Rebeca Wong

• The Past Context: Supplementing survey data on aging
  Current (2006-07-01 - 2008-06-30)
  NIA
  Abstract

  This application requests support for two years to enhance recently gathered survey data on aging in Mexico using secondary data. The goal of this pilot project is to explore the idea of supplementing household data gathered through personal interviews in late life, with secondary data that corresponds to the earlier context, capturing details of the conditions that prevailed at the time individuals made particular decisions throughout their life cycle. The aim is to evaluate the hypothesis that indicators about the earlier- life context can provide further details for modeling late-life well being, beyond what age cohort indicators can provide. The long-term objective is to prepare a research proposal that will use the constructed data in more detail. The goal of that future project will be to examine the effect on late-life well being of early-life labor force and fertility decisions of women, and human capital investment in children's education. To accomplish the goal of this pilot project, we use household data from the Mexican Health and Aging Study (MHAS), and link the information on individuals aged 50 or more in 2001 with historical secondary data on socioeconomic and demographic conditions in Mexico. Specific aims of this project are: a) to propose and construct indicators that capture the conditions of the context faced by individuals earlier in life; and b) to test the usefulness of these indicators in preliminary models of one late-life well being indicator, namely wealth. The products from this pilot project will be: 1) two databases containing the series of historical indicators constructed, which will be made available to the research community. One will be linked to the individual records of the MHAS data, and one will contain the aggregate historical data in a flexible format. 2) A paper describing the MHAS cohorts and their respective historical context; and 3) a paper summarizing our conclusions on whether the series of indicators can contribute significant information based on preliminary, basic models of late-life wealth.

• Health Conditions among Elderly in Latin America.
  Current (2005-09-01 - 2009-05-31)
  NIA
  Abstract

  This is a parallel application from researchers at the Population Research Centers of the University of Wisconsin and University of Maryland. The overall goal of this application is to examine patterns, transitions, and determinants of health in a comparative framework within countries of the Latin American and Caribbean region. The study seeks to contrast patterns within the region and also with those found in the U.S., in particular with populations of Mexican origin, taking advantage of recently gathered, high- quality, comparable, and as of yet under-analyzed survey data on elderly people. The goal is to exploit the available cross-country data to identify conditions that promote (inhibit) the emergence of relations between health status and disability and well-specified determinants, and to assess how recurrent and generalizable are relations found in any one country. The specific aims of the project are: to estimate profiles and determinants of health status and disability of elderly populations in Mexico, and in seven capital cities of Latin America (Argentina, Barbados, Brazil, Cuba, Chile, Mexico, and Uruguay); to identify determinants of health and disability status using cross-sectional data to contrast health and disability profiles of populations in Mexico with that of Mexicans and Mexican-origin populations living in the U.S.; to estimate correlates of health status changes, disability transitions and mortality in Mexico and the U.S. with particular emphasis on the role of early childhood conditions, experiences with illness, and on the influence of income and wealth. Because of their increasing importance in the region, the project focuses more narrowly on diabetes and obesity, and proposes to estimate models for incidence and duration of diabetes as well as health-related costs associated with these conditions. In pursuing these goals the study adds to and fine-tunes existing methods and procedures to help address two issues: health selection among immigrants to the U.S., and estimation of couple-models to assess the effects of select determinants on health and mortality net of shared attributes.

• Social Disparities in Health Among Latinos
  Pending (2007-07-01 - 2012-06-30)
  EKS-NICHD