Neighborhoods and the Health of Elderly Americans
Investigator: Robert F. Schoeni
While the issue of the influence of neighborhood features is critical to designing effective policy interventions to reduce disparities in health, there is a paucity of literature on how these contextual effects affect health and functioning in old age. The few studies of the elderly are based on small numbers of elders in limited geographic areas and are thus of limited generalizability. Few have focused on the built environment. The existing literature only considers the effects of the current environment, not the potential influence of lifetime exposures. In this project, we propose to undertake a national study of the effect of contextual features of the environment on health and functioning in old age, which includes aspects of the built environment (environmental stressors, toxins, safety and mobility) and the social environment (discrimination, social supports, economic resources). Both lifetime and current neighborhood measures are considered. We study the influence of these contextual features on a broad range of measures of health and functioning in old age including: cognitive functioning, physical functioning and mortality. The study will answer the following questions:
What are the effects of the built and social environment on the health and health trajectories of the elderly? Which contextual features have the most impact and are amenable to policy interventions?
How do lifetime features of neighborhoods influence health in old age? What are the implications for the points in the life-cycle at which to intervene in order to reduce health disparities?
How do contextual features of neighborhoods interact with individual characteristics?
| Funding: | RAND Corporation |
Funding Period: 09/30/2003 to 08/31/2008
PSC Research Themes:Frailties, Disabilities, Health Conditions (Aging)
Contextual Effects (Group Disparities)
PSC blog
Recent resources, events, news
New Publications
Bingenheimer & Geronimus, "Behavior & HIV"
Wildeman, "Imprisonment & Infant Mortality," PSC Research Report
Next Brown Bag
Tues, Dec 1
Arland Thornton & Barb Koremenos
Mobilizing for Human Rights
For live stream
LINK HERE
W A R N I N G
If you are reading this, it may be that you are using rather old web browsing software that does not support modern international Web technology standards. For a better experience of the Web and this site in particular, please upgrade your web browser software today. The following are good choices: Firefox 2; Opera 9; Safari 3.