ADVANCING CONCEPTUAL AND ANALYTIC APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF ACTIVITIES AND AGING

描述(由申请人提供)：参与活动一直是对晚年生活幸福感的理论讨论和实证分析的核心。尽管它在理论上具有重要作用，但在统计模型中对多个活动变量的测量和使用还没有引起太多的关注。确定一种简约的调查多种活动的方法，对于理解“整个人”的参与很重要。本研究的目的是：1)探索如何在概念上和经验上将离散的活动测量整合为可测试的活动领域和参与模式；2)探索衍生的活动领域和参与模式作为活动前因和活动结果研究的中间变量的表现。专家小组将协助确定最佳措施、分析方法和数据集(S)，以支持我们团队未来的研究，并就使用这些特定数据集中的活动项目向外地提出建议。我们将使用三个国家数据集来完成这项探索性工作，每个数据集都包括离散的活动测量(健康和退休研究、美国人的变化生活和美国的中年生活)。我们在每个数据集上重复一组方法，以探索可能的方法。我们使用以变量为中心的方法(因子分析)和以人为中心的方法(潜在类分析)来巩固活动度量。在三个数据集中的每一个中，我们都将确定活动的潜在先行因素和结果，并探索衡量方法如何在统计模型中发挥作用。我们将使用结构方程模型和一般混合模型来检验与活动领域和活动模式的衍生测量相关的因素，以及领域和模式与幸福结果的关系。拟议工作的成果包括：1)在MIDU、HRS和ACL数据集的活动域中经验地共同考虑的一组识别的活动项；2)存在于每个这些数据集中的一组识别的参与模式；以及3)关于活动域和参与模式如何在指定活动的前因和结果的统计模型中运行的知识。这些产品将用于研究团队的后续工作。帕特南博士将利用这项发展工作来研究老年残疾人士的活动参与度，莫罗-豪厄尔博士将利用它来研究生产性活动和幸福结果的独特作用。此外，这些产品将通过同行评议文章和会议演示与其他研究人员分享。因此，我们的发现将有利于其他使用MIDUS、HRS和ACL的研究人员，所有这些都部分由NIA资助，公开可用，被广泛使用，并包括大量具有代表性的老年人样本。最终，这项工作将以更全面和系统的方式推进对晚年生活活动和幸福结果的研究。 公共卫生相关性：改进活动参与度研究的测量和分析方法，对于发展关于可能对成年人晚年生活最有益的活动模式的知识至关重要。R21的开发工作对于更系统地使用NIA支持的公共数据集来研究晚年活动的前因和结果以及开发促进积极老龄化的干预措施是必要的。这项研究的目的是促进积极老龄化，这与世界卫生组织、疾病控制和预防中心、老龄化管理局和NIA最新发布的RFA-AG-11-003(主观幸福感：老龄化测量和应用进展)的倡议一致。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Engagement in activity has been central to theoretical discussions and empirical analysis of well-being in later life. Despite its important theoretical role, there has not been very much attention paid to the measurement and use of multiple activity variables in statistical models. Determining a parsimonious means of investigating multiple activities is important to understanding engagement of the "whole person." The aims of this study are: 1) to explore ways to conceptually and empirically consolidate discrete activity measures into testable activity domains and engagement patterns and 2) to explore the performance of the derived activity domains and engagement patterns as intermediate variables in the study of antecedents and outcomes of activities. An Expert Panel will assist in determining optimal measures, analytical methods, and data set(s) to support our team's future research and in making recommendations to the field about use of the activity items in these specific data sets. We will accomplish this exploratory work using three national data sets that each includes discrete activity measures (Health and Retirement Study, Americans' Changing Lives, and Midlife in the US). We repeat one set of methods on each data set to explore possible approaches. We use a variable-centered approach (factor analysis) and a person-centered approach (latent class analyses) to consolidate activity measures. In each of the three data sets, we will identify potential antecedents and outcomes of activities and explore how the measurement approaches work in statistical models. We will use structural equation modeling and general mixture modeling to test factors associated with the derived measures of activity domains and activity patterns, as well as the relationships of domains and patterns with well-being outcomes. Products of the proposed work include: 1) an identified set of activity items that empirically factor together in activity domains in MIDUS, HRS, and ACL data sets; 2) an identified set of engagement patterns that exist in each of these data sets; and 3) knowledge about how activity domains and engagement patterns operate in statistical models specifying antecedents and outcomes of activity. These products will be used in the research team's subsequent work. Dr. Putnam will use this development work to study activity engagement of individuals aging with disability, and Dr. Morrow-Howell will use it to study the unique role of productive activities and well-being outcomes. Also, these products will be shared with other researchers through peer-reviewed articles and conference presentations. Thus, our findings will benefit other researchers who use the MIDUS, HRS, and ACL, all of which are funded in part by the NIA, are publicly available, are widely used, and include large, representative samples of older adults. Ultimately, this work will advance the study of activities and well-being outcomes in later life in a more holistic and systematic way. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Improvement in measurement and analytic approaches to the study of activity engagement is critical to knowledge development about the patterns of activities that may be most beneficial for adults in later life. The development work of this R21 is necessary for a more systematic use of NIA-supported public data sets in the study of the antecedents and outcomes of activities in later life and development of interventions to promote active aging. The aim of this research is to promote active aging, which is consistent with initiatives by the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Administration on Aging, and NIA's newly released RFA-AG-11-003 (Subjective Well-being: Advances in Measurement and Applications in Aging).