Determinants of the onset of disability in old age

With a rapidly aging population, maximizing independent living among the elderly is a growing concern. The inability to perform normal basic care activities interferes with an older individual\u27s ability to live independently. In this study, I examine the onset of disability among elderly Americans using the 2002 and 2004 waves of the Health and Retirement Survey (HRS). In examining the explanatory power of both the life course perspective and the medical model, I find that the medical model is better able to explain onset of disability for males while the life course perspective prevails when explaining onset of disability among females. I find little support that living arrangements among the elderly have an impact on the probability of experiencing onset of disability. Finally, I find that differences exist in the precursors of individual activities of daily living (ADLs) disability, which suggests that using an aggregate measure of ADL disability may be masking more effective preventive measures and treatments

Civic Community, Structural Disadvantage, and Suicide: An Ecological Analysis of Middle-Age Non-Hispanic White Male Suicide Across the Rural-Urban Continuum

This dissertation is a county-level sociological examination of middle-age (35-64) non-Hispanic white male suicides. Although an extensive amount of literature exists on ecological suicide, studies have largely ignored the correlates of suicide among this population group because this stage of the life course has historically demonstrated relatively low and stable rates of suicide. However, suicide rates among middle-age adults have increased dramatically over the last decade, calling for an examination of the correlates of suicide specific to this group. Moreover, the extant suicide literature has largely ignored the possibility of a structural disadvantage-suicide link, as well as the influence of macro-structural characteristics of the social and economic environment on variations in ecological suicides. Guided by these issues, the objectives of this dissertation have been to examine whether variations in county-level middle-age non-Hispanic white male suicides can be explained by the differential presence of indicators of civic communities and/or by structural disadvantage and how these relationships vary across the rural-urban continuum. The results show an association between bridging congregations and lower levels of middle-age non-Hispanic white male suicide across micropolitan counties, an association between civic and social organizations and lower rates of suicide across non core counties, and an association between structural disadvantage and higher rates of suicide across all urbanization levels except non core counties

Poverty in the Texas borderland and lower Mississippi Delta: A comparative analysis of differences by family type

We provide a comparative analysis of county-level poverty in the two poorest regions of the United States - the Texas Borderland and the Lower Mississippi Delta - with a special focus on differences by family type. Our results reveal important regional variation in both the prevalence of poverty and the composition of the poor population across major family types. Using OLS regression models of family type-specific poverty we demonstrate three key findings: 1) There are no significant regional differences in poverty levels by family type between the Borderland and the Delta, net of important structural factors that characterize the regions; 2) with the exception of the employment rate, the structural factors associated with poverty among married couple and single female-headed families are quite different; and 3) paradoxically, areas in the Borderland with high in-migration are especially likely to suffer from high married-couple family poverty. Our results suggest the need for regionally targeted and demographically tailored anti-poverty policies.family structure, Mississippi Delta, persistent poverty, poverty, regional poverty, Texas Borderland