More Than Selection Effects: Volunteering Is Associated With Benefits in Cognitive Functioning.

Objectives: Volunteering is a lifestyle behavior that bolsters cognitive resilience. However, previous studies have not assessed the degree to which cognitive functioning is predictive of becoming a volunteer (i.e.

Structural Social Support and Changes in Depression During the Retirement Transition: "I Get by With a Little Help from My Friends".

Objectives: This study evaluated whether (a) retirement was associated with increased depressive symptoms, (b) four sources social support were associated with decreased depressive symptoms, and (c) whether the relationship between retirement and depressive symptoms varied across four sources social support.

Method: Health and Retirement Study data were used to assess whether four measures of structural support moderated the association between transitioning to full retirement (relative to remaining in full-time work) and symptoms of depression.

Results: Results from two-stage mixed-effects multilevel models indicated (a) on average retirement was associated with a small but significant increase in depressive symptoms after adjusting for preretirement social support, (b) on average, social support not associated with changes in symptoms of depression, but (c) social support from friends moderates the association between retirement and symptoms of depression such that at low levels of social support, retirement was associated with a sizeable increase in depressive symptoms, but this association decreased as level of social support from friends increased.

Alternative Retirement Paths and Cognitive Performance: Exploring the Role of Preretirement Job Complexity.

Background And Objectives: Recent research suggests that working longer may be protective of cognitive functioning in later life, especially for workers in low complexity jobs. As postretirement work becomes increasingly popular, it is important to understand how various retirement pathways influence cognitive function. The present study examines cognitive changes as a function of job complexity in the context of different types of retirement transitions.

Double Disadvantage in the Process of Disablement: Race as a Moderator in the Association Between Chronic Conditions and Functional Limitations.

Objectives: This study evaluated (a) whether the association between chronic conditions and functional limitations vary by race/ethnicity, and (b) whether socioeconomic status accounted for any observed racial variation in the association between chronic conditions and functional limitations.

Method: The Health and Retirement Study data were used to assess whether race/ethnicity moderated the association between chronic conditions and functional limitations, and whether education, income, and/or wealth mediated any of the observed moderation by race/ethnicity.

Results: Results from structural equation models of latent growth curves with random onset indicated that (a) the positive association between chronic conditions and functional limitations onset was larger for African Americans and Hispanics than it was for Whites, but (b) this difference largely persisted net of socioeconomic status.

Socioeconomic variation in the association of marriage with depressive symptoms.

Although the health-relevant resources that marriage is argued to provide vary by socioeconomic status (SES), little research has examined whether the association of marriage with psychological well-being varies by SES. Focusing on depressive symptoms as an outcome and using a two-stage Heckit procedure with multilevel modeling, results from analyses of four waves of data (n = 4340 person-waves) from the American Changing Lives Survey (ACL) shows that differences in depressive symptoms between never-married and married adults varies by adjusted household income. Depressive symptoms are highest among the never married, and differences from the married greatest, at the lowest levels of income.

A Conceptual Matrix of the Temporal and Spatial Dimensions of Socioeconomic Status and Their Relationship with Health.

Objectives: In this study, we (a) draw on fundamental cause theory, the life course perspective, and neighborhood effects to develop conceptual matrix of socioeconomic status (SES) by temporal and spatial dimensions in order to highlight the multidimensional ways in which SES relates to general health, and then (b) assess the multidimensional ways in which income (as a measure of SES) is related to disability in adulthood.

Methods: Data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics were linked with Census data to assess (a) which temporal and spatial dimensions of income were associated with disability in adulthood, and (b) whether the various components of income interact with each other when predicting disability.

Results: Negative binomial regression results indicated both 1970 and 2013 household income were associated with lower levels of disabilities in adulthood, as was 2013 neighborhood-level income, but 1970 neighborhood-level income was not associated with disability in adulthood.

Risk and Protective Factors for Depressive Symptoms Among African American Men: An Application of the Stress Process Model.

Objectives: This study employs the stress process model (SPM) to identify risk/protective factors for mental health among adult African American men.

Method: Using a community-based sample of Miami, FL residents linked to neighborhood Census data, this study identifies risk/protective factors for depressive symptomatology using a sample of 248 adult African American men.

Results: The stress process variables independently associated with depressive symptoms were family support, mastery, self-esteem, chronic stressors, and daily discrimination.

Does Becoming A Volunteer Attenuate Loneliness Among Recently Widowed Older Adults?

Objectives: Loneliness is a significant public health concern, particularly for those who have lost a spouse through widowhood. This study examines whether becoming a volunteer at the time of widowhood is associated with reduction of these risks.

Method: A pooled sample of 5,882 married adults age 51+, drawn from the 2006-2014 waves of the Health and Retirement Study, was used to estimate regression models of the relationship between becoming widowed (relative to staying continuously married) and loneliness, and whether the associated loneliness of having lost a spouse is moderated by starting to volunteer (<2 hr, 2+ hr/week).

The Relation of Volunteering and Subsequent Changes in Physical Disability in Older Adults.

Objectives: To describe the association between initiating volunteering and changes in physical disability in older adults, and whether intensity and gender modify this relationship.

Methods: Employing propensity score weighted regression adjustment, we calculate changes in disability using a sample of U.S.

The Impacts of Service Related Exposures on Trajectories of Mental Health Among Aging Veterans.

Objectives: Drawing on life-course perspective and cumulative advantage theory, we examined whether service related exposures (SREs)-combat and exposure to death-have lasting impacts on depressive symptom and psychiatric problem trajectories of aging veterans.

Methods: The Health and Retirement Study and linked 2013 Veterans Mail Survey were used to examine SREs and mental health among older veterans between 2002 and 2012 (N = 1,662). Latent growth curves were used to measure how individuals vary from average mental health trajectories based on SREs and other important covariates.

Successful Aging in the Context of the Disablement Process: Working and Volunteering as Moderators on the Association Between Chronic Conditions and Subsequent Functional Limitations.

Objectives: This study evaluated the successful aging model by assessing the impact of two forms of productive engagement-working and volunteering-as potential interventions in the process of disablement.

Method: The Health and Retirement Study was used to (a) estimate two-stage selection equations of (i) currently working part time and full time and (ii) currently volunteering less than 100 hours and volunteering 100 hours or more per year (net of chronic health problems) and (b) assess whether, net of selection, working, and volunteering moderate the association between chronic conditions and subsequent functional limitations.

Results: Chronic conditions were associated with elevated levels of subsequent functional limitations, whereas both working and volunteering were associated with lower levels of subsequent functional limitations.

Service-Related Exposures and Physical Health Trajectories Among Aging Veteran Men.

Purpose Of The Study: We examined the association of military service-related exposures (SREs) with physical health trajectories to establish whether combat and other hazards have lasting connections to health in later life. We also examined potential confounders and mechanisms to further understand the associations.

Design And Methods: We used the 2013 HRS Veterans Mail Survey linked to the longitudinal Health and Retirement Study (HRS) to examine military service experiences and health over a decade (2000-2010) among veteran men.

Marital Status as a Moderating Factor in the Process of Disablement.

Objective: To test current marital status as a moderator on the influence of depressive symptoms and chronic conditions on subsequent functional limitations.

Method: Data come from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS; 1998-2010). Hierarchal linear modeling models tested differences in functional limitations among a sample of 20,215 people.

State-level marriage equality and the health of same-sex couples.

Objectives: We assessed the association between the health of people in same-sex relationships and the degree and nature of the legal recognition of same-sex relationships offered in the states in which they resided.

Methods: We conducted secondary data analyses on the 2010 to 2013 Current Population Survey and publicly available data from Freedom to Marry, Inc. We estimated ordered logistic regression models in a 4-level framework to assess the impact of states' legal stances toward same-sex marriage on self-assessed health.

The Mental and Physical Health Consequences of Changes in Private Insurance Before and After Early Retirement.

Objectives: This study evaluated the impact of private insurance coverage on the symptoms of depression, activities of daily living (ADLs), and instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs) in the years leading up to Medicare eligibility focusing on the transition from full-time work to early full retirement.

Method: The Health and Retirement Study was used to (a) estimate 2-stage selection equations of (i) the transition to retirement and (ii) current insurance status, and (b) the impact of insurance coverage on health, net of endogeneity associated retirement and insurance coverage.

Results: Employment-based insurance coverage was generally associated with better health.

Do Higher Levels of Resilience Buffer the Deleterious Impact of Chronic Illness on Disability in Later Life?

Purpose Of The Study: In examining the ability of resilience, or the ability to navigate adversity in a manner that protects well-being, to buffer the impact of chronic disease onset on disability in later life, the authors tested 2 hypotheses: (a) People with greater levels of resilience will have lower levels of disability and (b) resilience will moderate the association between the onset of a new chronic condition and subsequent disability.

Design And Methods: This study used a sample of 10,753 Americans between the ages of 51 and 98, derived from 3 waves of the Health and Retirement Study (2006-2010). Ordinary least squares regression was used to estimate the impact of resilience on changes in disability (measured as difficulty with activities of daily living [ADLs] and instrumental activities of daily living [IADLs]) over a 2-year period using a simplified resilience score.

Cumulative inequality and racial disparities in health: private insurance coverage and black/white differences in functional limitations.

Objectives: To test different forms of private insurance coverage as mediators for racial disparities in onset, persistent level, and acceleration of functional limitations among Medicare age-eligible Americans.

Method: Data come from 7 waves of the Health and Retirement Study (1996-2008). Onset and progression latent growth models were used to estimate racial differences in onset, level, and growth of functional limitations among a sample of 5,755 people aged 65 and older in 1996.

Reciprocity between depressive symptoms and physical limitations pre- and postretirement: exploring racial differences.

Objective: This study assesses (a) the reciprocity between mental and physical health pre- and postretirement, and (b) the extent to which these associations vary by race.

Method: Data are from the 1994 to 2008 waves of the Health and Retirement Study.

Results: Analyses based on structural equation modeling reveal that depression and physical health exert reciprocal effects for Whites pre- and postretirement.

The influence of unpaid work on the transition out of full-time paid work.

Purpose: Continued employment after retirement and engagement in unpaid work are both important ways of diminishing the negative economic effects of the retirement of baby boomer cohorts on society. Little research, however, examines the relationship between paid and unpaid work at the transition from full-time work. Using a resource perspective framework this study examines how engagement in unpaid work prior to and at the transition from full-time work influences whether individuals partially or fully retire.

Coverage or costs: the role of health insurance in labor market reentry among early retirees.

Objectives: This study evaluated the impact of insurance coverage on the odds of returning to work after early retirement and the change in insurance coverage after returning to work.

Method: The Health and Retirement Study was used to estimate hierarchical linear models of transitions to full-time work and part-time work relative to remaining retired. A chi-square test was also used to assess change in insurance coverage after returning to work.

The uneven patterning of welfare benefits at the twilight of AFDC: assessing the influence of institutions, race, and citizen preferences.

Scholars have been slow to test welfare state theories on the extensive subnational variation in the United States during the recent period of retrenchment. We assess institutional politics theories, literature on race and social policy, and public opinion arguments relative to levels of support in states' Aid to Families Dependent Children programs from 1982 until its elimination in 1996. Pooled time-series results demonstrate that the determinants of spending during retrenchment are mostly similar to those driving development and expansion.