Maryland Population Research Center

Status, Inequality, Stress, and Health Among Older People
Current (2005-09-01 - 2008-08-31)
NIA
Abstract

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.