Caregiving by Older Adults in the United States: Gender Differences in Well-being

2017 ◽  
pp. 271-282 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlene M. Kalenkoski
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Gender Differences ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States

scholarly journals The impact of COVID-19 on the well-being and cognition of older adults living in the United States and Latin America

2021 ◽  
Vol 35 ◽  
pp. 100848
Author(s):  
Ganesh M. Babulal ◽  
Valeria L. Torres ◽  
Daisy Acosta ◽  
Cinthya Agüero ◽  
Sara Aguilar-Navarro ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Impact

scholarly journals Food Insecurity in the United States: Identification, Treatment, and Implications

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 772-773
Author(s):  
Rose Ann DiMaria-Ghalili ◽  
Connie Bales ◽  
Julie Locher
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
At Risk ◽  
Food Insecurity ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Health Clinic ◽  
High Risk Population ◽  
Geriatric Syndrome ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Food insecurity is an under-recognized geriatric syndrome that has extensive implications in the overall health and well-being of older adults. Understanding the impact of food insecurity in older adults is a first step in identifying at-risk populations and provides a framework for potential interventions in both hospital and community-based settings. This symposium will provide an overview of current prevalence rates of food insecurity using large population-based datasets. We will present a summary indicator that expands measurement to include the functional and social support limitations (e.g., community disability, social isolation, frailty, and being homebound), which disproportionately impact older adults, and in turn their rate and experience of food insecurity and inadequate food access. We will illustrate using an example of at-risk seniors the association between sarcopenia, the age-related loss of muscle mass and function, with rates of food security in the United States. The translational aspect of the symposium will then focus on identification of psychosocial and environmental risk factors including food insecurity in older veterans preparing for surgery within the Veterans Affairs Perioperative Optimization of Senior Health clinic. Gaining insights into the importance of food insecurity will lay the foundation for an intervention for food insecurity in the deep south. Our discussant will provide an overview of the implications of these results from a public health standpoint. By highlighting the importance of food insecurity, such data can potentially become a framework to allow policy makers to expand nutritional programs as a line of defense against hunger in this high-risk population.

scholarly journals Projections of white and black older adults without living kin in the United States, 2015 to 2060

2017 ◽  
Vol 114 (42) ◽  
pp. 11109-11114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashton M. Verdery ◽  
Rachel Margolis
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Racial Differences ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
United States Census ◽  
Nursing Facility ◽  
Demographic Rates ◽  
Facility Placement ◽  
Living Children

Close kin provide many important functions as adults age, affecting health, financial well-being, and happiness. Those without kin report higher rates of loneliness and experience elevated risks of chronic illness and nursing facility placement. Historical racial differences and recent shifts in core demographic rates suggest that white and black older adults in the United States may have unequal availability of close kin and that this gap in availability will widen in the coming decades. Whereas prior work explores the changing composition and size of the childless population or those without spouses, here we consider the kinless population of older adults with no living close family members and how this burden is changing for different race and sex groups. Using demographic microsimulation and the United States Census Bureau’s recent national projections of core demographic rates by race, we examine two definitions of kinlessness: those without a partner or living children, and those without a partner, children, siblings, or parents. Our results suggest dramatic growth in the size of the kinless population as well as increasing racial disparities in percentages kinless. These conclusions are driven by declines in marriage and are robust to different assumptions about the future trajectory of divorce rates or growth in nonmarital partnerships. Our findings draw attention to the potential expansion of older adult loneliness, which is increasingly considered a threat to population health, and the unequal burden kinlessness may place on black Americans.

scholarly journals Experiences of Older Adults During the 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic in the United States: An Initial Exploration of Nationally Representative Data at the Intersection of Gender and Race

2021 ◽  
pp. 073346482110482
Author(s):  
Takashi Yamashita ◽  
Wonmai Punksungka ◽  
Samuel Van Vleet ◽  
Abigail Helsinger ◽  
Phyllis Cummins
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Gender And Race ◽  
Baseline Information ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
Project Data ◽  
Older Populations

Little is known about the overall experiences and feelings of diverse older populations during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. To provide the baseline information for future research and policy, this study analyzed the 2020 Health and Retirement Study COVID-19 project data ( n = 1782). More than 70% of older adults reported the following activities: watching TV (98%), reading (90%), using a computer and the internet (83%), gardening (82%), walking (75%), baking and cooking (73%), and praying (73%). Volunteering and attending community groups, which are known to benefit well-being, were unpopular (less than 8%). During the pandemic, older adults were generally satisfied with their lives, but more than half of them were concerned about their own health, family’s health, and future prospects. Our study also showed the differences in the experiences and feelings by gender and race as well as the intersection of gender and race in the United States.

scholarly journals Driving Status and Transportation Disadvantage Among Medicare Beneficiaries

2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (9) ◽  
pp. 935-943 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miriam Ryvicker ◽  
Evan Bollens-Lund ◽  
Katherine A. Ornstein
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Community Dwelling ◽  
Medicare Beneficiaries ◽  
Coordination Strategies ◽  
Representative Study ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
Community Dwelling Older Adults

Transportation disadvantage may have important implications for the health, well-being, and quality of life of older adults. This study used the 2015 National Health Aging Trends Study, a nationally representative study of Medicare beneficiaries aged 65 and over ( N = 7,498), to generate national estimates of transportation modalities and transportation disadvantage among community-dwelling older adults in the United States. An estimated 10.8 million community-dwelling older adults in the United States rarely or never drive. Among nondrivers, 25% were classified as transportation disadvantaged, representing 2.3 million individuals. Individuals with more chronic medical conditions and those reliant on assistive devices were more likely to report having a transportation disadvantage ( p < .05). Being married resulted in a 50% decreased odds of having a transportation disadvantage ( p < .01). Some individuals may be at higher risk for transportation-related barriers to engaging in valued activities and accessing care, calling for tailored interventions such as ride-share services combined with care coordination strategies.

Coresidence with kin and subjective well-being in the transition to adulthood: A comparison of the United States, Germany, Japan and China

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-47
Author(s):  
Bernhard Nauck ◽  
Qiang Ren
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Gender Differences ◽  
Transition To Adulthood ◽  
Young Women ◽  
Living Arrangements ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Living Alone ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Japan And China

Although residence patterns during the transition to adulthood are dynamic and have a high influence on subjective well-being, empirical studies are scarce, especially with regard to international comparisons. The way living arrangements during the transition to adulthood are normatively framed in bilinear, neolocal kinship cultures is very different from the way they are framed in patrilineal, patrilocal cultures. Thus, living arrangements such as living alone, living with parents and especially living with in-laws should correspond to varying levels of well-being depending on the culture. Based on panel data (National Longitudinal Survey of Youth – NLSY97, German Panel Analysis of Intimate Relationships and Family Dynamics, Japanese Life Course Panel Survey and China Family Panel Studies), we analyzed the levels of subjective well-being of young adults aged 20–35 in households of varying family composition across cultures and over time. Differences between patrilineal, patrilocal kinship systems in Japan and China and bilineal, neolocal kinship systems in Germany and the United States became evident in lower levels of subjective well-being of young adults in China and Japan than in Germany and the United States, when living alone or in single-parent families. Germany and the United States were similar in their strong gender differences in subjective well-being, with young women showing a much lower level than men, but differed with regard to the variation by coresidence type, which was higher in the United States than in Germany. Gender differences in Japan and China were related to living in extended households, which resulted in very low levels of subjective well-being for young women, whereas the impact was small in China. Despite the differences in kinship systems, institutional regulations, and opportunity structures, living in a nuclear family of procreation was associated with the highest level of subjective well-being for young men and women in all four countries.

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