Intergenerational Transfers in the Health and Retirement Study Data

Many economic analyses of public policy issues are based upon the life-cycle model of household behavior. The usual formulation omits private intergenerational transfers. This paper considers the possibility of a more sophisticated formulation that includes the latter. We examine 1992-2008 HRS data on inheritances and inter vivos gifts. We uncover an underreporting problem in the data: a household’s financial respondent often seems to understate transfers from his/her in-laws. Nevertheless, other aspects of the data seem very useful. About 30-40 percent of households eventually inherit. Inheritances seem to reflect a mixture of intentional and accidental bequests, with the latter twice as prevalent.

Motives for Bequests within the Middle Class

Working Paper: WP 2012-275The life-cycle model of household behavior forms the basis for most economic analysis of Social Security, private pensions, and retirement. This project seeks to extend the usefulness of the life-cycle model by considering the role of middle-class inheritances and bequests. We use HRS data. Prior work by the authors identifies key information in the HRS on the sources of private intergenerational transfers, and it shows that the frequency of couples’ inheritances from both spouses’ family lines is higher than random behavior would imply. Using additional HRS data on the ratio of parent-to-child lifetime incomes, we analyze the motives behind HRS bequests. We find support for an unintentional transfer model in which bequests arise from residual, unspent parent life-cycle resources. And, we show that our model can account for the frequency of dual inheritances that earlier work revealed.Social Security Administrationhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/95713/1/wp275.pdf2

Intergenerational Transfers in the Health and Retirement Study Data

Many economic analyses of public policy issues are based upon the life-cycle model of household behavior. The usual formulation omits private intergenerational transfers. This paper considers the possibility of a more sophisticated formulation that includes the latter. We examine 1992-2008 HRS data on inheritances and inter vivos gifts. We uncover an underreporting problem in the data: a household’s financial respondent often seems to understate transfers from his/her in-laws. Nevertheless, other aspects of the data seem very useful. About 30-40 percent of households eventually inherit. Inheritances seem to reflect a mixture of intentional and accidental bequests, with the latter twice as prevalent.Social Security Administrationhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/78355/1/wp238.pd

Resilience to loss and chronic grief: A prospective study from preloss to 18-months postloss

The vast majority of bereavement research is conducted after a loss has occurred. Thus, knowledge of the divergent trajectories of grieving or their antecedent predictors is lacking. This study gathered prospective data on 205 individuals several years prior to the death of their spouse and at 6- and 18-months postloss. Five core bereavement patterns were identified: common grief, chronic grief, chronic depression, improvement during bereavement, and resilience. Common grief was relatively infrequent, and the resilient pattern most frequent. The authors tested key hypotheses in the literature pertaining to chronic grief and resilience by identifying the preloss predictors of each pattern. Chronic grief was associated with preloss dependency and resilience with preloss acceptance of death and belief in a just world. The death of a spouse is generally assumed to be one of the most stressful experiences that people encounter during the course of their lives (Holmes & Rahe, 1967). However, there are marked individual differences in how much and for how long people grieve (Bonanno & Kaltman, 1999, 2001; Wortman & Silver, 1989, 2001). In addition to what is assumed to be the typical or common reaction, an initial increase in depression that gradually subsides over time, several other patterns of grief have been discussed in the literature. These include prolonged or chronic grieving, the noticeable absence of grief symptoms, and delayed grief responses. Social and personality psychologists have become increasingly interested in these different trajectories, and how they compare with those observed for other marital transitions and othe

The South Africa Stress and Health Study: Rationale and Design

The South Africa Stress and Health Study (SASH) is a large psychiatric epidemiological survey that is currently underway in South Africa. It is a part of the World Health Organization's World Mental Health (WMH) 2000 initiative and seeks to complete interviews with a nationally representative sample of 5000 adults. The WMH initiative is obtaining population-based data on the prevalence and severity of specific psychiatric disorders, demographic and psychosocial correlates of these diagnoses, and the levels and adequacy of mental health service utilization. SASH is using the fully structured pencil and paper version of the WHO Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) to assess lifetime and 12-month rates of mental disorders using both the DSM-IV and the ICD-10 diagnostic systems. In addition, the SASH seeks to collect information on the prevalence of exposure to physical and psychological torture in South Africa and to assess the association between such traumas and specific psychiatric disorders. It will also assess a broad range of risk factors and resources that may modify the association between exposure to human rights violations and mental health.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/45355/1/11011_2004_Article_487151.pd

Examining sex differences in pleiotropic effects for depression and smoking using polygenic and gene‐region aggregation techniques

Sex differences in rates of depression are thought to contribute to sex differences in smoking initiation (SI) and number of cigarettes smoked per day (CPD). One hypothesis is that women smoke as a strategy to cope with anxiety and depression, and have difficulty quitting because of concomitant changes in hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenocortical (HPA) axis function during nicotine withdrawal states. Despite evidence of biological ties, research has not examined whether genetic factors that contribute to depression‐smoking comorbidity differ by sex. We utilized two statistical aggregation techniques—polygenic scores (PGSs) and sequence kernel association testing—to assess the degree of pleiotropy between these behaviors and moderation by sex in the Health and Retirement Study (N = 8,086). At the genome‐wide level, we observed associations between PGSs for depressive symptoms and SI, and measured SI and depressive symptoms (all p < .01). At the gene level, we found evidence of pleiotropy in FKBP5 for SI (p = .028), and sex‐specific pleiotropy in females in NR3C2 (p = .030) and CHRNA5 (p = .025) for SI and CPD, respectively. Results suggest bidirectional associations between depression and smoking may be partially accounted for by shared genetic factors, and genetic variation in genes related to HPA‐axis functioning and nicotine dependence may contribute to sex differences in SI and CPD.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/150605/1/ajmgb32748.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/150605/2/ajmgb32748_am.pd

The city doesn\u27t sleep: Community perceptions of sleep deficits and disparities

While sleep research has focused primarily on aspects of the immediate physical environment and behavioral factors, a growing body of evidence suggests that broader social determinants may play an important role in sleep insufficiency. Yet public health education efforts for sleep largely address “sleep hygiene”, with an emphasis on information for getting a good night’s rest. The Flint Sleep Project employed community-based-participatory research methods to try to understand more about the sleep experiences of residents of an urban community reporting sleep insufficiency. The academic and community partner developed recruitment materials with community residents. The focus group protocol also utilized community input. Seven focus groups, with a total of 70 participants, were conducted. When asked about their view of causes for poor sleep, participants identified a range of stressors reflective of social determinants. Economic, safety, and future insecurity were the dominant themes emerging across all seven discussions. Participants also expressed feeling a lack of control over important aspects of their lives. Interventions to improve sleep are more likely to be effective if they include the perspectives of the community. A community-based approach offers opportunities for community empowerment and engagement that can improve efforts at sleep health promotion