A Life Course Perspective on Social Connectedness and Adult Health

项目摘要/摘要 功能障碍在中老年人中越来越普遍，五分之二以上的成年人 65岁的人有某种形式的残疾，大多数是行动不便。许多年长的人 能够在晚年很好地保持功能能力，但有助于高水平功能的因素 他们的运作机制也不清楚。该提案建立在先前的工作基础上，该工作展示了 通过调查社会联系在生活中的作用来研究社会关系对健康的重要性 作为成年期功能能力预测指标的病程。这项调查将不仅包括婚姻调查，还将包括 成年后的家庭和朋友关系，以及童年时期的父母关爱和管教 特定类型关系的生命历程的时间安排。拟议的研究将使用现有的纵向数据 来自具有全国代表性的美国中年(MIDUS)研究，以追求三个中心目标。 首先，假设在整个生命过程中，更大的社交联系预示着更好的功能能力 在成年和晚年，通过更多的体力活动和/或更低的炎性循环水平 生物标志物。其次，这项研究将确定生命历程之间潜在的不同联系 不同水平的社会经济地位(SES)的连通性和健康。最后，MIDUS中的孪生数据将是 在家庭内部分析中使用，以突出对生活过程和社会生活之间潜在因果联系的关注 连接性和成人功能状态。结果将证明生命过程中是否、何时以及如何进行社交 连接性预测功能能力，识别潜在的机制，通过这些机制 关联性可能影响健康，并加强或削弱潜在原因的理由 联想。通过这种方式，调查结果将产生与理论和干预相关的见解，以了解成功的 在整个生命周期中保持健康、独立和功能。我的长期目标是开发一种 研究生涯聚焦于健康、衰老和生命历程，采用严谨的设计和分析 方法更好地了解成人健康的预测因素。为了更好地为我的职业生涯做好准备 独立研究人员，我正在寻求培训，以：1)培养强大的观念和方法 理解生命历程的观点；2)更好地理解不同的社会关系 生活过程塑造成人健康和健康行为；3)利用严谨的设计来检验成人的预测因素 健康；以及4)建立和维持跨学科研究的职业生涯。在这些领域和研究方面的培训 伦理是完成研究目标不可或缺的一部分，并为我启动一个由NIH资助的职业生涯做好准备 调查成人健康的生物、心理和社会预测因素的研究计划。

Project Summary/Abstract Functional impairment is increasingly prevalent among middle-aged and older adults, with 2 in 5 adults over the age of 65 having some form of disability, the majority being limitations on mobility. Many older adults are able to maintain functional capacity well into later life, but the factors that contribute to high levels of function and the mechanisms by which they operate are unclear. This proposal builds on prior work showing the importance of social relationships for health by investigating the role of social connectedness across the life course as a predictor of functional capacity in adulthood. This investigation will include not only marital but also family and friend relationships in adulthood, as well as parental affection and discipline in childhood to capture the life-course timing of specific types of relationships. The proposed study will use existing longitudinal data from the nationally representative Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study to pursue three central aims. First, greater social connectedness across the life course is hypothesized to predict better functional capacity in adulthood and later life by way of greater physical activity and/or lower circulating levels of inflammatory biomarkers. Second, the research will identify potential divergent associations between life-course connectedness and health at different levels of socioeconomic status (SES). Finally, twin data in MIDUS will be used in within-family analyses to sharpen the focus on potential causal associations between life-course social connectedness and adult functional status. Results will demonstrate whether, when, and how life-course social connectedness predicts functional capacity, identifying potential mechanisms through which life-course social connectedness may influence health and strengthening or weakening the case for potential causal associations. In this way, findings will generate theory- and intervention- relevant insights into the successful maintenance of health, independence, and function across the lifespan. My long-term goal is to develop a research career focused on health, aging, and the life course, applying rigorous designs and analytical methods to better understand predictors of adult health. To better prepare myself for my career as an independent researcher, I am seeking training to: 1) cultivate a strong conceptual and methodological understanding of the life course perspective; 2) better understand how diverse social relationships across the life course shape adult health and health behavior; 3) leverage rigorous designs to examine predictors of adult health; and 4) build and sustain a career in interdisciplinary research. Training in these areas and research ethics is integral to completing the research aims and preparing me to launch a career-long, NIH-funded research program investigating biopsychosocial predictors of adult health.