TY - JOUR T1 - Urban neighbourhood unemployment history and depressive symptoms over time among late middle age and older adults. JF - J Epidemiol Community Health Y1 - 2013 A1 - Richard G Wight A1 - Carol S Aneshensel A1 - Barrett, Christopher A1 - Michelle J Ko A1 - Joshua Chodosh A1 - Arun S Karlamangla KW - Age Factors KW - depression KW - Female KW - Humans KW - Logistic Models KW - Longitudinal Studies KW - Male KW - Middle Aged KW - Multilevel Analysis KW - Residence Characteristics KW - Retirement KW - Risk Factors KW - Socioeconomic factors KW - Stress, Psychological KW - Surveys and Questionnaires KW - Time Factors KW - Unemployment KW - United States KW - Urban Population AB -

BACKGROUND: Little is known about how a neighbourhood's unemployment history may set the stage for depressive symptomatology. This study examines the effects of urban neighbourhood unemployment history on current depressive symptoms and subsequent symptom trajectories among residentially stable late middle age and older adults. Contingent effects between neighbourhood unemployment and individual-level employment status (ie, cross-level interactions) are also assessed.

METHODS: Individual-level survey data are from four waves (2000, 2002, 2004 and 2006) of the original cohort of the nationally representative US Health and Retirement Study. Neighbourhoods are operationalised with US Census tracts for which historical average proportion unemployed between 1990 and 2000 and change in proportion unemployed between 1990 and 2000 are used to characterise the neighbourhood's unemployment history. Hierarchical linear regressions estimate three-level (time, individual and neighbourhood) growth models.

RESULTS: Symptoms in 2000 are highest among those residing in neighbourhoods characterised by high historical average unemployment beginning in 1990 and increasing unemployment between 1990 and 2000, net of a wide range of socio-demographic controls including individual-level employment status. These neighbourhood unemployment effects are not contingent upon individual-level employment status in 2000. 6-year trajectories of depressive symptoms decrease over time on average but are not significantly influenced by the neighbourhood's unemployment history.

CONCLUSIONS: Given the current US recession, future studies that do not consider historical employment conditions may underestimate the mental health impact of urban neighbourhood context. The findings suggest that exposure to neighbourhood unemployment earlier in life may be consequential to mental health later in life.

PB - 67 VL - 67 IS - 2 U1 - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22918896?dopt=Abstract U2 - PMC3681821 U4 - Depressive Symptoms/depression/neighborhood Characteristics/employment status/mental Health/labor Force Participation/Socioeconomic Factors/Great Recession ER - TY - JOUR T1 - The urban neighborhood and cognitive functioning in late middle age. JF - J Health Soc Behav Y1 - 2011 A1 - Carol S Aneshensel A1 - Michelle J Ko A1 - Joshua Chodosh A1 - Richard G Wight KW - Activities of Daily Living KW - Age Factors KW - Aged KW - Aging KW - Chi-Square Distribution KW - Cognition KW - Cognition Disorders KW - ethnicity KW - Female KW - Health Status Disparities KW - Humans KW - Male KW - Middle Aged KW - Psychometrics KW - Residence Characteristics KW - Risk Factors KW - Socioeconomic factors KW - United States KW - Urban Population AB -

This study examines the association of cognitive functioning with urban neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage and racial/ethnic segregation for a U.S. national sample of persons in late middle age, a time in the life course when cognitive deficits begin to emerge. The key hypothesis is that effects of neighborhood on cognitive functioning are not uniform but are most pronounced among subgroups of the population defined by socioeconomic status and race/ethnicity. Data are from the third wave of the Health and Retirement Survey for the birth cohort of 1931 to 1941, which was 55 to 65 years of age in 1996 (analytic N = 4,525), and the 1990 U.S. Census. Neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage has an especially large negative impact on cognitive functioning among persons who are themselves poor, an instance of compound disadvantage. These findings have policy implications supporting "upstream" interventions to enhance cognitive functioning, especially among those most adversely affected by neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage.

PB - 52 VL - 52 IS - 2 U1 - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21673145?dopt=Abstract U2 - PMC3152319 U4 - Segregation/Cognitive ability/Cognition/reasoning ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Urban Neighborhoods and Depressive Symptoms in Late Middle Age. JF - Res Aging Y1 - 2011 A1 - Richard G Wight A1 - Michelle J Ko A1 - Carol S Aneshensel AB -

This study examines associations between multiple urban neighborhood characteristics (socioeconomic disadvantage, affluence, and racial/ethnic composition) and depressive symptoms among late middle aged persons and compares findings to those previously obtained for persons age 70 years and older. Survey data are from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a U.S. national probability sample of noninstitutionalized persons aged 51 to 61 years in 1992. Neighborhoods are 1990 U.S. census tracts. Hierarchical linear regression is used to estimate multilevel models. Depressive symptoms vary significantly across urban neighborhoods among late middle age persons. Neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage is significantly associated with depressive symptoms, net of both individual-level sociodemographic and health variables. However, this association is contingent upon individual-level wealth in that persons with low wealth in the most disadvantaged neighborhoods report the most depressive symptoms. Unlike findings for older adults for whom neighborhood effects appear to be entirely compositional in nature, neighborhood context matters to subgroups of late middle age adults.

PB - 33 VL - 33 IS - 1 U1 - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21572903?dopt=Abstract U2 - PMC3092717 U4 - Neighborhoods/Middle age/Urban Population/Urban areas/Mental depression/Socioeconomic factors/Polls and surveys ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Urban neighborhood context and mortality in late life. JF - J Aging Health Y1 - 2010 A1 - Richard G Wight A1 - Janet R. Cummings A1 - Arun S Karlamangla A1 - Carol S Aneshensel KW - Age Factors KW - Aged KW - Aging KW - Cognition KW - Confidence Intervals KW - depression KW - Female KW - Health Status KW - Humans KW - Los Angeles KW - Male KW - Middle Aged KW - Mortality KW - Odds Ratio KW - Poverty KW - Psychometrics KW - Residence Characteristics KW - Self Report KW - Socioeconomic factors KW - Statistics as Topic KW - Urban Population AB -

OBJECTIVE: To examine the contextual effects of urban neighborhood characteristics on mortality among older adults.

METHOD: Data are from the Study of Assets and Health Dynamics Among the Oldest Old (AHEAD). Death is assessed between the baseline assessment (1993) and the first follow-up interview (1995). Neighborhood data are from the 1990 Census.

RESULTS: The log odds of dying between the two time points are higher in high proportion Hispanic neighborhoods, net of individual-level sociodemographic variables, but this effect is partly mediated by individual-level health. The log odds of dying are significantly (p < .05) lower in affluent neighborhoods, controlling for all individual-level variables and neighborhood proportion Hispanic.

DISCUSSION: There are survival-related benefits of living in an affluent urban neighborhood, which we posit may be manifested through the diffusion of innovations in health care and health-promotion activities.

PB - 22 VL - 22 IS - 2 U1 - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20056813?dopt=Abstract U2 - PMC3155256 U4 - Neighborhoods/Mortality Rates/Hispanic Americans/Dying/Elderly/Health/mortality/affluence/social work theory ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Trajectories of cognitive function in late life in the United States: demographic and socioeconomic predictors. JF - Am J Epidemiol Y1 - 2009 A1 - Arun S Karlamangla A1 - Miller-Martinez, Dana A1 - Carol S Aneshensel A1 - Teresa Seeman A1 - Richard G Wight A1 - Joshua Chodosh KW - Aged KW - Aged, 80 and over KW - Aging KW - Black or African American KW - Cognition KW - Confidence Intervals KW - Education KW - Female KW - Geriatric Assessment KW - Hispanic or Latino KW - Humans KW - Income KW - Male KW - Marital Status KW - Mexican Americans KW - Poverty KW - Sampling Studies KW - Socioeconomic factors KW - Surveys and Questionnaires KW - United States KW - White People AB -

This study used mixed-effects modeling of data from a national sample of 6,476 US adults born before 1924, who were tested 5 times between 1993 and 2002 on word recall, serial 7's, and other mental status items to determine demographic and socioeconomic predictors of trajectories of cognitive function in older Americans. Mean decline with aging in total cognition score (range, 0-35; standard deviation, 6.00) was 4.1 (0.68 standard deviations) per decade (95% confidence interval: 3.8, 4.4) and in recall score (range, 0-20; standard deviation, 3.84) was 2.3 (0.60 standard deviations) per decade (95% confidence interval: 2.1, 2.5). Older cohorts (compared with younger cohorts), women (compared with men), widows/widowers, and those never married (both compared with married individuals) declined faster, and non-Hispanic blacks (compared with non-Hispanic whites) and those in the bottom income quintile (compared with the top quintile) declined slower. Race and income differences in rates of decline were not sufficient to offset larger differences in baseline cognition scores. Educational level was not associated with rate of decline in cognition scores. The authors concluded that ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in cognitive function in older Americans arise primarily from differences in peak cognitive performance achieved earlier in the life course and less from declines in later life.

PB - 170 VL - 170 IS - 3 U1 - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19605514?dopt=Abstract U2 - PMC2727175 U4 - Cognition/health outcomes/Socioeconomic Factors ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Urban neighborhood context and change in depressive symptoms in late life. JF - J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci Y1 - 2009 A1 - Richard G Wight A1 - Janet R. Cummings A1 - Arun S Karlamangla A1 - Carol S Aneshensel KW - Aged KW - Aged, 80 and over KW - Aging KW - Cultural Diversity KW - depression KW - Disability Evaluation KW - Educational Status KW - Female KW - Humans KW - Longitudinal Studies KW - Los Angeles KW - Male KW - Personality Inventory KW - Poverty KW - Psychosocial Deprivation KW - Residence Characteristics KW - Risk Factors KW - Urban Population AB -

OBJECTIVES: This study examines associations between urban neighborhood sociodemographic characteristics and change over time in late-life depressive symptoms.

METHODS: Survey data are from three waves (1993, 1995, and 1998) of the Study of Assets and Health Dynamics Among the Oldest Old, a U.S. national probability sample of noninstitutionalized persons aged 70 years or older in 1993. Neighborhoods are 1990 U.S. Census tracts. Hierarchical linear regression is used to estimate multilevel models.

RESULTS: The average change over time in depressive symptoms varies significantly across urban neighborhoods. Change in depressive symptoms is significantly associated with neighborhood-level socioeconomic disadvantage and ethnic composition in unadjusted models but not in models that control for individual-level characteristics.

CONCLUSIONS: Findings indicate that apparent neighborhood-level effects on change in depressive symptoms over time among urban-dwelling older adults reflect, for the most part, differences in characteristics of the neighborhood residents.

PB - 64B VL - 64 IS - 2 U1 - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19181693?dopt=Abstract U2 - PMC2655167 U4 - Depressive Symptoms/Neighborhood Characteristics ER - TY - JOUR T1 - A multilevel analysis of urban neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage and health in late life. JF - Soc Sci Med Y1 - 2008 A1 - Richard G Wight A1 - Janet R. Cummings A1 - Miller-Martinez, Dana A1 - Arun S Karlamangla A1 - Teresa Seeman A1 - Carol S Aneshensel KW - Aged KW - Female KW - Health Behavior KW - Health Status Disparities KW - Humans KW - Male KW - Poverty KW - Small-Area Analysis KW - Socioeconomic factors KW - United States KW - Urban Population AB -

The associations between neighborhood context and various indicators of health are receiving growing empirical attention, but much of this research is regionally circumscribed or assumes similar effects across the life course. This study utilizes a U.S. national sample to investigate the association between urban neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage and health specifically among older adults. Data are from 3442 participants aged 70 years and older in the 1993 Asset and Health Dynamics Among the Oldest Old (AHEAD) Study, and the 1990 U.S. Census. Our approach underscores the importance of multiple dimensions of health (self-reported physician-diagnosed cardiovascular disease [CVD], functional status, and self-rated health) as well as multiple dimensions of neighborhood disadvantage, which are conceptualized as environmental hazards that may lead to a physiologically consequential stress response. We find that individual-level factors attenuate the association between neighborhood disadvantage and both CVD and functional status, but not self-rated health. Net of covariates, high neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage is significantly associated with reporting poor health. In late life, neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage is more consequential to subjective appraisals of health than diagnosed CVD or functional limitations.

PB - 66 VL - 66 IS - 4 U1 - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18160194?dopt=Abstract U2 - PMC3681874 U4 - Urban Population/socioeconomic status/HEALTH ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Urban neighborhoods and depressive symptoms among older adults. JF - J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci Y1 - 2007 A1 - Carol S Aneshensel A1 - Richard G Wight A1 - Miller-Martinez, Dana A1 - Amanda L. Botticello A1 - Arun S Karlamangla A1 - Teresa Seeman KW - Activities of Daily Living KW - Aged KW - Aged, 80 and over KW - Comorbidity KW - Cross-Sectional Studies KW - Depressive Disorder KW - Female KW - Health Status Indicators KW - Health Surveys KW - Humans KW - Incidence KW - Male KW - Minority Groups KW - Peer Group KW - Population Dynamics KW - Risk Factors KW - Social Environment KW - United States KW - Urban Population AB -

OBJECTIVE: This study seeks to determine whether depressive symptoms among older persons systematically vary across urban neighborhoods such that experiencing more symptoms is associated with low socioeconomic status (SES), high concentrations of ethnic minorities, low residential stability and low proportion aged 65 years and older.

METHODS: Survey data are from the Study of Assets and Health Dynamics Among the Oldest Old (AHEAD), a 1993 U.S. national probability sample of noninstitutionalized persons born in 1923 or earlier (i.e. people aged 70 or older). Neighborhood data are from the 1990 Census at the tract level. Hierarchical linear regression is used to estimate multilevel models.

RESULT: The average number of depressive symptoms varies across Census tracts independent of individual-level characteristics. Symptoms are not significantly associated with neighborhood SES, ethnic composition, or age structure when individual-level characteristics are controlled statistically. However, net of individual-level characteristics, symptoms are positively associated with neighborhood residential stability, pointing to a complex meaning of residential stability for the older population.

DISCUSSION: This study shows that apparent neighborhood-level socioeconomic effects on depressive symptoms among urban-dwelling older adults are largely if not entirely compositional in nature. Further, residential stability in the urban neighborhood may not be emotionally beneficial to its aged residents.

PB - 62 VL - 62 IS - 1 U1 - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17284567?dopt=Abstract U4 - Depressive Symptoms/Socioeconomic Factors/Urban Population ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Urban neighborhood context, educational attainment, and cognitive function among older adults. JF - Am J Epidemiol Y1 - 2006 A1 - Richard G Wight A1 - Carol S Aneshensel A1 - Miller-Martinez, Dana A1 - Amanda L. Botticello A1 - Janet R. Cummings A1 - Arun S Karlamangla A1 - Teresa Seeman KW - Aged KW - Aged, 80 and over KW - Chi-Square Distribution KW - Cognition Disorders KW - Educational Status KW - Female KW - Humans KW - Linear Models KW - Male KW - Residence Characteristics KW - Risk Factors KW - Socioeconomic factors KW - United States KW - Urban Population AB -

Existing research has not addressed the potential impact of neighborhood context--educational attainment of neighbors in particular--on individual-level cognition among older adults. Using hierarchical linear modeling, the authors analyzed data from the 1993 Study of Assets and Health Dynamics Among the Oldest Old (AHEAD), a large, nationally representative sample of US adults born before 1924. Data from participants residing in urban neighborhoods (n = 3,442) were linked with 1990 US Census tract data. Findings indicate that 1) average cognitive function varies significantly across US Census tracts; 2) older adults living in low-education areas fare less well cognitively than those living in high-education areas, net of individual characteristics, including their own education; 3) this association is sustained when controlling for contextual-level median household income; and 4) the effect of individual-level educational attainment differs across neighborhoods of varying educational profiles. Promoting educational attainment among the general population living in disadvantaged neighborhoods may prove cognitively beneficial to its aging residents because it may lead to meliorations in stressful life conditions and coping deficiencies.

PB - 163 VL - 163 IS - 12 U1 - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16707655?dopt=Abstract U4 - Cognition/EDUCATION/Socioeconomic Factors ER -