The purpose of this project is to investigate the development course of health and health behavior among elderly Americans. Framed by the conceptual perspective of the behavioral model of health services utilization, the five specific goals of the study are to: (1) estimate, cross-sectionally, the interrelationships hypothesized in the behavioral model among demographic characteristics, social structural factors, health beliefs, family and community resources, perceived and evaluated health status, and the use of various types of health services; (2) examine, longitudinally, the causal sequences involved in the interrelationships described in objective 1 using 2-, 3-, and 4-wave models; (3) assess the consistency of the elderly's health and health behavior over time; (4) explore the causal relationships among the various measures of health services utilization themselves; and, (5) develop, separately, predictive models of the risk for institutionalization and death, using the factors listed in objective 1 as predictive variables. Data will be taken from the Longitudinal Study on Aging, which includes detailed baseline interviews on a national probability sample of 5,151 individuals aged 70 or over in 1984, who have been re-interviewed in 1986 and 1988, and are scheduled for re- interview again in 1990. In addition, this interview data has been matched and linked on an annual basis to the National Death Index and Medicare Part A files, for the years 1984 through 1990. Analytic techniques will include multiple regression, change score regression, linear panel analysis. LISREL, and event history analyses.
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