@article {13038, title = {The Epidemiology of Smoking in Older Adults: A National Cohort Study.}, journal = {Journal of General Internal Medicine}, volume = {38}, year = {2023}, pages = {1697-1704}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Older smokers account for the greatest tobacco-related morbidity and mortality in the USA, while quitting smoking remains the single most effective preventive health intervention for reducing the risk of smoking-related illness. Yet, knowledge about patterns of smoking and smoking cessation in older adults is lacking.

OBJECTIVE: Assess trends in prevalence of cigarette smoking between 1998 and 2018 and identify patterns and predictors of smoking cessation in US older adults.

DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study PARTICIPANTS: Individuals aged 55+ enrolled in the nationally representative Health and Retirement Study, 1998-2018 MAIN MEASURES: Current smoking was assessed with the question: "Do you smoke cigarettes now?" Quitting smoking was defined as having at least two consecutive waves (between 2 and 4 years) in which participants who were current smokers in 1998 reported they were not currently smoking in subsequent waves.

KEY RESULTS: Age-adjusted smoking prevalence decreased from 15.9\% in 1998 (95\% confidence interval (CI) 15.2, 16.7) to 11.2\% in 2018 (95\% CI 10.4, 12.1). Among 2187 current smokers in 1998 (mean age 64, 56\% female), 56\% of those living to age 90 had a sustained period of smoking cessation. Smoking less than 10 cigarettes/day was strongly associated with an increased likelihood of quitting smoking (subdistribution hazard ratio 2.3; 95\% CI 1.9, 2.8), compared to those who smoked more than 20 cigarettes/day.

CONCLUSIONS: Smoking prevalence among older persons has declined and substantial numbers of older smokers succeed in quitting smoking for a sustained period. These findings highlight the need for continued aggressive efforts at tobacco cessation among older persons.

}, keywords = {Epidemiology, Geriatrics, Public Health, Smoking}, issn = {1525-1497}, doi = {10.1007/s11606-022-07980-w}, author = {Hunt, Lauren J and Covinsky, Kenneth E and Cenzer, Irena and Espejo, Edie and Boscardin, W John and Leutwyler, Heather and Lee, Alexandra K and Cataldo, Janine} } @mastersthesis {13317, title = {Essays on Policy in Low-Wage Labor Markets}, volume = {Doctor of Philosophy}, year = {2023}, school = {Harvard University}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {Many policies seek to improve the lot of low-wage workers in the United States and thus target the labor markets in which they work. However, the effects of these policies may be complicated by the features of these markets. These essays examine three such instances. In the first, the Department of Labor extended federal wage and hour regulation to cover previously-exempt home care workers, making them eligible for minimum wage, overtime pay, and travel pay protections for the first time. We argue that the effects of the policy are influenced by the fact that many home care clients pay for their services with Medicaid, which pays home care agencies a fixed rate. The second essay turns to occupational licensing requirements, particularly restrictions that prevent workers with prior felony convictions from receiving a license. I find that the same regulation has different effects when implemented by the legislature than when it is implemented by the occupational licensing board, highlighting the role of different incentives between an elected legislature and a board of professionals tasked with regulating itself. Finally, the third essay examines Ban the Box policies, which remove criminal record questions from job applications. While prior work has modeled this as a removal of information, employers frequently conduct pre-employment background checks. I model this delay of information and explore the predictions that differ from when it is considered a removal of information.}, url = {https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/37375733/dissertation\%20engle.pdf?sequence=1\&isAllowed=y}, author = {Engle, Elizabeth} } @article {10.1093/jrsssa/qnad059, title = {An experimental evaluation of a stopping rule aimed at maximizing cost-quality trade-offs in surveys}, journal = {Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A: Statistics in Society}, year = {2023}, abstract = {Surveys face difficult choices in managing cost-error trade-offs. Stopping rules for surveys have been proposed as a method for managing these trade-offs. A stopping rule will limit effort on a select subset of cases to reduce costs with minimal harm to quality. Previously proposed stopping rules have focused on quality with an implicit assumption that all cases have the same cost. This assumption is unlikely to be true, particularly when some cases will require more effort and, therefore, more costs than others. We propose a new rule that looks at both predicted costs and quality. This rule is tested experimentally against another rule that focuses on stopping cases that are expected to be difficult to recruit. The experiment was conducted on the 2020 data collection of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). We test both Bayesian and non-Bayesian (maximum-likelihood or ML) versions of the rule. The Bayesian version of the prediction models uses historical data to establish prior information. The Bayesian version led to higher-quality data for roughly the same cost, while the ML version led to small reductions in quality with larger reductions in cost compared to the control rule.}, issn = {0964-1998}, doi = {10.1093/jrsssa/qnad059}, author = {Wagner, James and Zhang, Xinyu and Elliott, Michael R and Brady T. West and Coffey, Stephanie M} } @mastersthesis {12688, title = {Education and cognitive resilience: the role of schooling characteristics in shaping an ability to maintain high levels of cognitive functioning after the onset of disease}, volume = {Ph.D.}, year = {2022}, school = {University of California, San Francisco}, address = {San Francisco, CA}, abstract = {This dissertation explores the role of educational characteristics as a marker of cognitive resilience. Incident stroke is often accompanied by acute deficits and declines in cognitive ability as well as long-term acceleration of cognitive decline. These resulting impairments and dementia drastically affect quality of life, and patients with dementia after stroke are at increased risk of death and disability. Education has been consistently identified as a predictor of cognition after stroke, but mechanisms behind this relationship are not fully understood. One hypothesis considers cognitive resilience, suggesting that education provides individuals with cognitive tools to maintain cognitive functioning amidst a clinically meaningful amount of neurodegeneration or injury. However, studies of this relationship are hindered by a lack of universally accepted definitions of cognitive resilience. Furthermore, some studies suggest that the commonly used measure of attained education may not capture variation in cognition as well as alternative measures such as educational quality and literacy. The relationship between stroke and dementia has the potential to be used to study cognitive resilience and reserve, a critical issue in cognitive aging research. By using stroke as a well-defined and clearly diagnosed disease with a known time of event onset, studies can be conducted to assess for differences between educational subgroups and to differentiate between normal-age related decline and disease-related pathological processes. Therefore, this proposal aims to investigate the influence of educational characteristics on cognitive resilience after stroke. Chapter 1 examines memory trajectories before, at the time, and after stroke in a nationally representative sample to assess where along the development of stroke education may benefit cognition. More years of attained education was associated with a small decrease in memory decrement at the time of stroke and a slight slowing of memory decline after stroke onset. However the benefits of education lie primarily in pre-existing cognitive reserve prior to stroke, with individuals of higher attained education declining only slightly slower than individuals with lower education. Chapter 2 estimates the extent to which educational characteristics modify the effect of history of stroke on dementia risk, finding that state-level administrative school quality is a predictor of late-life dementia incidence, independently of own educational attainment. Chapter 3 investigates whether education influences individuals{\textquoteright} cognitive responses to markers of disease pathology in the brain, finding that contrary to previous studies, the relationship between white matter hyperintensities and cognition does not differ by level of education. Together, these studies address the gap in understanding of mechanisms behind cognitive resilience by investigating whether increases in education allow people to maintain cognitive functioning following the onset of disease, and assessing where education is most beneficial along the development of disease.}, keywords = {Cognition, Education, Episodic Memory}, url = {https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2th4t97g}, author = {Eng, Chloe} } @article {12037, title = {Effect of cognitive impairment on risk of death in Hispanic/Latino adults over the age of 50 residing in the United States with and without diabetes: Data from the Health and Retirement Study 1995-2014.}, journal = {Alzheimer{\textquoteright}s \& Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer{\textquoteright}s Association}, volume = {18}, year = {2022}, pages = {1616-1624}, abstract = {

OBJECTIVE: To understand the relationship between mortality and cognitive function among older US Hispanic adults with and without diabetes.

METHODS: Data from the Health and Retirement Study (1995-2014) were analyzed. Cox proportional hazard models were used to estimate the association between mortality and cognitive function. Models were stratified by diabetes.

RESULTS: Four thousand thirteen older US Hispanic adults were included. Fully adjusted models for individuals with diabetes showed those with mild cognitive impairment (MCI; hazard ratio [HR]: 1.61; 95\% confidence interval [CI]: 1.06, 2.45; P~=~.025) and dementia (HR: 2.14; 95\% CI: 1.25, 3.67; P~=~.006) had increased mortality compared to normal cognition. Fully adjusted models for individuals without diabetes showed those with MCI (HR: 1.87; 95\% CI: 1.28, 2.74; P~=~.001) and dementia (HR: 3.25; 95\% CI: 1.91, 5.55; P~<~.001) had increased mortality compared to normal cognition.

CONCLUSIONS: Cognitive impairment is associated with increased mortality in older US Hispanic adults with and without diabetes. Clinicians should regularly assess cognitive function in this group to quickly identify declines and make appropriate referrals for support to optimize health and reduce mortality.

}, keywords = {cognitive function, cognitive impairment, Hispanics, Mortality}, issn = {1552-5279}, doi = {10.1002/alz.12521}, author = {Martinez, Martin and Aprill Z Dawson and Lu, Kevin and Rebekah J Walker and Leonard E Egede} } @article {12297, title = {Enhancing the Utility of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) to Identify Drivers of Rising Mortality Rates in the United States.}, journal = {Forum for Health Economics and Policy}, volume = {25}, year = {2022}, pages = {57-84}, abstract = {

A recent report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) highlights rising rates of working-age mortality in the United States, portending troubling population health trends for this group as they age. The Health and Retirement Study (HRS) is an invaluable resource for researchers studying health and aging dynamics among Americans ages 50 and above and has strong potential to be used by researchers to provide insights about the drivers of rising U.S. mortality rates. This paper assesses the strengths and limitations of HRS data for identifying drivers of rising mortality rates in the~U.S. and provides recommendations to enhance the utility of the HRS in this~regard. Among our many recommendations, we encourage the HRS to prioritize the following: link cause of death information to respondents; reduce the age of eligibility for inclusion in the sample; increase the rural sample size;~enhance the existing by incorporating longitudinal measures of structural determinants of health; develop additional data linkages to capture residential settings and characteristics across the life course; and add measures that capture drug use, gun ownership, and social media use.

}, keywords = {Health Disparities, Mortality}, issn = {1558-9544}, doi = {10.1515/fhep-2021-0058}, author = {Monnat, Shannon M and Elo, Irma T} } @article {12536, title = {Epigenetic clocks and their association with trajectories in perceived discrimination and depressive symptoms among US middle-aged and older adults.}, journal = {Aging }, volume = {14}, year = {2022}, pages = {5311{\textemdash}5344}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Perceived discrimination may be associated with accelerated aging later in life, with depressive symptoms acting as potential mediator.

METHODS: A nationally representative sample of older adults was used [Health and Retirement Study 2010-2016, Age: 50-100 y in 2016, = 2,806, 55.6\% female, 82.3\% Non-Hispanic White (NHW)] to evaluate associations of perceived discrimination measures [Experience of discrimination or EOD; and Reasons for Perceived discrimination or RPD) and depressive symptoms (DEP)] with 13 DNAm-based measures of epigenetic aging. Group-based trajectory and four-way mediation analyses were used.

RESULTS: Overall, and mostly among female and NHW participants, greater RPD in 2010-2012 had a significant adverse total effect on epigenetic aging [2016: DNAm GrimAge, DunedinPoAm38 (MPOA), Levine (PhenoAge) and Horvath 2], with 20-50\% of this effect being explained by a pure indirect effect through DEP in 2014-2016. Among females, sustained elevated DEP (2010-2016) was associated with greater LIN DNAm age (β {\textpm} SE: +1.506 {\textpm} 0.559, = 0.009, reduced model), patterns observed for elevated DEP (high vs. low) for GrimAge and MPOA DNAm markers. Overall and in White adults, the relationship of the Levine clock with perceived discrimination in general (both EOD and RPD) was mediated through elevated DEP.

CONCLUSIONS: Sustained elevations in DEP and RPD were associated with select biological aging measures, consistently among women and White adults, with DEP acting as mediator in several RPD-EPICLOCK associations.

}, keywords = {Biological age, Depressive symptoms, DNA Methylation, epigenetic clocks, Perceived Discrimination}, issn = {1945-4589}, doi = {10.18632/aging.204150}, author = {Beydoun, May A and Beydoun, Hind A and Noren Hooten, Nicole and Maldonado, Ana I and Weiss, Jordan and Evans, Michele K and Zonderman, Alan B} } @article {12262, title = {Experiences of care coordination among older adults in the United States: Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study.}, journal = {Patient Education and Counseling}, volume = {105}, year = {2022}, pages = {2429-2435}, abstract = {

INTRODUCTION: The goal of this study was to examine variation in patient experiences and perceptions of care coordination across sociodemographic and health factors.

METHODS: Data come from the 2016 Health and Retirement Study (N~=~1, 216). Three domains of coordination were assessed: 1) Perceptions (e.g., patient impressions of provider-provider communication), 2) Tangible supports (e.g., meeting with a care coordinator, being accompanied to appointments), and 3) Technical supports (e.g., use of a "patient portal"). Logistic regression was used to quantify the frequency of each domain and examine variation by racial minority status, socioeconomic status, and health status.

RESULTS: Approximately 42\% of older adults perceived poor care coordination, including 14.8\% who reported receiving seemingly conflicting advice from different providers. Only one-third had ever met with a formal care coordinator, and 40\% were occasionally accompanied to appointments. Although racial minorities were less likely to have access to technical supports, they were more likely to use them. Better perceived coordination was associated with higher care satisfaction (Odds Ratio: 1.43, 95\% CI: 1.27-1.61).

CONCLUSIONS: Important gaps in care coordination remain for older adults.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Providers should consider assessing patient perceptions of care coordination to address these gaps in an equitable manner.

}, keywords = {Care coordination, Care management, Disparities, Patient-Centered Care}, issn = {1873-5134}, doi = {10.1016/j.pec.2022.03.015}, author = {Eastman, Marisa R and Viktoryia A Kalesnikava and Briana Mezuk} } @article {12088, title = {Explanatory role of sociodemographic, clinical, behavioral, and social factors on cognitive decline in older adults with diabetes.}, journal = {BMC Geriatrics}, volume = {22}, year = {2022}, pages = {39}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: The aim of the study was to examine the explanatory role of sociodemographic, clinical, behavioral, and social factors on racial/ethnic differences in cognitive decline among adults with diabetes.

METHODS: Adults aged 50+ years with diabetes from the Health and Retirement Survey were assessed for cognitive function (normal, mild cognitive impairment [MCI], and dementia). Generalized estimating equation (GEE) logistic regression models were used to account for repeating measures over time. Models were adjusted for sociodemographic (gender, age, education, household income and assets), behavioral (smoking), clinical (ie. comorbidities, body mass index), and social (social support, loneliness, social participation, perceived constraints and perceived mastery on personal control) factors.

RESULTS: Unadjusted models showed non-Hispanic Blacks (NHB) and Hispanics were significantly more likely to progress from normal cognition to dementia (NHB OR: 2.99, 95\%CI 2.35-3.81; Hispanic OR: 3.55, 95\%CI 2.77-4.56), and normal cognition to MCI (NHB OR = 2.45, 95\%CI 2.14-2.82; Hispanic OR = 2.49, 95\%CI 2.13-2.90) compared to non-Hispanic Whites (NHW). Unadjusted models for the transition from mild cognitive decline to dementia showed Hispanics were more likely than NHW to progress (OR = 1.43, 95\%CI 1.11-1.84). After adjusting for sociodemographic, clinical/behavioral, and social measures, NHB were 3.75 times more likely (95\%CI 2.52-5.56) than NHW to reach dementia from normal cognition. NHB were 2.87 times more likely (95\%CI 2.37-3.48) than NHW to reach MCI from normal. Hispanics were 1.72 times more likely (95\%CI 1.17-2.52) than NHW to reach dementia from MCI.

CONCLUSION: Clinical/behavioral and social factors did not explain racial/ethnic disparities. Racial/ethnic disparities are less evident from MCI to dementia, emphasizing preventative measures/interventions before cognitive impairment onset are important.

}, keywords = {Cognitive decline, Diabetes, Health Disparities}, issn = {1471-2318}, doi = {10.1186/s12877-021-02740-7}, author = {O{\textquoteright}Toole, Sean M and Rebekah J Walker and Emma Garacci and Aprill Z Dawson and Campbell, Jennifer A and Leonard E Egede} } @article {11759, title = {The Elderly and the COVID Pandemic: Early Findings on the Impact on Health, Mental Well-Being, and Financial Situation}, year = {2021}, institution = {Employee Benefit Research Institute}, address = {Washington, D.C.}, abstract = {Using early releases of data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) COVID-19 Project survey, the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) examines the various impacts of the pandemic on older Americans{\textquoteright} health, mental well-being, and financial situation. The bottom line is that the responses within the HRS depict an older population that was clearly impacted by the pandemic but that was {\textemdash} overall {\textemdash} remarkably resilient. However, the data also identify key areas of concern as well, including lower wealth and those near or early in retireme}, keywords = {COVID-19, Finances, health, Well-being}, url = {https://www.ebri.org/content/the-elderly-and-the-covid-pandemic-early-findings-on-the-impact-on-health-mental-well-being-and-financial-situation}, author = {Zahra Ebrahimi} } @article {12202, title = {Enhancing the Utility of the Health and Retirement Study to Identify Drivers of Rising Mortality Rates in the United States}, year = {2021}, publisher = {National Institute on Aging}, address = {Bethesda, MD}, abstract = {A recent report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) highlights rising rates of working-age mortality in the United States, portending troubling population health trends for this group - individuals who will either soon be entering into or are already in the HRS sampling frame. The Health and Retirement Study (HRS) is an invaluable resource for researchers studying health and aging dynamics among Americans ages 50 and above and has strong potential to be used by researchers to provide insights about the drivers of rising U.S. mortality rates. This paper assesses the strengths and limitations of HRS data for identifying drivers of rising mortality rates in the U.S. and provides recommendations to enhance the utility of the HRS in this regard. Among our many recommendations, we encourage the HRS to prioritize the following: link cause of death information to respondents; reduce the age of eligibility for inclusion in the sample; increase the rural sample size; enhance the existing HRS Contextual Data Resource by incorporating longitudinal measures of structural determinants of health; develop additional data linkages to capture residential settings and characteristics across the life course; and add measures that capture drug use, gun ownership, and social media use.}, keywords = {contextual data file, data linkages, Mortality rates}, author = {Monnat, Shannon M. and Irma Elo} } @mastersthesis {11599, title = {ESSAYS IN THE ECONOMICS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP}, volume = {Ph.D.}, year = {2021}, school = {UNIVERSITE DU QUEBEC A MONTREAL}, address = {Montreal, CAN}, abstract = {This dissertation consists of three essays in the economics of entrepreneurship, with the overall goal to add value to the literature on the role of liquidity constraints, start-up costs and employment protection policies, in explaining entrepreneurial dynamism and the occupational choice of individuals. The first essay exploits individual level data from 3 uniquely comparable surveys (SHARE, ELSA and HRS) in Europe and the United States, as well as the World Bank{\textquoteright}s Doing Business data, to empirically investigate the impact of startup costs on the self-employment-wealth relationship. The longitudinal nature of the data enables us to investigate potential effects of the last global financial crisis. Results confirm the strong positive relationship between the entrepreneurial choice and wealth. We also find that start-up costs flatten this relationship, which suggests that entry regulations decrease the marginal value of wealth for entrepreneurial entry, under liquidity constraints. Interestingly, although there is no strong evidence that wealth in itself played a bigger role during the crisis, we find that the negative impact of start-up costs on the entrepreneurship-wealth relationship proved to be significantly pronounced during the last crisis. The second essay provides robust international evidence on the macroeconomic impact of bank competition on new business creation. Previous research has shown that the stock market, due to its liquidity externalities, stimulates business creation by allowing and expediting the recycling of {\textquotedblleft}informed capital{\textquotedblright} supplied to new start-ups by financial intermediaries. Building on the complementarity between banks and stock markets in the business creation process, we evaluate in a unifying framework, the extent of two competing theories of bank competition effects on entrepreneurial financing. We find that, in line with the market power hypothesis, bank competition has an overall beneficial impact on new business density by boosting credit access to new entrepreneurs. Yet, consistent with the information hypothesis, this result attenuates as the size of the stock market increases, due to the importance of relationship lending underlying the informed capital recycling. The third essay studies the effects of firing costs and start-up costs incurred by new entrepreneurs, on the occupational choice in a dynamic general equilibrium model with borrowing constraints and a non-entrepreneurial sector that allows for endogenous entry and exit of corporate firms, as well as labor adjustment across periods. We find that a tax on job destruction at the corporate firm level increases the steady state entrepreneurship rate by prompting the transition of workers into entrepreneurship and decreasing the proportion of exiting entrepreneurs. This is because the firing tax has a negative impact on labor productivity and the equilibrium wage rate, leading to significant welfare losses for workers. Startup costs significantly lessen the impact of the firing tax on entrepreneurship as they make the transition into entrepreneurship very cumbersome in a financially constrained environment.}, keywords = {Bank competition, ELSA, Entrepreneurship, Firing tax, Informed capital, Liquidity constraints, Occupational choice, Relationship lending, Risk, SHARE, skills, Start-up costs, stock market, Wealth}, url = {https://economie.esg.uqam.ca/wp-content/uploads/sites/54/2021/04/Elitcha_Koffi_These-Mars2021.pdf}, author = {Koffi Elitcha} } @article {11824, title = {Estimating the effects of Mexico to U.S. migration on elevated depressive symptoms: evidence from pooled cross-national cohorts.}, journal = {Annals of Epidemiology}, volume = {64}, year = {2021}, pages = {53-66}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Migrating from Mexico to the U.S. is a major, stressful life event with potentially profound influences on mental health. However, estimating the health effects of migration is challenging because of differential selection into migration and time-varying confounder mediators of migration effects on health.

METHODS: We pooled data from the Mexican Health and Aging Study (N=17,771) and Mexican-born U.S. Health and Retirement Study (N=898) participants to evaluate the effects of migration to the U.S. (at any age and in models for migration in childhood or adulthood) on depressive symptom-count, measured with a modified Centers for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression scale. We modeled probability of migrating in each year of life from birth to either age at initial migration to the U.S. or enrollment and used these models to calculate inverse probability of migration weights. We applied the weights to covariate-adjusted negative binomial GEE models, estimating the ratio of average symptom-count associated with migration.

RESULTS: Mexico to U.S. migration was unrelated to depressive symptoms among men (ratio of average symptom-count= 0.98 [95\% CI: 0.89, 1.08]) and women (ratio of average symptom-count=1.00 [95\% CI: 0.92, 1.09]). Results were similar for migration in childhood, early adulthood, or later adulthood.

CONCLUSIONS: In this sample of older Mexican-born adults, migration to the U.S. was unrelated to depressive symptoms.

}, keywords = {depression, Immigration, Mental Health, MHAS, Selection}, issn = {1873-2585}, doi = {10.1016/j.annepidem.2021.08.014}, author = {Audrey R Murchland and Adina Zeki Al Hazzouri and Zhang, Lanyu and Elfassy, Tali and Grasset, Leslie and Riley, Alicia and Wong, Rebecca and Mary Haan and Richard N Jones and Jacqueline M Torres and M. Maria Glymour} } @article {11903, title = {Educational mobility and telomere length in middle-aged and older adults: testing three alternative hypotheses.}, journal = {Biodemography and Social Biology}, volume = {66}, year = {2020}, pages = {220-235}, abstract = {

Critical period, social mobility, and social accumulation are three hypotheses that may explain how educational mobility impacts health. Thus far, there is little evidence on how these processes are associated with biological aging as measured by telomere length. Using cross-sectional data from the 2008 Health and Retirement Study, we examined the association between educational mobility (parental education and contemporaneous education) and telomere length. The final model is adjusted for sociodemographic factors and socioeconomic status, childhood adversity, and health behaviors/risk factors, as well as depressive symptoms. A total of 1,894 participants were included in the main analyses. High parental education was associated with longer telomere length in a fully adjusted model (B~=~0.03, CI [0.002,0.07]). Downwardly mobile individuals (high parental education and low contemporaneous education) had longer telomere length compared to stably low individuals in a fully adjusted model (B~=~0.05, CI [0.004,0.09]). There was support for the critical period hypothesis and partial support for the change hypothesis. There was no evidence to support the social accumulation hypothesis. Prospective studies are needed to understand the mechanism that can help further explain the association between educational mobility and telomere length.

}, keywords = {Education, social mobility, Telomere length}, issn = {1948-5573}, doi = {10.1080/19485565.2021.1983760}, author = {Cuevas, Adolfo G and Greatorex-Voith, Siobhan and Abuelezam, Nadia and Eckert, Natalie and Shervin Assari} } @article {12125, title = {Exome Chip Meta-analysis Fine Maps Causal Variants and Elucidates the Genetic Architecture of Rare Coding Variants in Smoking and Alcohol~Use.}, journal = {Biological Psychiatry}, volume = {85}, year = {2019}, pages = {946-955}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Smoking and alcohol use have been associated with common genetic variants in multiple loci. Rare variants within these loci hold promise in the identification of biological mechanisms in substance use. Exome arrays and genotype imputation can now efficiently genotype rare nonsynonymous and loss of function variants. Such variants are expected to have deleterious functional consequences and to contribute to disease risk.

METHODS: We analyzed \~{}250,000 rare variants from 16 independent studies genotyped with exome arrays and augmented this dataset with imputed data from the UK Biobank. Associations were tested for five phenotypes: cigarettes per day, pack-years, smoking initiation, age of smoking initiation, and alcoholic drinks per week. We conducted stratified heritability analyses, single-variant tests, and gene-based burden tests of nonsynonymous/loss-of-function coding variants. We performed a novel fine-mapping analysis to winnow the number of putative causal variants within associated loci.

RESULTS: Meta-analytic sample sizes ranged from 152,348 to 433,216, depending on the phenotype. Rare coding variation explained 1.1\% to 2.2\% of phenotypic variance, reflecting 11\% to 18\% of the total single nucleotide polymorphism heritability of these phenotypes. We identified 171 genome-wide associated loci across all phenotypes. Fine mapping identified putative causal variants with double base-pair resolution at 24 of these loci, and between three and 10 variants for 65 loci. Twenty loci contained rare coding variants in the 95\% credible intervals.

CONCLUSIONS: Rare coding variation significantly contributes to the heritability of smoking and alcohol use. Fine-mapping genome-wide association study loci identifies specific variants contributing to the biological etiology of substance use behavior.

}, keywords = {Alcohol Drinking, Databases, Genetic, Exome, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genetic Variation, Genome-Wide Association Study, Genotype, Humans, Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis, Phenotype, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Smoking}, issn = {1873-2402}, doi = {10.1016/j.biopsych.2018.11.024}, author = {Brazel, David M and Jiang, Yu and Hughey, Jordan M and Turcot, Val{\'e}rie and Zhan, Xiaowei and Gong, Jian and Batini, Chiara and Weissenkampen, J Dylan and Liu, Mengzhen and Barnes, Daniel R and Bertelsen, Sarah and Chou, Yi-Ling and Erzurumluoglu, A Mesut and Jessica Faul and Jeffrey Haessler and Anke R Hammerschlag and Hsu, Chris and Kapoor, Manav and Lai, Dongbing and Le, Nhung and Christiaan de Leeuw and Loukola, Anu and Mangino, Massimo and Melbourne, Carl A and Pistis, Giorgio and Qaiser, Beenish and Rohde, Rebecca and Shao, Yaming and Heather M Stringham and Wetherill, Leah and Zhao, Wei and Agrawal, Arpana and Laura Bierut and Chen, Chu and Charles B Eaton and Goate, Alison and Christopher A Haiman and Andrew C Heath and Iacono, William G and Nicholas G Martin and Tinca J Polderman and Reiner, Alex and Rice, John and Schlessinger, David and H Steven Scholte and Smith, Jennifer A and Tardif, Jean-Claude and Hilary A Tindle and Van Der Leij, Andries R and Boehnke, Michael and Chang-Claude, Jenny and Francesco Cucca and David, Sean P and Tatiana Foroud and Howson, Joanna M M and Sharon L R Kardia and Charles Kooperberg and Laakso, Markku and Lettre, Guillaume and Pamela A F Madden and McGue, Matt and Kari E North and Posthuma, Danielle and Timothy Spector and Stram, Daniel and Tobin, Martin D and David R Weir and Kaprio, Jaakko and Gon{\c c}alo R Abecasis and Liu, Dajiang J and Scott Vrieze} } @mastersthesis {10292, title = {Essays on Labor Market Attachment and Retirement Behavior of the Elderly}, volume = {PhD}, year = {2018}, note = {Copyright - Database copyright ProQuest LLC; ProQuest does not claim copyright in the individual underlying works; Last updated - 2018-11-26}, pages = {77}, school = {Stony Brook University}, type = {phd}, abstract = {This dissertation evaluates the labor market behavior and benefit claiming of the elderly. In particular, I explore the impact of socio-economic factors, changes in public policy, and economic recessions on retirement and social security benefit claiming. The goal of my research is to document the differences across cohorts in Labor Force Participation (LFP) and retirement decisions, and to determine whether the factors mentioned above can account for the observed difference in behavior across cohorts. In the first part of my thesis, I study the differences in Labor Force Participation (LFP) and retirement behavior of men and women between the ages of 55 and 67 for each of the four existing cohorts of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). A comprehensive descriptive analysis and duration analysis reveals that, among men, the recent cohorts (the EBB and MBB) participate less in the labor market at each age than did the older cohorts (the HRS and WB) when LFP is defined as working at least 300 hours a year. However, no significant cohort LFP differences appear between the cohorts of women. Education and access to Employer Sponsored Health Insurance (ESHI) are strongly associated with these cohort-based differences. In addition, Estimation results demonstrate substantial and significant lower labor market exit hazards for members of the EBB and MBB cohorts, in all specifications and all else equal. In the second part of my thesis, I utilize a computational overlapping generations model of heterogeneous individuals in order to model economic decision-making and simulate the effects of the Great Recession and cohort-specific factors on LFP. Simulation of the model for EBB cohorts indicates that the changes in cohort specific factors such as education could explain the overall higher attachment to labor market in the younger cohort. On the other hand, the transition path to steady state in response to recession modeled as unexpected productivity and asset shocks, also reveals that households decrease their labor supply.}, keywords = {Elderly, Employer Sponsored Health Insurance, Health and Retirement Study, Labor economics, Labor force participation, Labor market behavior, Social Sciences}, isbn = {9780438688650}, author = {Zahra Ebrahimi} } @mastersthesis {8832, title = {The effects of microaggressions on blood pressure in the Latino population}, volume = {Ph.D.}, year = {2017}, pages = {108}, school = {Alliant International University}, type = {Dissertation}, address = {Sacremento, CA}, abstract = {Racial microaggressions are subtle instances of racism that chronically remind the Latino population of their foreigner status (Derald Wing Sue et al., 2007). Although microaggressions have been found to cause an increase in stress in the Latino population, and chronic stress is one possible precursor to elevated blood pressure, there is a lack of research focusing on how microaggressions and blood pressure relate to each other in the Latino population. The present study examined the relationship between microaggressions, stress and blood pressure in the Latino population using a correlational research design. Eighty-six Latino immigrant participants responded to the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), the Racial Microaggression Scale (RMAS), and had their blood pressure taken. The results suggest that stress increases as microaggressions increase, and blood pressure increases as stress increases. Two of the microaggression scales, Criminality Distress Scale and Foreigner/Not Belonging Distress Scale, were correlated with diastolic blood pressure. This is an important finding which suggests that Latinos who experience distress of microaggressions which make them feel like a foreigner based on their visible ethnic/minority features and those who experience the distress caused by the fear of being perceived to be a criminal tend to have negative effects on their blood pressure. Based on the frequency of the microaggressions that Latinos experience, this could be very detrimental to their health. Additionally, the finding that microaggressions elevated diastolic blood pressure brings in to question if the effects of microaggressions, due to their chronicity, can be more harmful to cardiovascular health than once believed.}, keywords = {Blood pressure, Latino population, Microaggressions, Women and Minorities}, isbn = {9781339870571}, url = {http://proxy.lib.umich.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1814766088?accountid=14667}, author = {Estrada, Samia} } @article {8964, title = {Ethnic Differences in Advance Directive Completion and Care Preferences: What Has Changed in a Decade?}, journal = {Journal of the American Geriatrics Society}, volume = {65}, year = {2017}, pages = {1352-1357}, abstract = {Studies have documented ethnic differences in advance directive (AD) completion, with lower rates in minority groups. Of those with ADs, blacks are more likely than whites to prefer aggressive care, but little is known about how these differences in preferences have changed over time in ethnic groups. This nationally representative study aimed to investigate whether these differences in AD development persisted after adjusting for important confounding variables. Year of death was analyzed to see how AD completion changed over time within ethnic groups, and for those with an AD, the association between these factors and opting for aggressive care was investigated. Data from the 2000 to 2012 Health and Retirement Study (HRS) exit interviews from 7,177 decedents were used. Analyses included logistic regression to determine the relationship between ethnicity and AD completion and preferences for aggressive care and how it changed over time in ethnic groups. Forty-six percent of decedents had completed an AD (whites 51.7\%, Hispanics 18.0\%, blacks 15.0\%). Of blacks completing an AD, 23.8\% elected prolonged care, compared with 13.3\% of Hispanics and 3.3\% of whites. Logistic regression revealed that blacks 75\% lower odds of completing an AD and Hispanics had 70\% lower odds. Model covariates had a small influence on ethnic differences, although in examining the change in AD completion over time, the odds of having an AD increased with each subsequent death year for blacks and whites but not Hispanics. Additional research is needed to investigate the effect of cultural differences in AD completion rates of ethnic minority groups to ensure that preferences are honored in the clinical setting.}, keywords = {Older Adults, Racial/ethnic differences}, issn = {1532-5415}, doi = {10.1111/jgs.14800}, author = {Portanova, Jaclyn and Jennifer A Ailshire and Perez, Catherine and Rahman, Anna and Enguidanos, Susan} } @article {8821, title = {Elder Orphans Hiding in Plain Sight: A Growing Vulnerable Population.}, journal = {Curr Gerontol Geriatr Res}, volume = {2016}, year = {2016}, month = {2016}, pages = {4723250}, abstract = {

Adults are increasingly aging alone with multiple chronic diseases and are geographically distant from family or friends. It is challenging for clinicians to identify these individuals, often struggling with managing the growing difficulties and the complexities involved in delivering care to this population. Clinicians often may not recognize or know how to address the needs that these patients have in managing their own health. While many such patients function well at baseline, the slightest insult can initiate a cascade of avoidable negative events. We have resurrected the term to describe individuals living alone with little to no support system. Using public data sets, including the US Census and University of Michigan{\textquoteright}s Health and Retirement Study, we estimated the prevalence of adults 65 years and older to be around 22\%. Thus, in this paper, we strive to describe and quantify this growing vulnerable population and offer practical approaches to identify and develop care plans that are consistent with each person{\textquoteright}s goals of care. The complex medical and psychosocial issues for elder orphans significantly impact the individual person, communities, and health-care expenditures. We hope to encourage professionals across disciplines to work cooperatively to screen elders and implement policies to prevent from hiding in plain sight.

}, issn = {1687-7063}, doi = {10.1155/2016/4723250}, url = {https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5097795/}, author = {Maria T. Carney and Fujiwara, Janice and Brian E. Emmert and Tara A Liberman and Paris, Barbara} } @article {8360, title = {Estimating the Co-Development of Cognitive Decline and Physical Mobility Limitations in Older US Adults}, journal = {Demography}, volume = {53}, year = {2016}, note = {Times Cited: 0 0}, pages = {337-364}, publisher = {53}, abstract = {This study examines the co-development of cognitive and physical function in older Americans using an age-heterogeneous sample drawn from the Health and Retirement Study (1998-2008). We used multiple-group parallel process latent growth models to estimate the association between trajectories of cognitive function as measured by immediate word recall scores, and limitations in physical function as measured as an index of functional mobility limitations. Nested model fit testing was used to assess model fit for the separate trajectories followed by estimation of an unconditional parallel process model. Controls for demographic characteristics, socioeconomic status, and chronic health conditions were added to the best-fitting parallel process model. Pattern mixture models were used to assess the sensitivity of the parameter estimates to the effect of selective attrition. Results indicated that favorable cognitive health and mobility at initial measurement were associated with faster decline in the alternate functional domain. The cross-process associations remained significant when we adjusted estimates for the influence of covariates and selective attrition. Demographic and socioeconomic characteristics were consistently associated with initial cognitive and physical health but had few relations with change in these measures.}, keywords = {Health Conditions and Status}, doi = {10.1007/s13524-016-0458-x}, author = {Nicholas J Bishop and Eggum-Wilkens, Natalie D. and Steven A Haas and Jennie J. Kronenfeld} } @article {7327, title = {The Elasticity of Intertemporal Substitution: New Evidence from 401(k) Participation}, journal = {Economics Letters}, volume = {103}, year = {2009}, pages = {15-17}, publisher = {103}, abstract = {A key parameter in economics is the elasticity of intertemporal substitution (EIS), which measures the extent to which consumers shift total expenditures across time in response to changes in the effective rate of return. In contrast to the previous literature, which primarily has relied on Euler equation methods and generated a wide range of estimates, we show how a life-cycle-consistent econometric specification of employee 401(k) participation along with plausibly exogenous variation in rates of return due to employer matching contributions can be used to generate new estimates of the EIS. Because firms often cap the generosity of the match, employer matching generates non-linearities in household budget sets. We draw on non-linear budget-set estimation methods rooted in the public economics literature, and using detailed administrative contribution, earnings, and pension-plan data for a sample of 401(k)-eligible households from the Health and Retirement Study, we estimate the EIS to be 0.74 in our richest specification, with a 95 confidence interval that ranges from 0.37 to 1.21.}, keywords = {Consumption and Savings, Methodology, Pensions}, doi = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econlet.2009.01.010}, author = {Gary V. Engelhardt and Kumar, Anil} } @article {7357, title = {Estimating the quantity and economic value of family caregiving for community-dwelling older persons in the last year of life.}, journal = {J Am Geriatr Soc}, volume = {57}, year = {2009}, month = {2009 Sep}, pages = {1654-9}, publisher = {57}, abstract = {

OBJECTIVES: To estimate the quantity and economic value of informal care provided to older persons during their final year of life in the community.

DESIGN: Retrospective analysis of publicly available nationally representative survey data.

SETTING: This retrospective study used data from the Health and Retirement Study, a nationally representative, longitudinal study of community-dwelling older people.

PARTICIPANTS: Older people who died between 2000 and 2002.

MEASUREMENTS: Data were extracted from the 2002 "exit survey" and linked with characteristics of caregivers from the helper file. Ordinary least squares regression was used to estimate hours of informal caregiving for community-dwelling older people (N=990). Adjusted hours were multiplied by the 2002 national average home aide wage (9.16 USD per hour). Sensitivity tests were performed using the 10th percentile wage rate (6.56 USD) and 90th percentile wage rate (12.34 USD).

RESULTS: Older people who died in the community received on average 65.8 hours per week of informal care in the last year of life. The estimated economic value ranges from 22,514 USD to 42,351 USD, which is equivalent to the annual direct replacement cost with a home aide in 2002.

CONCLUSION: Family members provide substantial assistance during the last year of life for older people who die in the community. If the informal care provided in the last year of life is replaced with a home aide, the total economic value for the United States would be approximately 1.4 billion USD (in 2002).

}, keywords = {Activities of Daily Living, Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Caregivers, Costs and Cost Analysis, Disability Evaluation, Female, Health Surveys, Home Health Aides, Home Nursing, Humans, Independent Living, Male, Middle Aged, Retrospective Studies, Terminal Care, United States}, issn = {1532-5415}, doi = {10.1111/j.1532-5415.2009.02390.x}, author = {Rhee, YongJoo and Howard B Degenholtz and Anthony T. Lo Sasso and Linda L Emanuel} } @article {7307, title = {Effects of social integration on preserving memory function in a nationally representative US elderly population.}, journal = {Am J Public Health}, volume = {98}, year = {2008}, month = {2008 Jul}, pages = {1215-20}, publisher = {98}, abstract = {

OBJECTIVES: We tested whether social integration protects against memory loss and other cognitive disorders in late life in a nationally representative US sample of elderly adults, whether effects were stronger among disadvantaged individuals, and whether earlier cognitive losses explained the association (reverse causation).

METHODS: Using data from the Health and Retirement Study (N = 16,638), we examined whether social integration predicted memory change over 6 years. Memory was measured by immediate and delayed recall of a 10-word list. Social integration was assessed by marital status, volunteer activity, and frequency of contact with children, parents, and neighbors. We examined growth-curve models for the whole sample and within subgroups.

RESULTS: The mean memory score declined from 11.0 in 1998 to 10.0 in 2004. Higher baseline social integration predicted slower memory decline in fully adjusted models (P<.01). Memory among the least integrated declined at twice the rate as among the most integrated. This association was largest for respondents with fewer than 12 years of education. There was no evidence of reverse causation.

CONCLUSIONS: Our study provides evidence that social integration delays memory loss among elderly Americans. Future research should focus on identifying the specific aspects of social integration most important for preserving memory.

}, keywords = {Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Cognition Disorders, Female, Health Behavior, Health Status, Humans, Interpersonal Relations, Male, Mental Health, Mental Recall, Predictive Value of Tests, Reproducibility of Results, Severity of Illness Index, social isolation, Social Support, Socioeconomic factors, United States}, issn = {1541-0048}, doi = {10.2105/AJPH.2007.113654}, author = {Karen A Ertel and M. Maria Glymour and Lisa F Berkman} } @article {7118, title = {Employer Matching and 401(k) Saving: Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study}, journal = {Journal of Public Economics}, volume = {91}, year = {2007}, pages = {1920-43}, publisher = {91}, abstract = {Employer matching of employee 401(k) contributions can provide a powerful incentive to save for retirement. We examine the effect of matching on 401(k) saving accounting for non-linearities in the intertemporal budget set. We use detailed administrative contribution, earnings, and pension plan data from the Health and Retirement Study and estimate that the elasticity of contributions with respect to matching is 0.15-0.27 overall, with sixty percent of this effect on the participation margin and the remaining forty percent on the intensive margin. The estimated after-tax cross-price elasticity of 401(k) contributions with respect to IRA saving is -0.60, which suggests 401(k)s and IRAs are substitutes in tax-deferred saving. We find no evidence of endogenous worker sorting based on the discount rate to plans that offer matching.}, keywords = {Consumption and Savings, Employment and Labor Force, Pensions}, doi = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2007.02.009}, author = {Gary V. Engelhardt and Kumar, Anil} } @mastersthesis {6282, title = {Essays on Retirement Economics}, year = {2006}, month = {2006}, school = {The University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee}, address = {United States -- Wisconsin}, abstract = {In the last thirty years, research on the economics of retirement has become increasingly important. Understanding the determinants of the retirement decision is a prerequisite to assessing the impact of public insurance programs or private pension schemes on labor force participation. Given the current uncertainties about Social Security{\textquoteright}s and Medicare{\textquoteright}s long-run financial sustainability, increasing labor force participation of the elderly would be a potential way to mitigate these uncertainties. The first chapter of this dissertation reviews the literature on the retirement decision for the last 30 years and summarizes the conclusions reached in this field so far. In the second chapter, the impact of self-rated survival probabilities on the decision to retire is investigated. It is shown that a simple life-cycle model without uncertainty predicts that higher life expectancies should also lead to later retirement. Using data from the Health and Retirement Study, it is found that individual beliefs about the chance of surviving until age 85 can explain part of the variation in retirement ages. Those respondents with below-average beliefs about life expectancies also retire earlier than other respondents, even when controlling for the current health status. The third essay studies the determinants of retiree well-being over time. Previous research has almost exclusively focussed on the economic well-being of retirees. However, non-economic variables may play an important role for the subjective well-being as well. Given that many public policies are aimed at increasing the well-being of individuals, it is important to understand the relative importance of economic and non-economic variables to predict how individual{\textquoteright}s well-being would respond to such policies. Previous research has mostly relied on cross-sectional data for this analysis, and hence, the contribution of this paper is to increase our understanding in this area by adding a time dimension and study how the well-being of retirees changes over time. The findings confirm the importance of the voluntariness of retirement, as found in earlier studies, and it is also found that on average retiree well-being increases with the length of retirement.}, keywords = {Employment and Labor Force, Expectations, Health Conditions and Status, Healthcare}, author = {Eberhardt, Bjorn} } @article {7054, title = {The Effect of Veteran Status on Mortality Among Older Americans and Its Pathways}, journal = {Population Research and Policy Review}, volume = {24}, year = {2005}, pages = {573-592}, publisher = {24}, abstract = {Abstract This research examines excess mortality among American veterans age 70 years or older during a two-to-three year interval from 1993/94 to the end of 1995. Using a structural hazard rate model, we analyzed data on a sample of respondents age 70 or over from the Survey of Asset and Health Dynamics among the Oldest Old (AHEAD). We found that at age 70, older veterans have a slightly higher death rate than their nonveteran counterparts, implying a mortality crossover right before this age. Such excess mortality among veterans increases considerably with age, when other factors are held equal. The direct and indirect effects of veteran status on mortality by means of physical and mental health mostly perform in opposite directions, and such effects vary greatly in magnitude and direction as a function of age. The intervening effects of physical and mental health status decrease substantially with increasing age. Many of the mechanisms inherent in the excess mortality among older veterans are not captured by variations in their health status, especially among the oldest-old. A more extensive study on this topic is urgently needed.}, keywords = {Event History/Life Cycle, Health Conditions and Status}, author = {Xian Li and Engel, Charles C. and Han Kang and Cowan, David} } @article {5591, title = {Effects of Stock Market Fluctuations on the Adequacy of Retirement Wealth Accumulation}, number = {2004-16}, year = {2004}, institution = {Center for Retirement Research at Boston College}, address = {Boston}, abstract = {This paper examines the relation between fluctuations in the aggregate value of equities and the adequacy of households saving for retirement. We find that many and perhaps most households appear to be saving adequate amounts for retirement, but almost no link between stock values and the adequacy of retirement saving. Historical variation in equity values and ownership correlates poorly with historical variation in the adequacy of saving. Even a simulated 40 percent decline in stocks has little effect on the adequacy of saving. The results occur because equities are concentrated among households with significant amounts of other wealth.}, keywords = {Net Worth and Assets}, url = {https://crr.bc.edu/working-papers/effects-of-stock-market-fluctuations-on-the-adequacy-of-retirement-wealth-accumulation/}, author = {Engen, Eric M. and William G. Gale and Cori E. Uccello} } @mastersthesis {6285, title = {Essays on the Economics of Aging and Education}, year = {2002}, month = {2002}, school = {Northwestern University}, abstract = {This dissertation examines several key questions concerning school choice and the retirement and employment behavior of older workers while paying special attention to the potential biases resulting from unobserved heterogeneity. This first essay investigates the phenomenon of involuntary job loss among workers over the age of 50 by providing estimates of a dynamic job search model applied to a sample of displaced workers in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). The estimated models imply that reservation wages are low in comparison to the distribution of observed wages, particularly for full-time jobs. Simulations indicate that both market opportunities and age-related preferences for leisure are responsible for the observed unemployment durations. In the second essay I use data from the HRS to study the effects of employer-provided retiree health insurance (EPRHI) on retirement behavior. I find that EPRHI increases transitions out of employment for those nearing age 65. Similarly, access to EPRHI encourages subsequent retirement for those who have experienced an involuntary job loss. These findings are robust to controls for worker heterogeneity, job characteristics such as workplace flexibility, and changes in assets, pension availability, and earnings opportunities. Failing to control for heterogeneity and job characteristics overstates the impact of EPRHI on labor force transitions. In the third essay I examine the validity of three instrumental variables intended to overcome problems due to unobserved heterogeneity in estimating the effects of Catholic schools on a wide variety of outcomes. Three separate methodologies suggest that religious affiliation, proximity to Catholic schools, and the interaction between these two measures are not useful sources of identification of the Catholic school effect, at least in currently available data. In particular, the potential biases in 2SLS estimates are substantial. The discrepancy between these results and previous estimates of Catholic schooling effects stem in part from functional form assumptions that appear to be playing a larger role in identification than the exclusion restrictions.}, keywords = {Education, Employment and Labor Force, Healthcare}, url = {Database ID: DAI-A 63/04, p. 1479, Oct 2002.}, author = {Todd E. Elder} } @article {6750, title = {Eddies in the Stream: The Prevalence of Uncertain Plans for Retirement}, journal = {The Journals of Gerontology: Social Sciences}, volume = {56B}, year = {2001}, pages = {S162-70}, publisher = {56B}, abstract = {OBJECTIVE: This study examined an assumption of retirement theory that typifies older workers as preretirees who are planfully engaged in paths toward retirement. METHODS: Using survey responses among workers in the 1992 and 1994 waves of the Health and Retirement Study, we described the prevalence of nonsubstantive answers to questions about the expected form and timing of retirement (e.g., don{\textquoteright}t know, haven{\textquoteright}t thought about it ). We tested explanations for this uncertainty as an artifact of the survey process, but also as an outcome of the opportunity structure for retirement planning. RESULTS: Survey procedure did generate some of these noncommittal responses. Depending on question type, approximately 10 to 40 of workers did not state when or how they would retire, and such responses were less prevalent across age and time. In addition, categorical uncertainty about form and timing was theoretically predictable in a framework that supposed that workers less subject to a socially attended life--at work or away--would be more undecided about the future. DISCUSSION: Uncertainty is an authentic, meaningful stance toward retirement that theory and research design should not ignore. Just as actual transitions to retirement can be ambiguous or blurred, the expectation of retirement, as well, can be untidy.}, keywords = {Demographics, Employment and Labor Force, End of life decisions, Health Conditions and Status, Healthcare, Methodology, Other, Retirement Planning and Satisfaction, Time Use}, url = {http://psychsoc.gerontologyjournals.org/}, author = {David J Ekerdt and Kyle J Hackney and Karl Kosloski and S. DeViney} } @article {6683, title = {Estimating Prudence}, journal = {Eastern Economic Journal}, volume = {26}, year = {2000}, note = {ProCite field 3 : Canisius College, NY}, pages = {379-92}, publisher = {26}, abstract = {This study uses an expected utility model of life insurance demand to derive reduced form equations for the Leland-Kimball measures of absolute and relative prudence. The model is estimated for various demographic subgroups using survey data form the University of Michigan{\textquoteright}s Health and Retirement Study. The estimates of relative prudence range from 1.51 to 5.15, with males at the lower end and females at the higher end of the range. Additionally, prudence is higher among older and married cohorts than among younger and unmarried cohorts, respectively; and smokers, drinkers, and risk-takers appear to be less prudent than their respective counterparts.}, keywords = {Consumption and Savings, End of life decisions, Insurance}, url = {https://www.jstor.org/stable/40326439}, author = {Eisenhauer, Joseph G.} }