health but also to both morbidity and mortality. Objectives: This meta-analytic review was conducted to determine the extent to which social relationships influence risk for mortality, which aspects of social relationships are most highly predictive, and which factors may moderate the risk. Data Extraction: Data were extracted on several participant characteristics, including cause of mortality, initial health status, and pre-existing health conditions, as well as on study characteristics, including length of follow-up and type of assessment of social relationships. Results: Across 148 studies (308,849 …

Helping Child Welfare Workers Improve Cultural Competence By Utilizing Spiritual Genograms With Native American Families And Children, Gordon E. Limb, David R. Hodge

Faculty Publications

This study represents an initial step at giving child welfare workers an important assessment tool as they seek to provide culturally and spiritually competent services to Native American families and children. In order to determine the relevancy and consistency of utilizing a modified spiritual genogram assessment tool with Native Americans, 50 Native American experts reviewed, rated, and gave feedback on its use. Results showed that while there were limitations in utilizing spiritual genograms, this assessment tool could help child welfare workers become more culturally competent as they develop interventions with Native American families and children.

Youtube Video Project: A" Cool" Way To Learn Communication Ethics, Carol M. Lehman, Debbie D. Dufrene, Mark W. Lehman

Faculty Publications

The millennial generation embraces new technologies as a natural way of accessing and exchanging information, staying connected, and having fun. YouTube, a video-sharing site that allows users to upload, view, and share video clips, is among the latest “cool” technologies for enjoying quick laughs, employing a wide variety of corporate activities, and also communicating relevant, engaging instructional content for today’s students. This article describes a YouTube video class project that is a natural fit with today’s students because it involves cutting-edge social media while addressing a critical component of professional development—communication ethics. This project encourages critical thinking, creativity, and applied …

Asian American Elders In The Twenty-First Century—Key Indicators Of Well-Being (Review), Sadhna Diwan

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Litigation, Integration, And Transformation: Using Medicaid To Address Racial Inequities In Health Care, Ruqaiijah Yearby

Faculty Publications

Using a public health policy perspective, this article examines the persistence of racial inequities in nursing homes and prescribes a solution to address these inequities. I use empirical data to prove the persistence of racial inequities in health care, analyze the government policies that allow racial inequities to continue, and provide a solution of regulatory integration. Specifically, I propose that civil rights enforcement be integrated with the nursing home enforcement system, which has been aggressively enforced and monitored. There are many strategies that may lead to the adoption of this system. One such strategy is using the Medicaid Act to …

Resting Energy Expenditure Changes With Weight Loss: Racial Differences, Xuewen Wang, Tongjian You, Leon Lenchik, Barbara J. Nicklas

Faculty Publications

It is controversial whether weight loss reduces resting energy expenditure (REE) to a different magnitude in black and white women. This study was to determine whether changes in REE with weight loss were different between black and white postmenopausal women, and whether changes in body composition (including regional lean and fat mass) were associated with REE changes within each race. Black (n= 26) and white (n= 65) women (age= 58.2±5.4 years, 25< BMI< 40 kg·m⁻²) completed a 20-week weight loss intervention. Body weight, lean and fat mass (total body, limb and trunk) via dual energy X-ray absorptiometry, and REE via indirect …

Are Older Adults Less Or More Physiologically Reactive? A Meta-Analysis Of Age-Related Differences In Cardiovascular Reactivity To Laboratory Tasks, Wendy C. Birmingham, Bert N. Uchino, Cynthia A. Berg

Faculty Publications

In this meta-analytic review of 31 laboratory studies, we examined if relatively older adults showed lower or higher cardiovascular reactivity compared with relatively younger adults. Results revealed that age was associated with lower heart rate reactivity but higher systolic blood pressure (SBP) reactivity during emotionally evocative tasks. Consistent with the predictions of dynamic integration theory, the result for SBP was moderated by the degree of task activation. These data are discussed in light of existing self-regulatory models and important future research directions.

Bidirectional Interference Between Speech And Postural Stability In Individuals With Parkinson's Disease, Christopher Dromey, Eon Jarvis, Stuart Sondrup, Shawn Nissen, K. Bo Foreman, Leland E. Dibble

Faculty Publications

Because people frequently talk while engaged in other activities, and because Parkinson's disease (PD) is known to diminish multi-tasking performance, we examined dual task interference between speaking and postural stability in 9 individuals with PD, 7 age-matched and 10 healthy young controls. Participants repeated a target utterance and performed a rise to toes task in both single and dual task conditions. Diphthong transitions were measured from audio recordings and postural variables reflecting planning, coordination, and stability were derived from a multi-camera motion capture system and force plate recordings. Thus, sensitive measures of both control groups for the isolated postural task, …

Social Relationships And Mortality Risk: A Meta-Analytic Review, Julianne Holt-Lunstad

Faculty Publications

Background

The quality and quantity of individuals' social relationships has been linked not only to mental health but also to both morbidity and mortality.

Objectives

This meta-analytic review was conducted to determine the extent to which social relationships influence risk for mortality, which aspects of social relationships are most highly predictive, and which factors may moderate the risk.

Data Extraction

Data were extracted on several participant characteristics, including cause of mortality, initial health status, and pre-existing health conditions, as well as on study characteristics, including length of follow-up and type of assessment of social relationships.

Results

Across 148 studies (308,849 …

Deporting Grandma: Why Grandparent Deportation May Be The Next Big Immigration Crisis And How To Solve It, Marcia A. Yablon-Zug

Faculty Publications

This Article explores the issue of grandparent caregiver deportation. The phenomenon of grandparents raising grandchildren is not new, but the number of children being raised by grandparents is at an all-time high and growing. Numerous circumstances can lead to a grandparent's assumption of caregiving responsibilities, but in most cases, grandparents assume this role because there is no one else. For thousands of children, grandparents are the only family they have, and without them these children would be placed in foster care and subject to the serious problems that plague children in foster care. The importance of grandparent caregivers cannot be …

A Cost Analysis Of A Physical Activity Intervention For Older Adults, Erik J. Groessl, Robert M. Kaplan, Steven N. Blair, W. Jack Rejeski, Jeffrey A. Katula, Abby C. King, Roger A. Fielding, Nancy W. Glynn, Marco Pahor

Faculty Publications

We examined the costs of a physical activity (PA) and an educational comparison intervention. 424 older adults at risk for mobility disability were randomly assigned to either condition. The PA program consisted of center-based exercise sessions 3x weekly for 8 weeks, 2x weekly for weeks 9 to 24 and weekly behavioral counseling for 10 weeks. Optional sessions were offered during maintenance weeks (25-52). The comparison intervention consisted of weekly education meetings for 24 weeks, and then monthly for 6 months. Cost analyses were conducted from the "payer's" perspective, with a 1-year time horizon. Intervention costs were estimated by tracking personnel …

Your Personal Renaissance: 12 Steps To Finding Your Life’S True Calling By D. Dreher, E Michael Brady Phd

Faculty Publications

The article reviews the book Your Personal Renaissance: 12 Steps to Finding Your Life's True Calling, by Diane Dreher.

Meeting The Need For K-8 Teachers For Classrooms With Culturally And Linguistically Diverse Students: The Promise And Challenge Of Early Field Experiences, Amy Strage, Susan Gomez, Kari Knutson-Miller, Ana Garcia-Nevarez

Faculty Publications

The writers present the findings of their study focused on teacher learning through early fieldwork experiences to address the problem of teachers working with a culturally and linguistically diverse student population. Data were analyzed from an archive collected from approximately 500 students enrolled in six undergraduate child development courses at three state university campuses located in urban areas of California. Findings suggest that early field experiences provide participants with opportunities for career goal clarification, and the context of field experience is significant and may lead to outcomes beyond the initial goal of the experience.

Trauma, Attachment, And Family Therapy With Grandfamilies: A Model For Treatment, Deena D. Strong, Roy A. Bean, Leslie L. Feinauer

Faculty Publications

Population estimates indicate that approximately 1.5 million children are in grandparent-headed households without any parents present. This type of grandfamily is often created when biological parents are unable or unwilling to care for their children. Trauma is often experienced as a precursor to, or a consequence of, the biological parents' inability or unwillingness to care for their children. The well-being of both grandparent and grandchild may be affected in grandfamilies. A treatment model is presented that integrates trauma, attachment, and family systems theories and proposes that healing is facilitated through the emerging attachment between the grandparent and grandchild.

Ethnic Differences In Trajectories Of Depressive Symptoms: Disadvantage In Family Background, High School Experiences, And Adult Characteristics, Katrina M. Walsemann, Gilbert C. Gee, Arline T. Geronimus

Faculty Publications

Although research investigating ethnic differences in mental health has increased in recent years, we know relatively little about how mental health trajectories vary across ethnic groups. Do these differences occur at certain ages, but not others? We investigate variations in trajectories of depressive symptoms, and examine the extent to which disadvantages in family background, high school experiences, and adult characteristics explain these differences. Employing random-coefficient modeling using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, we find that blacks and Hispanics experience higher symptom levels in early adulthood in comparison to whites, but equivalent levels by middle-age. Ethnic differences remained in early …

Age Discrimination In The Delivery Of Health Care Services To Our Elders, Phoebe Weaver Williams

Faculty Publications

The problem of health care providers making age biased decisions when treating elderly patients has received considerable attention and condemnation from both medical and social science researchers. When health care providers offer inappropriate or less care to patients because of their advanced chronological age, they potentially violate the Age Act of 1975. However, a review of the cases litigated under the Age Act suggests that advocates, regulators, and elders have not used the Age Act to address even the most blatant ageist practices in health care. Using methods developed to identify unlawful discrimination under employment and civil rights laws, this …

Nps' Perceptions Of Disaster Preparedness Education: Quantitative Survey Research, Milada Tichy, A. Elaine Bond, Renea L. Beckstrand, Barbara Heise

Faculty Publications

Nurse practitioners need to be effective in responding to large-scale natural and man-made disasters. However, disaster core competencies for NPs are largely nonexistent. The purpose of this study was to assess NPs' level of disaster preparedness and determine how NPs acquired knowledge about disaster preparation. Findings suggest that a consistent national NP curriculum for disaster preparedness, including communication with other disaster agencies, is needed. With proper education, NPs can play a major role in disaster management.

Older Adults With Traumatic Rib Fractures: An Evidence-Based Approach To Their Care, Blaine A. Winters

Faculty Publications

It is expected that over the next decade the population of older adults in the United States will increase dramatically. As the older adult population increases, the number of older adults involved in traumatic accidents is also expected to climb. The older population is at na increased risk for complications and poor outcomes following trauma. Practitioners caring for these older adults will need to use evidence-based practice guidelines in an attempt to improve outcomes. This article provides a clinical guideline for the assessment and management of pain in older adults with traumatic rib fractures, and an approach for pain assessment, …

A Sense Of Things To Come: Future Research Directions In Sensory Marketing, Ryan S. Elder, Nilufer Z. Aydinoglu, Victor A. Barger, Cindy Caldara, Helen Haeeun Chun, Chan Jean Lee, Gina Mohr, Antonios Stamatogiannakis

Faculty Publications

The exciting exploration on sensory marketing presented in this book is just the foundation upon which to build future research. There are myriad unexplored questions and innumerable directions in which to take this research. Our goal in this chapter is not to provide an exhaustive array of these future directions, but rather to stimulate the reader into exploring new ideas. We present possible future directions for each sense individually (vision, audition, smell, touch, taste), and conclude with ideas for future research addressing the interplay among multiple senses within consumer behavior.

Deception, Decisions, And Investor Education, Jayne W. Barnard

Faculty Publications

Tens of millions of dollars each year are spent on investor education. Because older adults (those aged sixty and older) are disproportionately victims of investment fraud schemes, many educational programs are targeted at them. In this Article, Professor Barnard questions the effectiveness of these programs. Drawing on recent studies from marketing scholars, neurobiologists, social psychologists, and behavioral economists examining the ways in which older adults process information and make decisions, she offers a model of fraud victimization (the "deception/decision cycle") that explains why older adults are often vulnerable to investment fraud schemes. She then suggests that many of the factors …

Family Leisure Satisfaction And Satisfaction With Family Life, Joel R. Agate, Ramon B. Zabriskie, Sarah Taylor Agate, Raymond Poff

Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between family leisure satisfaction and satisfaction with family life. Zabriskie’s Family Leisure Activity Profile was used to measure family leisure satisfaction. The Satisfaction with Family Life Scale was used to measure satisfaction with family life. The sample consisted of 898 families from throughout the United States. Results indicated a relationship between all family leisure satisfaction variables and satisfaction with family life. Data collected from parents and youth provided insight into the relationship between family leisure satisfaction and satisfaction with family life. At the parent, youth, and family levels, core family …

Weight Regain Is Related To Decreases In Physical Activity During Weight Loss, Xuewen Wang, Mary F. Lyles, Tongjian You, Michael J. Berry, Jack Rejeski, Barbara J. Nicklas

Faculty Publications

Purpose—To examine whether adaptations in physical activity energy expenditure (PAEE) and resting metabolic rate (RMR) during weight loss were associated with future weight regain in overweight/obese, older women.

Research Methods and Procedures—Thirty-four overweight/obese (BMI=25–40 kg/m²), postmenopausal women underwent a 20-week weight loss intervention of hypocaloric diet with (low- or high-intensity) or without treadmill walking (weekly caloric deficit was ~11760 kJ), with a subsequent 12-month follow-up. RMR (via indirect calorimetry), PAEE (by RT3 accelerometer) and body composition (by DXA) were measured before and after intervention. Body weight and self-reported information on physical activity were collected after intervention, …

Does Place Explain Racial Health Disparities? Quantifying The Contribution Of Residential Context To The Black/White Health Gap In The United States, Brian K. Finch, D. Phuong Do, Ricardo Basurto-Davila, Chloe E. Bird, José J. Escarce, Nicole Lurie

Faculty Publications

The persistence of the black health disadvantage has been a puzzling component of health in the United States in spite of general declines in rates of morbidity and mortality over the past century. Studies that have focused on well-established individual-level determinants of health such as socio-economic status and health behaviors have been unable to fully explain these disparities. Recent research has begun to focus on other factors such as racism, discrimination, and segregation. Variation in neighborhood context - socio-demographic composition, social aspects, and built environment - has been postulated as an additional explanation for racial disparities, but few attempts have …

Themes And Trends Of Journal Of Family And Economic Issues: A Review Of Twenty Years (1988–2007), Jeffrey P. Dew

Faculty Publications

This review article examines the progress and impact of the Journal of Family and Economic Issues (JFEI) between 1988–2007. Over the past 20 years, JFEI has become a major journal publishing articles on the relationship between families and economic systems. JFEIcontributed to both the economic and family studies disciplines by publishing articles that explore the interface of these two disciplines. Between 1988 and 2007, JFEI published articles on a variety of themes not often found in other economic or family studies journals such as family resource management, consumer attitudes and behaviors, and economic issues and family relationships. Other unique …

Resuscitating Hospital Enterprise Liability, Philip G. Peters Jr.

Faculty Publications

No tort reform has more potential to improve the quality of medical care and to reduce the frequency of patient injuries than exclusive hospital enterprise liability. Hospital enterprise liability would make hospitals liable for all patient injuries occurring in the hospital that are the product of provider negligence, regardless of the independent contractor status of the providers. In its "exclusive" form, enterprise liability would also eliminate the personal liability of individual physicians and nurses. Exclusive hospital enterprise liability has the potential to revive the dormant deterrent power of tort law. The reasons are simple. Unlike individual physicians, hospitals are experience-rated …

Accumulating Disadvantage Over The Life Course: Evidence From A Longitudinal Study Investigating The Relationship Between Educational Advantage In Youth And Health In Middle Age, Katrina M. Walsemann, Arline T. Geronimus, Gilbert C. Gee

Faculty Publications

Recent studies suggest the importance of examining cumulative risk or advantage as potential predictors of health over the life course. Researchers investigating the cumulative health effects of education, however, have mainly conceptualized education in years or degrees, often disregarding educational quality and access to educational opportunities that may place individuals on divergent academic trajectories. We investigate whether educational advantages in youth are associated with an individual's health trajectory. We develop a novel index of educational advantage and employ random-intercept modeling using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. We find a widening health disparity in adulthood between respondents with …

Employment Hardship Among Older Workers: Does Residential And Gender Inequality Extend Into Older Age?, Tim Slack, Leif Jensen

Faculty Publications

Objectives. The realities of a rapidly aging society make the employment circumstances of older workers an increasingly important social issue. We examine the prevalence and correlates of underemployment among older Americans, with a special focus on residence and gender, to provide an assessment of the labor market challenges facing older workers. Methods. We analyzed data from the March Current Population Surveys for the years 2003, 2004, and 2005. We used descriptive statistics to explore the prevalence of underemployment among older workers and developed multivariate models to assess the impact of age, residence, and gender on the likelihood of underemployment, net …

Nonresident Fathers’ Family Leisure Patterns During Parenting Time With Their Children, Alisha T. Swinton, Patti A. Freeman, Ramon B. Zabriskie, Paul J. Fields

Faculty Publications

The purpose of the study was to examine the leisure patterns of nonresident fathers while spending time with their child(ren), and to examine leisure constraints, leisure facilitators and nonresident fathers’ satisfaction with family leisure activities. Four instruments were used to collect the data. Family leisure involvement was measured using the Family Leisure Activity Profile (FLAP), leisure constraints were measured using the Nonresident Father Leisure Constraint Scale (NFLCS), leisure facilitators were measured using the Nonresident Fathers’ Leisure Facilitator Scale (NFLFS), and family leisure satisfaction was measured using the Family Leisure Satisfaction Scale (FLSS). The sample was nonresident fathers (N = 129) …