Department of Sociology Works

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https://hdl.handle.net/1805/4104

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Browsing Department of Sociology Works by Subject "Aging"

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    Linked Lives: Does Disability and Marital Quality Influence Risk of Marital Dissolution among Older Couples?
    (MDPI, 2022) Latham-Mintus, Kenzie; Holcomb, Jeanne; Zervos, Andrew P.; Sociology, School of Liberal Arts
    Using fourteen waves of data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a longitudinal panel survey with respondents in the United States, this research explores whether marital quality—as measured by reports of enjoyment of time together—influences risk of divorce or separation when either spouse acquires basic care disability. Discrete-time event history models with multiple competing events were estimated using multinomial logistic regression. Respondents were followed until they experienced the focal event (i.e., divorce or separation) or right-hand censoring (i.e., a competing event or were still married at the end of observation). Disability among wives was predictive of divorce/separation in the main effects model. Low levels of marital quality (i.e., enjoy time together) were associated with marital dissolution. An interaction between marital quality and disability yielded a significant association among couples where at least one spouse acquired basic care disability. For couples who acquired disability, those who reported low enjoyment were more likely to divorce/separate than those with high enjoyment; however, the group with the highest predicted probability were couples with low enjoyment, but no acquired disability.
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    Linking Mastery Across the Life Course to Mobility Device Use in Later Life
    (Oxford University Press, 2017-05-04) Latham-Mintus, Kenzie; Clarke, Philippa J.; Sociology, School of Liberal Arts
    Objectives Mastery in older ages is shaped by earlier-life experiences. Prior research has demonstrated that mastery is associated with health-promoting behaviors; however, little research has examined whether mastery histories influence health behaviors such as mobility device use in later life. Method Using 25 years of data from the Americans’ Changing Lives Survey (N = 1,427), this research explores whether different trajectories of life course mastery influence the odds that an older adult will use a mobility device when experiencing functional impairment. We used growth mixture models with a distal outcome and examined the relationship between functional limitations and mobility device use as it varies across latent classes of life course mastery, controlling for social and health factors. Results The odds of device use in the face of functional limitations were significantly higher among those with a history of high life course mastery, relative to those with low life course mastery, all things being equal. Discussion Our findings suggest that mastery over the life course is a source of psychological human capital that is associated with health-promoting behaviors in later life among those with functional limitations.
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    Risk Of Diabetes Among Adults Aging With Vision Impairment: The Role Of The Neighborhood Environment
    (Oxford University Press, 2022) Clarke, Philippa; Khan, Anam; Mintus, Kenzie; Ehrlich, Joshua; Sociology, School of Liberal Arts
    Experiencing vision loss as a result of the aging process may be different from aging with vision impairment (VI) acquired earlier in life. Adults aging with VI may be at risk for Type-2 Diabetes (T2DM) due to community barriers in accessing health care, healthy food, and recreational resources. We examined the relationship between neighborhood characteristics and incident diabetes in 22,719 adults aging with VI (without prevalent T2DM) in a private medical claims database (2008-2019). The primary outcome was time to incident T2DM diagnosis over 3+ years of enrollment. Cox models estimated hazard ratios (HRs) for incident diabetes (adjusted for age, sex, and comorbidities). Residence in neighborhoods with greater intersection density (HR=1.26) and traffic (HR=1.22) increased risk of T2DM, while broadband internet access (HR=0.67), optical stores (HR=0.62), supermarkets (HR=0.78), and gyms/fitness centers (HR=0.63) were associated with reduced risk. Results emphasize the importance of neighborhood context for aging well with VI.