Getting Rides From Others As a Coping Mechanism in the Transition to Non-Driving.

Objectives: To characterize the effect of the actual and potential ability to get rides from others on older adults' driving reduction at 3-year follow-up in the United States.

Methods: We analyzed National Health and Aging Trends Study data from community-dwelling drivers in 2015 (unweighted n = 5,102). We used weighted logistic regression models to estimate whether getting rides from others in 2015 was associated with older adults increasing the number of driving behaviors they avoided, decreasing the frequency with which they drove, or not driving at 3-year follow-up after adjusting for biopsychosocial variables.

Does Subsidized Housing Prevent Health Decline and 2-Year Mortality Among Low-Income Older Renters?

Background And Objectives: A growing number of older adults in the United States need subsidized housing, but only 36% of eligible households receive assistance. The purpose of this study is to examine if older renters living in subsidized housing are less likely to experience health decline and mortality over 2 years compared to low-income older renters who are likely eligible, but do not receive assistance.

Research Design And Methods: Baseline data include 671 subsidized and unsubsidized low-income older renters from the 2015 National Health and Aging Trends Study.

Examining Consequences Related to Unmet Care Needs Across the Long-Term Care Continuum.

Objectives: To examine how different care arrangements across the long-term care continuum are associated with experiencing unmet care need consequences (UCNCs), such as skipping meals, going without clean clothes, or taking the wrong medication.

Methods: We include older adults receiving assistance with at least one self-care, mobility, or household activity (for health/functioning reasons) in the 2015 National Health and Aging Trends Study (N = 2,388). We examine the likelihood of experiencing a UCNC across the long-term care continuum: those receiving unpaid community care only, paid community care, and residential care.

Housing Cost Burden and Health Decline Among Low- and Moderate-Income Older Renters.

Objective: To examine the association between housing cost burden (HCB) and health decline among low- and moderate-income older renters in the United States.

Method: Baseline data include low- and moderate-income community-dwelling older renters (N = 1,064) from the nationally representative 2015 National Health and Aging Trends Study. HCB was defined as the percentage of monthly income spent on rent, categorized as "no HCB" (<30%), "moderate HCB" (30%-49%), and "severe HCB" (≥50%).

The Effects of Housing Cost Burden and Housing Tenure on Moves to a Nursing Home Among Low- and Moderate-Income Older Adults.

Background And Objectives: In the United States, a growing number of older adults struggle to find affordable housing that can adapt to their changing needs. Research suggests that access to affordable housing is a significant barrier to reducing unnecessary nursing home admissions. This is the first empirical study we know of to examine whether housing cost burden (HCB) is associated with moves to nursing homes among older adults.

Black-White Disparities in Moves to Assisted Living and Nursing Homes Among Older Medicare Beneficiaries.

Objectives: Investigate black-white disparities in older adults' moves to assisted living and nursing homes and draw from the Andersen Healthcare Utilization Model to test explanations for any disparities.

Methods: Data are from a nationally representative sample of older community-dwelling Medicare beneficiaries from the 2015 (N = 5,212) National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS). We use stepwise multinomial logistic regression to examine black-white disparities in moves out of community housing to assisted living or a nursing home over 2 years, before and after adjusting for predisposing (age, gender), enabling (income, housing tenure, Medicaid, living arrangement) and need (activities of daily living [ADL] limitation, physical capacity, self-rated health, and dementia) factors.

Neighborhood environments influence emotion and physiological reactivity.

Living in a disadvantaged neighborhood is associated with worse health and early mortality. Although many mechanisms may partially account for this effect, disadvantaged neighborhood environments are hypothesized to elicit stress and emotional responses that accumulate over time and influence physical and mental health. However, evidence for neighborhood effects on stress and emotion is limited due to methodological challenges.

Associations between Food Security Status and Dietary Inflammatory Potential within Lower-Income Adults from the United States National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, Cycles 2007 to 2014.

Background: Evidence suggests both that chronic inflammation mediates the association of food insecurity with adverse health outcomes and that diet may be a significant source of inflammation among food insecure individuals.

Objective: To examine whether food security status is associated with dietary inflammatory potential.

Design And Participants: Cross-sectional data came from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), cycles 2007 to 2014 (n=10,630).

Participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and maternal depressive symptoms: Moderation by program perception.

Rationale: Previous studies have observed an association between participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and depression, which is contrary to SNAP's potential to alleviate food insecurity and financial strain.

Objective: This study investigated the impact of change in SNAP participation status on maternal depression, and whether perceptions of government assistance moderate this association.

Methods: Data were from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS).

Neighborhood SES is particularly important to the cardiovascular health of low SES individuals.

Rationale: Health disparities defined by neighborhood socioeconomic status (SES) are well established; it is less well understood whether neighborhood SES is differentially associated with health depending on one's own SES.

Objective: The double jeopardy hypothesis, collective resources model, fundamental cause theory, and relative deprivation hypothesis support differential patterns of association between neighborhood and individual SES with health. The first three models suggest that higher neighborhood SES predicts health more strongly among lower, as compared to higher, SES individuals.

Impact of county disadvantage on behavior problems among US children with cognitive delay.

Objectives: We investigated relationships among cognitive delay, community factors, and behavior problems over 2 years in early childhood with a national sample of US families.

Methods: Data were from 3 waves of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort (2001-2005; n = 7650). We defined cognitive delay as the lowest 10% of mental scores from the Bayley Short Form-Research Edition, administered at 9 and 24 months.

Gender differences in multiple underlying dimensions of health-related quality of life are associated with sociodemographic and socioeconomic status.

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to examine whether gender differences in summary health-related quality of life (HRQoL) are due to differences in specific dimensions of health, and whether they are explained by sociodemographic and socioeconomic (SES) variation.

Methods: The National Health Measurement Study collected cross-sectional data on a national sample of 3648 black and white noninstitutionalized adults ages 35 to 89 years. Data included the Short Form 36-Item survey, which yielded separate Mental and Physical Component Summary scores (MCS and PCS, respectively), and five HRQoL indexes: Short Form 6 dimension, EuroQol 5 dimension, the Health Utilities Indexes Mark 2 and 3, and the Quality of Well-Being Scale Self-Administered form.

Examining the Racial Crossover in Mortality between African American and White Older Adults: A Multilevel Survival Analysis of Race, Individual Socioeconomic Status, and Neighborhood Socioeconomic Context.

We examine whether individual and neighborhood socioeconomic context contributes to black/white disparities in mortality among USA older adults. Using national longitudinal data from the Americans' Changing Lives study, along with census tract information for each respondent, we conduct multilevel survival analyses. Results show that black older adults are disadvantaged in mortality in younger old age, but older black adults have lower mortality risk than whites after about age 80.

US opinions on health determinants and social policy as health policy.

To examine what factors the public thinks are important determinants of health and whether social policy is viewed as health policy, we conducted a national telephone survey of 2791 US adults from November 2008 through February 2009. Respondents said that health behaviors and access to health care have very strong effects on health; they were less likely to report a very strong role for other social and economic factors. Respondents who recognized a stronger role for social determinants of health and who saw social policy as health policy were more likely to be older, women, non-White, and liberal, and to have less education, lower income, and fair/poor health.

Awareness of racial and socioeconomic health disparities in the United States: the national opinion survey on health and health disparities, 2008-2009.

Introduction: Recent initiatives aim to improve public awareness of health disparities. However, little research has actually documented the US public's awareness of racial/ethnic and socioeconomic health disparities. We sought to determine 1) whether the US public is aware of racial, educational, and income disparities in health, 2) whether awareness differs across these disparity domains, and 3) what respondent characteristics are associated with awareness of racial, educational, and income disparities in health.

Socioeconomic status and survival after an invasive breast cancer diagnosis.

Background: Women who live in geographic areas with high poverty rates and low levels of education experience poorer survival after a breast cancer diagnosis than women who live in communities with indicators of high socioeconomic status (SES). However, very few studies have examined individual-level SES in relation to breast cancer survival or have assessed the contextual role of community-level SES independent of individual-level SES.

Methods: The authors of this report examined both individual-level and community-level SES in relation to breast cancer survival in a population-based cohort of women ages 20 to 69 years who were diagnosed with breast cancer in Wisconsin between 1995 and 2003 (N = 5820).

Racial disparities in health-related quality of life in a cohort of very low birthweight 2- and 3-year-olds with and without cerebral palsy.

We examine racial differences in health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among 2- and 3-year-olds born very low birthweight (VLBW, <1500 g). The sample included 611 children (290 males and 321 females) from the Newborn Lung Project, a cohort of VLBW infants hospitalized in Wisconsin's newborn intensive care units during 2003 to 2004. Of the 611 children, 14% (86/611) were black, non-Hispanic and 86% (525/611) were white, non-Hispanic and 4% (23/611) had cerebral palsy.

Qualitative research about attributions, narratives, and support for obesity policy, 2008.

Introduction: Successful efforts to reduce obesity will require public policy strategies that target both individuals and external factors such as social conditions, economic circumstances, and physical environments. Public opinion data suggest that many policy changes to reduce obesity are likely to face public resistance.

Methods: We conducted 4 focus groups involving 33 adults living in or near a midsized Midwestern city in July 2008.

Relationship between neighborhood disadvantage and social function of Wisconsin 2- and 3-year-olds born at very low birth weight.

Objective: To examine whether (1) neighborhood disadvantage is associated with social function in 2- and 3-year-olds born at very low birth weight (<1500 g) and (2) the association between social function and child's health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is moderated by neighborhood disadvantage.

Design: Cross-sectional study using the Newborn Lung Project, a cohort of infants born at very low birth weight in 2003 and 2004 in Wisconsin.

Setting: Wisconsin.

Gender differences in health-related quality-of-life are partly explained by sociodemographic and socioeconomic variation between adult men and women in the US: evidence from four US nationally representative data sets.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to describe gender differences in self-reported health-related quality-of-life (HRQoL) and to examine whether differences are explained by sociodemographic and socioeconomic status (SES) differentials between men and women.

Methods: Data were from four US nationally representative surveys: US Valuation of the EuroQol EQ-5D Health States Survey (USVEQ), Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS), National Health Measurement Study (NHMS) and Joint Canada/US Survey of Health (JCUSH). Gender differences were estimated with and without adjustment for sociodemographic and SES indicators using regression within and across data sets with SF-6D, EQ-5D, HUI2, HUI3 and QWB-SA scores as outcomes.

A Model of Racial Residential History and Its Association with Self-Rated Health and Mortality Among Black and White Adults in the United States.

We construct a dynamic racial residential history typology and examine its association with self-rated health and mortality among black and white adults. Data are from a national survey of U.S.

Neighborhood effects on BMI trends: examining BMI trajectories for Black and White women.

Racial disparities in obesity among women in the United States are substantial but the causes of these disparities are poorly understood. We examined changes in body mass index (BMI) trajectories for Black and White women as a function of neighborhood disadvantage and racial composition of the neighborhoods within which respondents are clustered. Using four waves of the Americans' Changing Lives (ACL) survey, we estimated multilevel models predicting BMI trajectories over a 16-year period.

Socioeconomic status and age variations in health-related quality of life: results from the national health measurement study.

Objectives: We examine whether multiple health-related quality of life (HRQoL) measures are stratified by socioeconomic status (SES) and age in the United States.

Methods: Data are from the 2005/2006 National Health Measurement Study, a telephone survey of a nationally representative sample of U.S.

Message design strategies to raise public awareness of social determinants of health and population health disparities.

Context: Raising public awareness of the importance of social determinants of health (SDH) and health disparities presents formidable communication challenges.

Methods: This article reviews three message strategies that could be used to raise awareness of SDH and health disparities: message framing, narratives, and visual imagery.

Findings: Although few studies have directly tested message strategies for raising awareness of SDH and health disparities, the accumulated evidence from other domains suggests that population health advocates should frame messages to acknowledge a role for individual decisions about behavior but emphasize SDH.

Workplace support, role overload, and job satisfaction of direct care workers in assisted living.

This study aims to enhance our understanding of job satisfaction of direct care workers in assisted living facilities. Low job satisfaction is related to high turnover rates and lower quality of care in assisted living. We integrate two theories of job satisfaction to investigate relationships among workplace support, role overload, and job satisfaction.