scholarly journals Disparities in COVID-19 Related Worry Among Older Adults in the United States

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 483-483
Author(s):  
Felicia Wheaton ◽  
Terika Scatliffe ◽  
Matilda Johnson

Abstract Racial disparities in COVID-19 exposure, illness, hospitalization and mortality have been well-documented, however, less is known about whether African Americans and other minorities experience greater worry related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Data from the special midterm release of the 2020 Health and Retirement Study (HRS) were used to examine the relationship between race (white, African American, and other) and ethnicity (Hispanic/Non-Hispanic) and COVID-19 related worry among older Americans (N=2,069). Participants were asked, “because of the coronavirus pandemic how worried are you about 1) your own health, 2) the health of others in your family? 3) Your financial situation? 4) Being able to get help if you needed it from family, friends, or others? 5) What will happen in the future?” (0=not at all worried and 10=very worried). Results from OLS regression controlling for age, gender and education showed that compared with whites, African Americans had significantly higher average worry for all items except the last (other race did not differ). On the other hand, Hispanics had significantly lower worry, on average, for each of the five items. In addition, women had significantly higher average worry, while age was negatively associated with all items except the first. These findings indicate that in addition to the previously documented disparities in COVID-19, older African Americans experienced more worry. This has important implications for long-term physical and mental health.

Author(s):  
Hui Liu ◽  
Ning Hsieh ◽  
Zhenmei Zhang ◽  
Yan Zhang ◽  
Kenneth M Langa

Abstract Objectives We provide the first nationally representative population-based study of cognitive disparities among same-sex and different-sex couples in the United States. Methods We analyzed data from the Health and Retirement Study (2000–2016). The sample included 23,669 respondents (196 same-sex partners and 23,473 different-sex partners) aged 50 and older who contributed to 85,117 person-period records (496 from same-sex partners and 84,621 from different-sex partners). Cognitive impairment was assessed using the modified version of the Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status. Mixed-effects discrete-time hazard regression models were estimated to predict the odds of cognitive impairment. Results The estimated odds of cognitive impairment were 78% (p < .01) higher for same-sex partners than for different-sex partners. This disparity was mainly explained by differences in marital status and, to a much lesser extent, by differences in physical and mental health. Specifically, a significantly higher proportion of same-sex partners than different-sex partners were cohabiting rather than legally married (72.98% vs. 5.42% in the study sample), and cohabitors had a significantly higher risk of cognitive impairment than their married counterparts (odds ratio = 1.53, p < .001). Discussion The findings indicate that designing and implementing public policies and programs that work to eliminate societal homophobia, especially among older adults, is a critical step in reducing the elevated risk of cognitive impairment among older same-sex couples.


2004 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 313-320 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yvonne Leung ◽  
Anthony Singhal

Qigong meditation is an ancient form of meditation that has been linked with various health benefits. We were interested in whether or not this form of meditation has a relationship with personality. To this end, we administered the Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI) to eighty Qigong meditation practitioners and seventy-four non-practitioners. The results showed that the number of years of Qigong practice was negatively correlated with neuroticism, but there was no relationship with extraversion. Even after controlling for age, gender, and education level, the practitioners were significantly less neurotic than the nonpractitioners. The study of Qigong meditation and personality may lead to a greater understanding of the various disorders characterized by high neuroticism, and may provide a viable treatment option for long-term health.


1957 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cara Richards ◽  
Henry Dobyns

This paper deals with a problem long debated by anthropologists—the relationship between environment and culture. We analyze effects of topography on cultural change in situations of contact between two social systems, one more powerful than the other and inclined to enforce its behaviors on the weaker. We do this by examining cultural changes in one work-unit within a large insurance company in the United States.


1995 ◽  
pp. 27-39
Author(s):  
Margalit Berlin ◽  

The article analyzes the relationship between the corporate culture of a multinational company headquartered in the United States, which enjoys great prestige worldwide, and the business environment and practices in Venezuela, where it has an operation. The prevailing culture in the corporation is North American and the top managers come from their country of origin. In Venezuela, on the other hand, most of the companies are family-owned, and personal contacts and influences prevail. The research is oriented to the elaboration of a qualitative diagnosis, through rigorous observation and semi-structured interviews. The results revealed that there is resistance on the part of Venezuelan managers to follow the culture of a strict company governed by rules set in a very different economic and political context. The ambiguity between acceptance and low identification with the values of the parent company leads to think of corporate culture as fragmented.


2018 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mesay A. Tegegne

The literature on immigrant health has by and large focused on the relationship between acculturation (often measured by a shift in language use) and health outcomes, paying less attention to network processes and the implications of interethnic integration for long-term health. This study frames English-language use among immigrants in the United States as a reflection of bridging social capital that is indicative of social network diversity. Using longitudinal data on self-rated health and the incidence of chronic conditions from the New Immigrant Survey (2003, 2007), I examine the contemporaneous and longitudinal associations between interethnic social capital and health. The results show evidence for a positive long-term effect of linguistic integration on health status, but no cross-sectional associations were observed. Overall, these results highlight the possible role of network processes in linking English-language use with immigrant health and the time-dependent nature of the relationship between linguistic integration and health status.


Author(s):  
Nina Wilén

In contrast to the other chapters in Part V, Nina Wilén’s focus is on multilateral military interventions at the regional level: She explores the relationship between sovereignty, intervention, and the international normative order, by examining how ECOWAS, an African regional organization, justified its intervention in Liberia’s civil war referring to international norms. Based on a critical discursive analysis of the speeches related to ECOWAS’ decision to intervene in Liberia in 1990, as well as the responses the justifications provoked from the UN and the United States, it is argued that ECOWAS’ intervention and the justifications which accompanied it were clearly influenced by an international normative order where sovereignty is the key constitutive norm and non-intervention the main regulative norm. Yet the fact that ECOWAS also violated the very same norms through its intervention, created a precedent for future regional interventions and implied long-term consequences for the international normative system.


Author(s):  
Christian Davenport

This chapter explores the relationship between political democracy and state repression. Afer providing an overview of the democracy–repression link, it considers what research has been conducted on the topic and also what has been ignored. It uses the United States and its treatment of African Americans as an example of how existing research in this field should change, as well as to emphasize the importance of disaggregation (regarding institutions, actors, and actions). The chapter concludes by suggesting directions for future research. It argues that researchers need to improve the way in which they think about the relationship between democracy and repression, and that they need to modify how they gather information about democracy and repression.


Author(s):  
Robert Jackson ◽  
Georg Sørensen

This chapter examines three important debates in International Political Economy (IPE). The first debate concerns power and the relationship between politics and economics, and more specifically whether politics is in charge of economics or whether it is the other way around. The second debate deals with development and underdevelopment in developing countries. The third debate is about the nature and extent of economic globalization, and currently takes places in a context of increasing inequality between and inside countries. This debate is also informed by the serious financial crisis of 2008 and has raised questions regarding the viability of the current model of capitalism in the United States and Western Europe.


2019 ◽  
Vol 54 (3) ◽  
pp. 707-739
Author(s):  
Sarah Desai ◽  
Jessica Houston Su ◽  
Robert M. Adelman

The threat of deportation shapes the way that unauthorized immigrants and their families interact with social institutions. For example, the adult children of unauthorized immigrants might avoid institutions that keep formal records (“surveilling” institutions) because such institutions could potentially expose their families to deportation. Using intergenerational data from the Immigration and Intergenerational Mobility in Metropolitan Los Angeles survey, we examine the relationship between immigrant parents’ authorization status and their adult children’s institutional participation ( n = 3,283). Results from Poisson and propensity-weighted regression models suggest that the adult children of unauthorized immigrants were more likely to avoid surveilling institutions, such as formal employment, than those with authorized parents. In contrast, parental immigration status was unrelated to their attachment to non-surveilling institutions, such as community groups or religious organizations. This finding suggests that the adult children of unauthorized immigrants are not systematically disengaged from all institutions but may avoid surveilling institutions in particular due to fear of their family’s deportation. This type of system avoidance may have long-term consequences for their social and economic mobility.


2013 ◽  
Vol 791-793 ◽  
pp. 1952-1956
Author(s):  
Ji Ke Gao ◽  
De Min Zhang ◽  
Fa Tang Chen

In LTE(Long Term Evolution) system, scheduling plays an important role in the process of allocating resource. LTE system puts forward semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) for new applications such as VoIP(Voice on Internet Protocol) and online games. Considering the problem of resource collision in SPS HARQ(Hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest) process, we explore the relationship between uplink semi-persistent scheduling period and the number of semi-persistent transmissions, and propose two novel solutions. One is choosing specific uplink semi-persistent period for different uplink/downlink (UL/DL) configurations and the number of transmissions. The other is delaying collision processes for the configuration of small uplink period. The analysis proves that the two solutions can reduce the collision probability and improve the stability of LTE system.


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