SOCIAL FACTORS IN MEDICATION AND ALCOHOL USE BY THE AGED

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Social factors in drug/medication use among the elderly have not received extensive examination in social gerontological research. The information that exists has not focused on this issue nor on the possible reciprocal interaction between social functioning and drug or alcohol usage. The goal of this project is to conduct a longitudinal study using three data waves to assess extent of drug/medication and alcohol use, identify contributing factors, and examine reciprocal linkages over time. The primary analytic explanation will revolve around a personal resource model that includes actual and perceived physical health, subjective assessments of quality of life, including social support, and other indicators of subjective adjustment. The range of independent variables includes those previously shown by other researchers to affect subjective adjustment and social functioning. Based on the initial cross-sectional analyses, a series of models thought to predict subsequent use will be developed and tested through a second wave of data collection undertaken 12 months following the first. Dependent variables will include drug and alcohol usage and psychosocial measures of a number of quality of life variables, with examination of appropriate causal ordering. Twelve months later, a third wave of data will be collected to test refined models and reciprocal linkages. Data analysis will utilize OLS, logistic regression, and structural equation models (LISREL VI), where applicable, to determine change over time. Subjects (N=1000) will be drawn from independently living older persons residing in the community at large (N=500) or in one of the metropolitan area's 12 non-personal care congregate facilities (N=500). To accommodate demographic distributions, males will be oversampled. Each subject will be interviewed three times, including follow-up of those who may change locales for any reason.