Biomedical subjects

Neal Krause

Publications and source records attributed to Neal Krause.

29 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

PubMed2003

Religious meaning and subjective well-being in late life.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between religious meaning and subjective well-being. A major emphasis is placed on assessing race differences in the relationship between these constructs. METHODS: Interviews were conducted with a nationwide sample of older White and older Black adults. Survey items were administered to assess a sense of meaning in life that is derived specifically from religion. Subjective well-being was measured with indices of life satisfaction, self-esteem, and optimism. RESULTS: The findings suggest that older adults who derive a sense of meaning in life from religion tend to have higher levels of life satisfaction, self-esteem, and optimism. The data further reveal that older Black adults are more likely to find meaning in religion than older White adults. In addition, the relationships among religious meaning, life satisfaction, self-esteem, and optimism tend to be stronger for older African Americans persons than older White persons. DISCUSSION: Researchers have argued for some time that religion may be an important source of resilience for older Black adults, but it is not clear how these beneficial effects arise. The data from this study suggest that religious meaning may be an important factor.

Black or African American↗

PubMed2003

Race, religion, and abstinence from alcohol in late life.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to see whether involvement in religion helps explain why older Blacks are more likely to avoid drinking alcohol than older Whites. METHODS: Interviews were conducted with a nationwide sample of older Whites and older Blacks. Survey items were administered to assess whether study participants consume alcohol, whether they affiliate with fundamentalist congregations, how often they attend religious services, how often they pray privately, and whether they derive a sense of meaning from their faith. RESULTS: The findings reveal that older people who affiliate with fundamentalist churches and who find meaning in religion are more likely to avoid drinking. However, neither church attendance nor private prayer are related to alcohol use. Race differences in the odds of drinking were no longer statistically significant once the religion measures were added to the model. DISCUSSION: The findings highlight the importance of religion in shaping the health behaviors of older adults.

Black or African American↗

PubMed2002

Religion, death of a loved one, and hypertension among older adults in Japan.

OBJECTIVE: To see whether three dimensions of religion (private religious practices, religious coping, and belief in the afterlife) buffer the effect of the death of a significant other on change in self-reported hypertension over time. METHODS: Interviews were conducted with a nationally representative sample of people aged 60 and older in Japan at two points in time, 1996 and 1999. Complete data were available on 1,723 older Japanese. Respondents were asked a series of questions about their religious beliefs and practices, whether a family member or close friend had died in the past year, and whether they had hypertension. RESULTS: The data suggest that older adults in Japan who experienced the death of a loved one but who believed in a good afterlife were less likely to report they had hypertension at the follow-up interview than elderly people in Japan who lost a close other but did not believe in a good afterlife. DISCUSSION: The results suggest how one overlooked dimension of religion (i.e., religious beliefs) may bolster the health of older people in the face of adversity.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed2002

Transitions in living arrangements among elders in Japan: does health make a difference?

OBJECTIVE: This research evaluates the hypothesis that poor health triggers a change in living arrangements among elderly adults in Japan. METHODS: Data came from a national probability sample of 2,200 Japanese people aged 60 or older. Four surveys of this sample were conducted over a period of 9 years, from 1987 to 1996. Multinomial logit regression analyses were used to analyze the effects of demographic characteristics, socioeconomic status, and health on changes in living arrangements. RESULTS: Living arrangements among the Japanese elderly people remained quite stable over the 9-year period. Physical and mental health conditions were found to exert both direct and indirect effects on transitions in living arrangements. DISCUSSION: Poor health does trigger changes in living arrangement. Both physical (i.e., chronic conditions and functional status) and mental (i.e., depressed affect) health conditions play a role in such transitions. Because health conditions are correlated with competing risks of mortality, attrition, and proxy interview, health effects on changes in living arrangement are likely underestimated.

Aged↗

PubMed2002

A comprehensive strategy for developing closed-ended survey items for use in studies of older adults.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to describe the development and implementation of a nine-step strategy for devising closed-ended survey questions that assess religion in late life. The intent was to illustrate one way in which qualitative and quantitative methods could be combined in the same study. METHODS: The following methods and procedures were developed to create closed-ended questions: Focus groups, in-depth interviews, input from ongoing quantitative studies, input from an expert panel, cognitive interviews, a quantitative pretest, a nationwide random probability sample of elderly people, and rigorous empirical psychometric testing. Three hundred ninety-nine older people took part in the first seven steps, and 1,500 elders participated in the nationwide survey. RESULTS: Approximately 175 closed-ended survey items were developed assessing 14 different major dimensions of religion. In the process, practical solutions to a number of problems encountered in implementing the nine-step strategy are discussed. DISCUSSION: The item development strategy may serve as a template that can be used to improve the quality of closed-ended survey items that assess a wide range of topics in social gerontology.

Black or African American↗

PubMed2002

Old age mortality in Japan: does the socioeconomic gradient interact with gender and age?

OBJECTIVES: There is limited knowledge concerning how the effects of socioeconomic status (SES) on mortality interact with gender and age. In addition, current studies are largely based on data from the Western nations. The validity of prior observations needs to be further evaluated. This research examines socioeconomic inequalities in old age mortality in Japan, with a special emphasis on how inequalities interact with gender and age. METHODS: Data came from a 5-wave panel study of a national probability sample of 2,200 elderly Japanese conducted between 1987 and 1999. Hazard rate models involving time-varying covariates were used to ascertain the direct and indirect effects of SES. In addition, interaction effects involving SES variables with age and gender were evaluated. RESULTS: In contrast to prior findings from the Western developed nations, there is an educational crossover effect on mortality among older men, in that, at advanced age, those with less education live longer than those with higher education. On the other hand, there is some evidence that educational differences in the risk of dying tend to converge in the 70-79 age group. More interestingly, there is a crossover in the effect of education among the 80 and older age group. DISCUSSION: The observation that educational crossover exists only among elderly men may be because of gender and SES differences in causes of death, morbidity, and health behavior. On the other hand, possible explanations for age differences in the educational crossover include selective survival and cohort effects.

Age Distribution↗

PubMed2002

Church-based social support and health in old age: exploring variations by race.

OBJECTIVES: A conceptual model is evaluated that explores the relationship between church-based support and health. In the process, an effort is made to see if the relationships in this model differ for older White and African American people. METHODS: Interviews were conducted with a national sample of 748 older White and 752 older Black people. The responses of 1,126 of these study participants are used in the analyses presented herein. Survey measures were administered to assess church-based social ties and health. RESULTS: Empirical support was provided for the following theoretical linkages: Older people who attend church often feel their congregations are more cohesive; older people in highly cohesive congregations receive more spiritual and emotional support from their fellow parishioners; older respondents who receive more church-based support have a more personal relationship with God; older people who feel more closely connected with God are more optimistic; and older people who are more optimistic enjoy better health. Data further reveal that older Black people are more likely than older White people to reap the health-related benefits of religion. DISCUSSION: The findings contribute to research on religion and health by specifying how the salubrious effects of religion may arise.

Aged↗

PubMed2002

Exposure to physical violence during childhood, aging, and health.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study is to estimate the relationship between exposure to physical violence administered by one's parents and adult health. In the process, the authors also examine factors that mediate and moderate this association. METHODS: Hypothesized relationships were tested using ordinary least squares regression analyses with data collected from a nationwide sample of adults aged 25 to 74 in 1995. RESULTS: The data suggest that exposure to childhood physical violence is associated with diminished mental and physical health in adulthood. These associations do not vary by respondent's age. Furthermore, the long-term effects of childhood physical violence are largely mediated by psychosocial resources. DISCUSSION: These results support the idea that the effects of childhood trauma may persist into later life. Therefore, in studying the antecedents of current health problems among adults, it may be necessary to consider the influence of events that have occurred throughout the entire life course.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

Religious trajectories and transitions over the life course.

This study examined patterns of change and stability in religiosity over the life course. Open-ended interviews with 129 adults aged 65 and older provided a rich source of data for applying a life course perspective to the study of religion. Two theoretical constructs from the life course perspective (i.e., trajectories and transitions) were used as a framework for understanding religion and aging. The interviews were content analyzed to identify: 1) dimensions of religiosity that exhibit change; 2) patterns of religious trajectories; and 3) social forces that promote changes in religiosity. These analyses revealed four distinct patterns: stable, increasing, decreasing, and curvilinear trajectories. Several forces were involved with either increasing religiosity (e.g., child rearing, adverse life experiences) or decreasing religiosity (e.g., disillusionment with church members, adverse life experiences). Directions for future research are discussed.

Age Factors↗

PubMed2002

The impact of salient role stress on trajectories of health in late life among survivors of a seven-year panel study: analyses of individual growth curves.

The purpose this study is twofold: 1) to model changes in health over time among older adults; and 2) to assess the degree to which stress arising in salient social roles accounts for individual variation in these changes. Individual growth curve analyses using Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) software were employed with longitudinal data collected from a nationwide sample of 465 older adults between 1992-1999. The data suggest that, throughout the course of the study, the sample as a whole experienced linear deterioration in self-rated health. After accounting for the effects of non-salient role stress and demographic characteristics, variance in health changes was not accounted for significantly by salient role stress in an additive model. However, the inclusion of a multiplicative term showed that as respondent age increased, the association between salient role stress and adverse changes in health strengthened significantly. These results support the idea that the oldest-old may be particularly vulnerable to the effects of stress. This finding has important implications for targeting interventions and should stimulate further study regarding how and why responses to stress change progressively with age.

Age Factors↗

PubMed2002

Welfare participation and social support in late life.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships among participation in welfare programs, gender, and change in social support in adults aged 65 and older. It was hypothesized that older men receiving public assistance would encounter more social network problems than older women on welfare. The findings reveal that during the 7-year study older men in receipt of welfare benefits, compared with older women on welfare, received less social support from others, were more dissatisfied with the assistance they got, and encountered more negative interaction from informal social network members (i.e., family and friends). The results suggest that those who administer welfare programs, as well as public policymakers, should consider developing interventions that address the wider psychosocial problems associated with receiving public assistance.

Aged↗