Status Inequality, Stress, and Health Among Older People

Nearing the end of this NIA R01 grant, Leonard Pearlin writes that, "[t]he array of findings emerging from this study continues to affirm that the health and well-being of elders is appreciably contingent on their status placement within important social and economic contexts - family, financial, occupational, and neighborhood.  Those whose statuses place them at disadvantage are more likely than the advantaged to be exposed to stressors and hardships; such exposure, in turn, is inimical to mental and physical health.  Yet, it is clear that certain social and personal resources, such as mastery and religious beliefs, are capable of cushioning the deleterious health consequences of adverse conditions.  Of great significance, too, is that some of the circumstances that underlie health and health disparities in late life have their origins early in the life course.  Thus, health cannot be explained solely by current conditions and behaviors; it is also the consequence of factors that may have a presence far in advance of the time their health effects become apparent."

He notes that the work has generated numerous publications, presentations, and graduate student work, including three dissertations. See Len Pearlin's Publications.