Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Psychological and biomedical research suggests that environmental assaults, such as loud noise, cold temperatures, and unpleasant odors can negatively impact physical and mental well-being (Graeven 1974; Duvall and Booth 1978; Lowry 1989). Since older adults spend about 80% of their time in the home, the interior home environment may have particularly salient impacts on quality of life. This paper examines home environments of older adults using interviewer assessments of cleanliness, tidiness, noise, odor, lighting, and temperature from the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (NSHAP). We find that while most older Americans have home environments that are generally orderly, several less pleasant characteristics (e.g. messiness, dirtiness, foul odors) tend to cluster together within some homes. We describe a preliminary analysis indicating that home disorder can have a negative impact on health, social relationships, and quality of life. We close by considering implications for future research.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Using data from the February and March Current Populations Surveys, we examine the effect of health and health insurance coverage on older married workers’ employment arrangements such as temporary, contract, part-time, self-employment and regular full-time work. We model the behavior of older married workers as interdependent, showing that one spouse’s health and insurance status affects the employment of the other. In general we find that for married people near retirement age, their own health and their spouse’s health are related to the type of employment arrangement they hold. Men and women are less likely to be employed in regular full-time jobs when they are in fair or poor health. When their spouses are in poor health, however, men and women do just the opposite: they are more likely to be in regular full-time employment and less likely to be in nonstandard arrangements.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: The research on environmental concerns in the last twenty years has looked at age groups involvement, interest, and concerns; and concluded that the older adult are not focused on environmental concerns. The best predictor of concern for environmental issues were younger age, higher education, and politically liberal. 186 older adults were surveyed to determine their level of environmental concern. Participants were asked to express their level of interest in twelve areas: health care, grandpa renting, home safety, racial/ethnic issues, nutrition, caregiving, political issues, art, exercise/movement, recycling, clean air, and clean water. The data returned surprising results with the highest concern and interest in clean air and clean water. No significant variation in interest was found based on age groupings, living environment, or location of residence. This sample population shows a change in the older adults view of environmental issues and want for education on these issues. This reflects a difference from previous research.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: There are over 14 million older workers in the United States. There is a pressing need for a better understanding of their employment and the nature and magnitudes of the health risks they face. In this paper we address three research questions: [1] what are the concurrent associations between health and both hours worked and occupational substantive complexity among older workers; [2] are there reciprocal effects over time; and [3] are the associations between work and health different by gender or retirement status? We examined these research questions using data on 3,027 employed older Americans (ages 50 to 70), from the 1996 and 1998 waves of the Health and Retirement Study, a multi-wave, national longitudinal study of older Americans, supported by the National Institute on Aging. We found that this cohort of older workers is heavily involved in the labor force, with 80 percent- of women and 90 percent- of men employed 30 or more hours per week. Overall, these older workers are in good to excellent health, with only 10 percent- rating their health as fair or poor. Yet over half of the women and a third of the men reported some health-related limitations to their activities of daily living. We found few differences between older workers employed after retirement and those who were not yet retired on either substantive complexity or health. However, retired older workers were more likely to be employed part-time than were those who were not retired. We also found that, among older workers, occupations that require complex problem-solving help to maintain cognitive functioning. However, longer hours of employment may have negative health consequences for adults who continue to work post-retirement, and older women's morbidity may have negative consequences for their job choices and related well-being.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: We examine community social and structural effects on disease progression among Medicare beneficiaries who were hospitalized for the onset of one of five serious diseases. The data showed that community SES was protective against mortality whereas within-community income inequality did not have significant effect. We also found that collective efficacy and social support were health-protective social resources while criminal and violent activities were detrimental to health. Surprisingly, community social networking appeared to be not salubrious but detrimental to the survival of these older patients. Taking different dimensions of community social processes together, a global measure of contextual social environment was found to be significantly protective against mortality. However, the complex relationship between community social features and health found in this study may suggest that community-level social interventions based on social capital/social cohesion models are not likely to achieve fruitful results without concomitant effort in the economic and health care realm.