Roles, Aging & Health among African American Women

使用纵向数据，拟议的研究将调查持续和不断变化的家庭，社会和经济条件对1966年最初招募的非裔美国妇女的身体和心理健康的直接和间接影响，当时她们的孩子是一年级学生。这些数据来自20世纪60年代在伍德劳恩（Woodlawn）发起的一项针对儿童及其家庭的社区流行病学研究。伍德劳恩是芝加哥南部的一个贫穷的非洲裔美国人社区。随着时间的推移，孩子和他们的母亲被跟踪，拟议的研究重点是母亲（n=1136）。这些妇女在25年中的三个时间点接受了采访：1967年，当她们的孩子上一年级时（中位数年龄为30岁）; 1975年，当她们的孩子是青少年时; 1997年，当她们的孩子成年时。1997年，在最初的一批妇女中找到了1008名（89%），她们的年龄从49岁到79岁不等，年龄中位数为60岁。大多数妇女已经过了传统的养育子女阶段，正在接近或已经过渡到退休。他们报告了各种各样的身体和心理健康状况以及一些功能限制和其他残疾。我们的概念框架是基于生命历程发展的角度，重点是在整个生命历程中的主要社会领域的角色。拟议的研究的重点是描绘在家庭，工作和社区的主要社会领域的角色模式，并确定这些角色在早期（中位年龄31，1967年）和成年中期（中位年龄39，1975年）的路径，在以后的生活中的身体和心理健康（中位年龄61，1997年）。拟议的研究将需要几种不同的分析方法。我们将开始探索性分析来描述单变量分布，然后我们将进行双变量分析来评估变量之间的关系。我们的多变量技术将包括回归分析，生存分析，过渡分析（潜在类和潜在过渡建模），结构方程建模，潜在变量混合建模和广义估计方程（GEE）。我们将研究家庭，工作和社区在成年早期和中期如何影响老年妇女的健康。关于家庭和社会对以后健康的影响知之甚少。这项研究将提供有关非洲裔美国妇女的知识，这是一个未被充分研究的群体。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Using longitudinal data, the proposed study will investigate the direct and indirect effects of continuing and evolving family, social, and economic conditions on physical and psychological well-being in a cohort of African American women originally recruited in 1966 when their children were first graders. The data come from a community epidemiological study of children and their families initiated in the 1960s in Woodlawn, a poor African American community on the south side of Chicago. The children and their mothers were followed over time, and the proposed study focuses on the mothers (n=1136). The women were interviewed at three time points over 25 years: 1967, when their children were in first grade (median age of 30); 1975, when their children were adolescents; and 1997, when their children were adults. In 1997, 1008 (89%) of the original cohort of women were located, and their ages ranged from 49 to 79 with a median age of 60. Most of the women were past the traditional childrearing stage of life and were approaching or had made the transition to retirement. They reported a wide array of physical and psychological health conditions as well as a number of functional limitations and other disabilities. Our conceptual framework is based on a life course developmental perspective that focuses on roles within major social fields across the life course. The focus of the proposed study is to delineate the patterns of roles across the major social fields of family, work, and community, and to identify the pathways from these roles in early (median age 31, 1967) and mid adulthood (median age 39, 1975), to physical and psychological well being in later life (median age 61, 1997). The proposed research will require several different analytic approaches. We will begin with exploratory analyses to describe univariate distributions then we will conduct bivariate analyses to assess relationships among the variables. Our multivariate techniques will include regression analysis, survival analysis, transition analysis (latent class and latent transitional modeling), structural equation modeling, latent variable mixture modeling, and generalized estimating equations (GEE). We will study how family, work, and community in early and mid adulthood influence health of older women. Little is known about family and social influences on later health. This study will provide knowledge about African American women, an understudied group.