We seek funding to conduct detailed analyses of the life histories and mental statuses of the members of The Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS), which includes over 9000 American men and women who were first interviewed as high school seniors in 1957 and have been reinterviewed in 1964, 1974, and 1992-3. Data have been collected on family background, starting resources, academic abilities, youthful aspirations, adult educational and occupational achievement, work events and conditions, family events, social support, social Comparisons, physical and mental health. We distinguish among four mental health categories: Depressed/Unwell (those with prior episode(s) of serious depression who also lack high psychological well-being), Healthy (high psychological well-being and no history of serious depression, Vulnerable (no history depression but low profiles of psychological well-being, and Resilient (prior episode(s) depression and high current well-being). Life history data of these groups are organized according to five theoretical concepts: cumulative exposure to adversity (events and chronic conditions), cumulative exposure to advantage (events and conditions), psychological reactions to adversity and advantage, cross-time positions in social hierarchies across life domains, and quality of social relationships. The overarching hypothesis is that life histories of the four mental health groups, and subgroups within them, are distinguished by particular combinations of adversity, advantage, reactions, social hierarchies, an social relationships, as experienced in diverse life domains through time. Key analytic objectives are to develop quantitative characterizations of life histories associated with each mental health category and test them for distinguishability. Five steps comprise the process of specification and testing of the admissible abstracted chronological representations (AACRs) of each group. These steps, involving a progression from the analysis of individual biographies to the formulation of generic histories, are illustrated with preliminary data on resilient women.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Aging (NIA)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
1R01AG013613-01
Application #
2055613
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (SRCM (03))
Project Start
1995-09-20
Project End
1998-08-31
Budget Start
1995-09-20
Budget End
1996-08-31
Support Year
1
Fiscal Year
1995
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Wisconsin Madison
Department
Other Health Professions
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
161202122
City
Madison
State
WI
Country
United States
Zip Code
53715
Keary, Sara; Moorman, Sara M (2015) Patient-Physician End-of-Life Discussions in the Routine Care of Medicare Beneficiaries. J Aging Health 27:983-1002
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Pudrovska, Tetyana; Anishkin, Andriy (2013) Early-life socioeconomic status and physical activity in later life: evidence from structural equation models. J Aging Health 25:383-404
Carr, Deborah; Moorman, Sara M; Boerner, Kathrin (2013) End-of-life planning in a family context: does relationship quality affect whether (and with whom) older adults plan? J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 68:586-92
Carr, Deborah (2012) The social stratification of older adults' preparations for end-of-life health care. J Health Soc Behav 53:297-312
Moorman, Sara M; Carr, Deborah (2008) Spouses'effectiveness as end-of-life health care surrogates: accuracy, uncertainty, and errors of overtreatment or undertreatment. Gerontologist 48:811-9
Carr, Deborah; Khodyakov, Dmitry (2007) Health care proxies: whom do young old adults choose and why? J Health Soc Behav 48:180-94
Carr, Deborah; Khodyakov, Dmitry (2007) End-of-life health care planning among young-old adults: an assessment of psychosocial influences. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 62:S135-41
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Mosconi, Lisa; De Santi, Susan; Li, Yi et al. (2006) Visual rating of medial temporal lobe metabolism in mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease using FDG-PET. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging 33:210-21

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