Families as a Cornerstone in 21st Century Public Health: Recommendations for Research, Education, Policy, and Practice.

Families are vastly overlooked in US initiatives to promote population health and health equity despite being the most proximal context for health across the life course. We urge the public health sector to take the lead in recognizing families as essential for promoting 21st century population health. We highlight ways families influence health by providing context, care, continuity, and connections.

Assessing Predictors of Emotional Distress by Immigrant Type: An Exploration of Adult Refugees, Asylees, and SIV Holders in Maryland.

Stressors and trauma experienced by persons fleeing harm or persecution can cause elevated distress. This study assessed predictors of elevated distress among newly arrived refugees, asylees, and Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) holders in Maryland. A secondary analysis of Refugee Health Screener-15 data from 4385 refugees, asylees, and SIV holders arriving in Maryland from 2014 to 2017 was conducted.

Grandparents Providing Care to Grandchildren: A Population-Based Study of Continuity and Change.

This study examines transitions in grandchild care and the characteristics of grandparents making these transitions, using longitudinal data from a nationally representative sample of 13,626 grandparents in the 1998-2008 Health and Retirement Study. More than 60% of grandparents provided grandchild care over the 10-year period; more than 70% of those did it for 2 years or more. Grandparents with fewer functional limitations and more economic resources were more likely to start or continue nonresidential care, whereas relatively disadvantaged grandparents were more likely to start and continue coresidential care.

Marital biography and health at mid-life.

This article develops a series of hypotheses about the long-term effects of one's history of marriage, divorce, and widowhood on health, and it tests those hypotheses using data from the Health and Retirement Study. We examine four dimensions of health at mid-life: chronic conditions, mobility limitations, self-rated health, and depressive symptoms. We find that the experience of marital disruption damages health, with the effects still evident years later; among the currently married, those who have ever been divorced show worse health on all dimensions.

From social structural factors to perceptions of relationship quality and loneliness: the Chicago health, aging, and social relations study.

Objective: The objective of this study was to test a conceptual model of loneliness in which social structural factors are posited to operate through proximal factors to influence perceptions of relationship quality and loneliness.

Methods: We used a population-based sample of 225 White, Black, and Hispanic men and women aged 50 through 68 from the Chicago Health, Aging, and Social Relations Study to examine the extent to which associations between sociodemographic factors and loneliness were explained by socioeconomic status, physical health, social roles, stress exposure, and, ultimately, by network size and subjective relationship quality.

Result: Education and income were negatively associated with loneliness and explained racial/ethnic differences in loneliness.

A Short Scale for Measuring Loneliness in Large Surveys: Results From Two Population-Based Studies.

Most studies of social relationships in later life focus on the amount of social contact, not on individuals' perceptions of social isolation. However, loneliness is likely to be an important aspect of aging. A major limiting factor in studying loneliness has been the lack of a measure suitable for large-scale social surveys.

All in the family: the impact of caring for grandchildren on grandparents' health.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of caring for grandchildren on health behaviors and mental and physical health among older adults.

Methods: Using a sample of 12,872 grandparents aged 50 through 80 from the Health and Retirement Study, we examined the relationship between stability and change in various types of grandchild care and subsequent health, controlling for covariates and earlier health.

Results: We found no evidence to suggest that caring for grandchildren has dramatic and widespread negative effects on grandparents' health and health behavior.

Loneliness as a specific risk factor for depressive symptoms: cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses.

The extent to which loneliness is a unique risk factor for depressive symptoms was determined in 2 population-based studies of middle-aged to older adults, and the possible causal influences between loneliness and depressive symptoms were examined longitudinally in the 2nd study. In Study 1, a nationally representative sample of persons aged 54 and older completed a telephone interview as part of a study of health and aging. Higher levels of loneliness were associated with more depressive symptoms, net of the effects of age, gender, ethnicity, education, income, marital status, social support, and perceived stress.

Health in household context: living arrangements and health in late middle age.

People living in some arrangements show better health than persons in other living arrangements. Recent prospective studies document higher mortality among persons living in particular types of households. We extend this research by examining the influence of household structure on health using longitudinal data.