PSYCHOSOCIAL FACTORS AFFECTING HEALTH AMONG OLDER MEN

拟议的五年期项目侧重于以下方面的关系： 心理社会因素和晚年身体健康。 该项目 分为三个部分。 研究I是一项前瞻性、纵向研究 检查是否结构性心理社会因素（个性，社会 整合和认知可以预测发病率（高血压，冠心病， 癌症）和各种原因造成的死亡率。 本研究将使用 来自规范老化研究（NAS）的已有数据，一项纵向研究， 这项生物医学研究对2,280名男性进行了为期25年的跟踪调查， 年 这是本项目的一个特别有利的数据集， 所有的男性在进入研究前都要进行无疾病筛查， 并且因为它包括身体健康的详细临床指标， 沿着的还有个性认知和社会数据。 此外，结果 实验室测试和医生检查可用于此 项目不计成本。 使用比例风险模型控制 标准风险因素，我们将确定：（1）这些心理社会因素是否 因素年龄一般危险因素或特定于特定疾病;（2） 如果不同社会心理学之间存在独立性或重叠， 健康的预测因素;（3）是否存在显著的相互作用 在预测疾病中人格和危险因素之间的关系。 第二项研究将探讨社会心理与 过程因素（压力和应对）和疾病过程（例如， 血压和胆固醇等明显疾病的前兆 水平）。 需要解决的主要问题包括：（1）哪种类型的 压力（生活事件，麻烦，或感知/即时压力）相关 与疾病过程的措施。(2)以及是否有直接的， 心理社会过程变量之间的缓冲或无关系 （压力和应对）和疾病过程变量。 结合来自 研究1和2，第三项研究将测试三个假设的机制 心理社会结构因素影响身体健康 结果：（a）通过对疾病过程的直接病因学影响; (b)通过对健康行为习惯的影响;和/或（c）通过 促进或改变压力的影响。

The proposed five-year project focusses on the relationship between psychosocial factors and physical health in late life. The project is divided into three parts. Study I is a prospective, longitudinal study examining whether structural psychosocial factors (personality, social integration, and cognition can predict morbidity (hypertension, CHD, and cancer) and mortality from all causes. This study will utilize preexisting data from the Normative Aging Study (NAS), a longitudinal, biomedical study which has been following a panel of 2,280 men for 25 years. This is a particularly advantageous data set for this project, as all men were screened for absence of disease before entry into the study, and because it includes detailed clinical indicators of physical health, along with personality cognitive, and social data. Further, results of the laboratory tests and physician examinations are available to this project at no cost. Using proportional hazards models controlling for standard risk factors, we will determine: (1) whether these psychosocial factors age general risk factors or specific to particular diseases; (2) if there is independence or overlap among different psychosocial predictors of health; and (3) if there are significant interactions between personality and risk factors int he prediction of disease. The second study will examine the relationship between psychosocial process factors (stress and coping) and disease processes (e.g., precursors of overt disease such as blood pressure and cholesterol levels). The major issues to be addressed include: (1) which type of stress (life events, hassles, or perceived/immediate stress) correlates with the disease process measures., (2) and whether there are direct, buffering or no relationships between psychosocial process variables (stress and coping) and disease process variables. Combining data from Studies 1 and 2, the third study will test three hypothesized mechanisms by which psychosocial structural factors can affect physical health outcomes: (a) through direct etiological effects on disease processes; (b) through effects on health behavior habits; and/or (c) through promoting or modifying the effects of stress.