Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Childhood Misfortune And Handgrip Strength Among Black, White, And Hispanic Americans, Natalie R. Smith, Kenneth F. Ferraro, Blakelee R. Kemp, Patricia M. Morton, Sarah A. Mustillo, Jacqueline L. Angel

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Objective: Although early-life insults may affect health, few studies use objective physical measures of adult health. This study investigated whether experiencing misfortune during childhood is associated with handgrip strength (HGS) in later life.

Method: Data on childhood misfortune and adult characteristics from the Health and Retirement Study were used to predict baseline and longitudinal change in HGS among White, Black, and Hispanic American men and women.

Results: Regression analyses revealed that multiple indicators of childhood misfortune were related to HGS at baseline, but the relationships were distinct for men and women. Over the study, having one childhood impairment predicted steeper …

Disabled And Out? Social Interaction Barriers And Mental Health Among Older Adults With Physical Disabilities, Raeda Anderson

Department of Sociology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Over one-third of older adults in the U.S. are physically disabled. Having a disability is a chronic stressor for older adults, and this chronic stress significantly compromises mental health. Because disablement likely restricts older adults' ability to engage in interpersonal interactions, the link between physical disability and mental health may reflect consequences of such unmet social needs. Social interactions are associated with better mental health, yet prior work on social context of disablement focuses on the quality of social relations or perceptions of support, not on actual access to social interactions. There remains a need to understand how and why …

Prevalence And Trends In Morbidity And Disability Among Older Mexican Americans In The Southwestern United States, 1993–2013, Marc A. Garcia, Adriana M. Reyes

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

This study examines the prevalence of morbidity and disability among older Mexican Americans using 5-year age groups. Twenty-year panel data from the Hispanic Established Populations for the Epidemiological Study of the Elderly are used to make detailed comparisons by nativity and gender. Results show that prevalence rates for most chronic conditions for both males and females do not vary by nativity. For disabilities, nativity is a significant predictor of increased instrumental activity of daily living disability for foreign-born females and reduced activity of daily living disability for U.S.-born males. Additionally, results show significant interactions between nativity and age cohorts, with …

Physical Disability And Increased Loneliness Among Married Older Adults: The Role Of Changing Social Relations, David F. Warner, Scott A. Adams

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Examining the social context of disablement, we investigated how changes in social relations affect loneliness among married older men and women. With longitudinal data on 914 married persons from the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (NSHAP), we found that changes in the quality of marital and nonmarital relations moderate the effect of disability on loneliness in unexpected ways. Increases in negative marital quality buffer the effect of physical disability, while increases in nonmarital support exacerbate it. Although not predicted by existing theory, these findings are consistent with some prior work suggesting that health-related stressors, like physical disability, condition …

Acculturation, Gender, And Active Life Expectancy In The Mexican-Origin Population, Marc A. Garcia, Jacqueline L. Angel, Ronald J. Angel, Chi-Tsun Chiu, Jennifer Melvin

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Objective—This study examines the potential effects of nativity and acculturation on active life expectancy (ALE) among Mexican-origin elders.

Method—We employ 17 years of data from the Hispanic Established Population for the Epidemiologic Study of the Elderly to calculate ALE at age 65 with and without disabilities.

Results—Native-born males and foreign-born females spend a larger fraction of their elderly years with activities of daily living (ADL) disability. Conversely, both foreign-born males and females spend a larger fraction of their remaining years with instrumental activities of daily life (IADL) disability than the native-born. In descriptive analysis, women with low acculturation report higher …