This proposal is for a three-year continuation of the study of """"""""Status Inequality, Stress, and Health among Older People,"""""""" which investigates status-related stressors encountered across the life course and their effects on health and health inequalities. The sample, recruited from Medicare Eligibility Lists, is now 68 years and older. The proposed extension will add two interviews, conducted a year apart, to the three already conducted. It is expected that the additional interviews will reveal greater heterogeneity in health trajectories -- patterns of change and stability -- than can be achieved by the three interviews previously conducted over a two-year span. Thus, for example, it is anticipated that some elders will be observed to maintain uninterrupted good health, others continuous poor health, some will be seen to experience a sharp decline, and still others will display a mix of health decline and recovery. Concomitant with this greater heterogeneity is the expanded opportunity to identify the conditions that influence the course of health and well being of elders and to understand health disparities among groups of unequal statuses. Differences in exposure to stressors, past and present, and in the possession of social, personal, and material protective resources are considered to be among the conditions shaping health trajectories and contributing to health disparities.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Aging (NIA)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
2R01AG017461-05
Application #
6985815
Study Section
Community Influences on Health Behavior (CIHB)
Program Officer
Stahl, Sidney M
Project Start
1999-09-01
Project End
2008-08-31
Budget Start
2005-09-01
Budget End
2006-08-31
Support Year
5
Fiscal Year
2005
Total Cost
$444,508
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Maryland College Park
Department
Social Sciences
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
790934285
City
College Park
State
MD
Country
United States
Zip Code
20742
Bierman, Alex (2011) Pain and depression in late life: mastery as mediator and moderator. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 66:595-604
Bierman, Alex; Statland, Denise (2010) Timing, social support, and the effects of physical limitations on psychological distress in late life. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 65:631-9
Pearlin, Leonard I (2010) The life course and the stress process: some conceptual comparisons. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 65B:207-15
Bierman, Alex (2009) Marital status as contingency for the effects of neighborhood disorder on older adults' mental health. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 64:425-34
Schieman, Scott; Pudrovska, Tetyana; Eccles, Rachel (2007) Perceptions of body weight among older adults: analyses of the intersection of gender, race, and socioeconomic status. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 62:S415-23
Pearlin, Leonard I; Nguyen, Kim B; Schieman, Scott et al. (2007) The life-course origins of mastery among older people. J Health Soc Behav 48:164-79
Schieman, Scott; Plickert, Gabriele (2007) Functional limitations and changes in levels of depression among older adults: a multiple-hierarchy stratification perspective. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 62:S36-42
Pudrovska, Tetyana; Schieman, Scott; Carr, Deborah (2006) Strains of singlehood in later life: do race and gender matter? J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 61:S315-22
Kahn, Joan R; Pearlin, Leonard I (2006) Financial strain over the life course and health among older adults. J Health Soc Behav 47:17-31
Schieman, Scott; Pearlin, Leonard I; Meersman, Stephen C (2006) Neighborhood disadvantage and anger among older adults: social comparisons as effect modifiers. J Health Soc Behav 47:156-72

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