National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The primary objective of the National Social Life, Health and Aging Project (NSHAP) is to establish an innovative, high-quality dataset for use by researchers studying the relationships between social processes and health among older adults. Wave I obtained questionnaire and biomeasure data on a nationally-representative sample of 3,005 community-dwelling adults ages 57-85 in 2005/6. We propose to collect a second wave in NSHAP to obtain data on social networks and social support, marital and cohabitational relationships, attitudes, self-reported health and behavior, and cutting-edge biomeasures of physical function and health. The crucial contribution of Wave II will be in enabling analyses of trajectories; the availability to the community of scholars of such a broad-based, longitudinal data set will permit an examination of the health trajectories of older adults and inform new approaches to reducing morbidity and preventing disability and dysfunction as individuals age. We propose to revisit respondents four years after their initial interview. Using these data, we can describe and model the distribution of changes in health, well-being, social networks, social participation and social context. In each case, we shall examine the distributions both for the entire sample and within subgroups defined by key sociodemographic characteristics such as gender, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. We also propose to augment the sample by interviewing the spouse/cohabitating romantic partner. These data will allow us to characterize the impact of marital and romantic relationships on health by examining the effects of one person's characteristics and behaviors on the health of the other. We will also analyze the partnerships themselves, and assess the relationship between characteristics of the partnership, such as support, closeness and mistreatment, and the health of each of the partners. In sum, we will explore our overarching hypothesis that older adults with strong functioning intimate relationships will show more positive (or less negative) health trajectories that those who have weaker relationships or lack such relationships altogether. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: We propose to collect a second wave of the National Social Life, Health and Aging Project (NSHAP) to obtain data on social networks and social support, marital and cohabitational relationships, attitudes, self-reported health and behavior, and cutting-edge biomeasures of physical function and health. The crucial contribution of Wave II will be in enabling analyses of trajectories; the availability to the community of scholars of such a broad-based, longitudinal data set will permit an examination of the health trajectories of older adults and inform new approaches to reducing morbidity and preventing disability and dysfunction as individuals age.