%0 Journal Article %J Am J Public Health %D 2009 %T Material resources and population health: disadvantages in health care, housing, and food among adults over 50 years of age. %A Dawn E Alley %A Beth J Soldo %A José A Pagán %A John McCabe %A deBlois, Madeleine %A Samuel H Field %A David A Asch %A Carolyn Cannuscio %K Aged %K Female %K Food Supply %K Health Status Disparities %K Health Surveys %K Healthcare Disparities %K Housing %K Humans %K Logistic Models %K Male %K Middle Aged %K Poverty %K United States %X

OBJECTIVES: We examined associations between material resources and late-life declines in health.

METHODS: We used logistic regression to estimate the odds of declines in self-rated health and incident walking limitations associated with material disadvantages in a prospective panel representative of US adults aged 51 years and older (N = 15,441).

RESULTS: Disadvantages in health care (odds ratio [OR] = 1.39; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.23, 1.58), food (OR = 1.69; 95% CI = 1.29, 2.22), and housing (OR = 1.20; 95% CI = 1.07, 1.35) were independently associated with declines in self-rated health, whereas only health care (OR = 1.43; 95% CI = 1.29, 1.58) and food (OR = 1.64; 95% CI = 1.31, 2.05) disadvantage predicted incident walking limitations. Participants experiencing multiple material disadvantages were particularly susceptible to worsening health and functional decline. These effects were sustained after we controlled for numerous covariates, including baseline health status and comorbidities. The relations between health declines and non-Hispanic Black race/ethnicity, poverty, marital status, and education were attenuated or eliminated after we controlled for material disadvantage.

CONCLUSIONS: Material disadvantages, which are highly policy relevant, appear related to health in ways not captured by education and poverty. Policies to improve health should address a range of basic human needs, rather than health care alone.

%B Am J Public Health %I 99 %V 99 Suppl 3 %P S693-701 %8 2009 Nov %G eng %N Suppl 3 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19890175?dopt=Abstract %2 PMC2774171 %R 10.2105/AJPH.2009.161877 %0 Book Section %B Redefining Retirement: How Will Boomers Fare? %D 2007 %T Cross-Cohort Differences in Health on the Verge of Retirement %A Beth J Soldo %A Olivia S. Mitchell %A Tfaily, Rania %A John McCabe %K Health Conditions and Status %K Other %K Retirement Planning and Satisfaction %X Baby Boomers have left a unique imprint on US culture and society in the last 60 years, and it might be anticipated that they will also put their own stamp on retirement, the last phase of the life cycle. Yet because Boomers have not all fully retired, we cannot yet judge how they will fare as retirees. Instead, we focus on how this group compares with prior groups on the verge of retirement, that is, at ages 51-56. Accordingly, this chapter evaluates the stock of health which Early Boomers bring to retirement and compare these to the circumstances of two prior cohorts at the same point in their life cycles. Using three sets of responses from the Health and Retirement Study, we find some interesting patterns. Overall, the raw evidence indicates that Boomers on the verge of retirement are in poorer health their counterparts 12 years ago. Using a summary health index designed for this study, we find that those born 1948 to 1953 share health risks with the War Baby cohort. This suggests that most of the health decline instead began before the late 1940's. A more complex set of health conclusions emerges from the specific self-reported health measures. Boomers indicate they have relatively more difficulty with a range of everyday physical tasks, but they also report having more pain, more chronic conditions, more drinking and psychiatric problems, than their HRS earlier counterparts. This trend portends poorly for the future health of Boomers as they age and incur increasing costs associated with health care and medications. Using our health index, only those at the 75th percentile or higher are likely to be characterized as having good or better health. %B Redefining Retirement: How Will Boomers Fare? %I Oxford University Press %C New York, NY %G eng %4 COHORT/health status/RETIREMENT %$ 18140 %! Cross-Cohort Differences in Health on the Verge of Retirement %R 10.3386/w12762 %0 Book %D 2007 %T Redefining Retirement: How Will Boomers Fare? %A Brigitte C. Madrian %A Olivia S. Mitchell %A Beth J Soldo %K Consumption and Savings %K Health Conditions and Status %K Income %K Medicare/Medicaid/Health Insurance %K Net Worth and Assets %K Pensions %I Oxford University Press %C New York, NY %G eng %U https://pensionresearchcouncil.wharton.upenn.edu/publications/books/redefining-retirement-how-will-boomers-fare/ %4 Cohort Studies/retirement adequacy/Pensions/Retirement Saving/Retirement Wealth/health status %$ 18100 %0 Book Section %B Redefining Retirement: How Will Boomers Fare? %D 2007 %T Saving Between Cohorts: The Role of Planning %A Annamaria Lusardi %A Beeler, Jason %E Brigitte C. Madrian %E Olivia S. Mitchell %E Beth J Soldo %K adequacy %K Baby Boomer %K Education %K Housing %K Income %K minorities %K Retirement Planning %K Saving %X We compare the saving behavior of two cohorts: the Early Baby Boomers (EBB, age 51- 56 in 2004) and the HRS cohort (age 51-56 in 1992). We find that EBB have accumulated more wealth than the previous cohort but they benefited from a large increase in house prices, which lifted the wealth of many home-owners. In fact, there are many families among EBB, particularly those headed by respondents with low education, low income, and minorities, which have less wealth than the previous cohort. Lack of wealth can be traced to lack of retirement planning. Notwithstanding the many initiatives aimed at fostering planning in the 1990s, a large portion of EBB still do not plan for retirement even though most respondents are close to it. The effect of planning is remarkably similar between the two cohorts; those who do not plan accumulate much lower amounts of wealth from 20 to 45 percent depending on the location in the wealth distribution- than those who do plan. Thus, for both the EBB and the HRS cohort, lack of planning is tantamount to lack of saving irrespective of the many changes in the economy between 1992 and 2004. %B Redefining Retirement: How Will Boomers Fare? %I Oxford University Press %C New York, NY %G eng %U https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199230778.001.0001/acprof-9780199230778-chapter-13 %L wp_2006/MRRCwp122.pdf %4 COHORT/Wealth Accumulation %$ 16680 %0 Book Section %B Racial and Ethnic Differences in the Health of Older Americans %D 1997 %T Race, Socioeconomic Status, and Health in Late Life %A James P Smith %A Raynard Kington %E Linda G Martin %E Beth J Soldo %K Demographics %K Health Conditions and Status %B Racial and Ethnic Differences in the Health of Older Americans %I National Academy Press %C Washington, D.C. %G eng %4 Aging/Health Status/Socioeconomic Status %$ 8118 %! Race, Socioeconomic Status, and Health in Late Life %0 Book Section %B Annual Review of Gerontology and Geriatrics: Focus on Kinship, Aging, and Social Change %D 1993 %T Intergenerational Transfers: Economic, Demographic, and Social Perspectives %A Beth J Soldo %A Martha S. Hill %E Maddox, George L. %E Lawton, M. Powell %K Adult children %K Healthcare %K Methodology %X Intergenerational transfers can be studied from an economic, social gerontological, or social-psychological perspective. This chapter describes a variety of the social science theories and reviews related empirical research relevant to the major types of intergenerational transfers: a) flows of assistance from parents to children and grandchildren, b) flows of assistance from middle-aged children to elderly parents, c) coresidence of parents and children. While there seems to be remarkable consensus about the factors affecting the probability of exchange, because the various disciplines have focused on different aspects of exchange behavior at different points in the life cycle, the evidence in support of competing theories is not consistent. The chapter then focuses on the upcoming availability of the HRS and AHEAD studies as potentially providing the data necessary to capturing all of the relevant dimensions of transfer behaviors that have been missing for all disciplines. %B Annual Review of Gerontology and Geriatrics: Focus on Kinship, Aging, and Social Change %I Springer Publishing Company %C New York %V Vol. 13 %P 187-216 %G eng %4 Family transfers, structure/Caregiving/HRS content and design/Transfers/Adult Children/Parent Child Relations %$ 8222 %+ HRS and AHEAD %6 Chapter 9 %! Intergenerational Transfers: Economic, Demographic, and Social Perspectives