IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v174y2017icp149-158.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Neighborhood age structure and cognitive function in a nationally-representative sample of older adults in the U.S

Author

Listed:
  • Friedman, Esther M.
  • Shih, Regina A.
  • Slaughter, Mary E.
  • Weden, Margaret M.
  • Cagney, Kathleen A.

Abstract

Recent evidence suggests that living in a neighborhood with a greater percentage of older adults is associated with better individual health, including lower depression, better self-rated health, and a decreased risk of overall mortality. However, much of the work to date suffers from four limitations. First, none of the U.S.-based studies examine the association at the national level. Second, no studies have examined three important hypothesized mechanisms - neighborhood socioeconomic status and neighborhood social and physical characteristics - which are significantly correlated with both neighborhood age structure and health. Third, no U.S. study has longitudinally examined cognitive health trajectories. We build on this literature by examining nine years of nationally-representative data from the Health and Retirement Study (2002–2010) on men and women aged 51 and over linked with Census data to examine the relationship between the percentage of adults 65 and older in a neighborhood and individual cognitive health trajectories. Our results indicate that living in a neighborhood with a greater percentage of older adults is related to better individual cognition at baseline but we did not find any significant association with cognitive decline. We also explored potential mediators including neighborhood socioeconomic status, perceived neighborhood cohesion and perceived neighborhood physical disorder. We did not find evidence that neighborhood socioeconomic status explains this relationship; however, there is suggestive evidence that perceived cohesion and disorder may explain some of the association between age structure and cognition. Although more work is needed to identify the precise mechanisms, this work may suggest a potential contextual target for public health interventions to prevent cognitive impairment.

Suggested Citation

  • Friedman, Esther M. & Shih, Regina A. & Slaughter, Mary E. & Weden, Margaret M. & Cagney, Kathleen A., 2017. "Neighborhood age structure and cognitive function in a nationally-representative sample of older adults in the U.S," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 174(C), pages 149-158.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:174:y:2017:i:c:p:149-158
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.12.005
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953616306669
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.12.005?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Anna Zajacova & Sarah Burgard, 2013. "Healthier, Wealthier, and Wiser: A Demonstration of Compositional Changes in Aging Cohorts Due to Selective Mortality," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 32(3), pages 311-324, June.
    2. Cohen, D.A. & Mason, K. & Bedimo, A. & Scribner, R. & Basolo, V. & Farley, T.A., 2003. "Neighborhood physical conditions and health," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 93(3), pages 467-471.
    3. Kathleen A. Cagney & Christopher R. Browning & Ming Wen, 2005. "Racial Disparities in Self-Rated Health at Older Ages: What Difference Does the Neighborhood Make?," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 60(4), pages 181-190.
    4. Berkman, Lisa F. & Glass, Thomas & Brissette, Ian & Seeman, Teresa E., 2000. "From social integration to health: Durkheim in the new millennium," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 51(6), pages 843-857, September.
    5. Shih, R.A. & Ghosh-Dastidar, B. & Margolis, K.L. & Slaughter, M.E. & Jewell, A. & Bird, C.E. & Eibner, C. & Denburg, N.L. & Ockene, J. & Messina, C.R. & Espeland, M.A., 2011. "Neighborhood socioeconomic status and cognitive function in women," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 101(9), pages 1721-1728.
    6. S. V. Subramanian & Laura Kubzansky & Lisa Berkman & Martha Fay & Ichiro Kawachi, 2006. "Neighborhood Effects on the Self-Rated Health of Elders: Uncovering the Relative Importance of Structural and Service-Related Neighborhood Environments," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 61(3), pages 153-160.
    7. Malia Jones & Anne Pebley, 2014. "Redefining Neighborhoods Using Common Destinations: Social Characteristics of Activity Spaces and Home Census Tracts Compared," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 51(3), pages 727-752, June.
    8. Noreen Goldman, 1993. "Marriage selection and mortality patterns: Inferences and fallacies," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 30(2), pages 189-208, May.
    9. Subramanian, S.V. & Elwert, Felix & Christakis, Nicholas, 2008. "Widowhood and mortality among the elderly: The modifying role of neighborhood concentration of widowed individuals," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(4), pages 873-884, February.
    10. Margaret Weden & Christine Peterson & Jeremy Miles & Regina Shih, 2015. "Evaluating Linearly Interpolated Intercensal Estimates of Demographic and Socioeconomic Characteristics of U.S. Counties and Census Tracts 2001–2009," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 34(4), pages 541-559, August.
    11. Kathleen A. Cagney & Christopher R. Browning & Ming Wen, 2005. "Racial Disparities in Self-Rated Health at Older Ages and the Dangers of Obfuscating Neighborhood Effects Research," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 60(4), pages 193-194.
    12. James Vaupel & Kenneth Manton & Eric Stallard, 1979. "The impact of heterogeneity in individual frailty on the dynamics of mortality," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 16(3), pages 439-454, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sharifian, Neika & Spivey, Briana N. & Zaheed, Afsara B. & Zahodne, Laura B., 2020. "Psychological distress links perceived neighborhood characteristics to longitudinal trajectories of cognitive health in older adulthood," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 258(C).
    2. Hui-Chuan Hsu & Chyi-Huey Bai, 2021. "Social and Built Environments Related to Cognitive Function of Older Adults: A Multi-Level Analysis Study in Taiwan," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(6), pages 1-13, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wight, Richard G. & Cummings, Janet R. & Miller-Martinez, Dana & Karlamangla, Arun S. & Seeman, Teresa E. & Aneshensel, Carol S., 2008. "A multilevel analysis of urban neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage and health in late life," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(4), pages 862-872, February.
    2. Messer, Lynne C. & Vinikoor, Lisa C. & Laraia, Barbara A. & Kaufman, Jay S. & Eyster, Janet & Holzman, Claudia & Culhane, Jennifer & Elo, Irma & Burke, Jessica G. & O'Campo, Patricia, 2008. "Socioeconomic domains and associations with preterm birth," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(8), pages 1247-1257, October.
    3. Alberto Palloni & Jason Thomas, 2013. "Estimation of Covariate Effects With Current Status Data and Differential Mortality," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 50(2), pages 521-544, April.
    4. Wen, Ming & Hawkley, Louise C. & Cacioppo, John T., 2006. "Objective and perceived neighborhood environment, individual SES and psychosocial factors, and self-rated health: An analysis of older adults in Cook County, Illinois," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(10), pages 2575-2590, November.
    5. Grafova, Irina B. & Freedman, Vicki A. & Lurie, Nicole & Kumar, Rizie & Rogowski, Jeannette, 2014. "The difference-in-difference method: Assessing the selection bias in the effects of neighborhood environment on health," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 13(C), pages 20-33.
    6. Chen, Zhuo & Meltzer, David, 2008. "Beefing up with the Chans: Evidence for the effects of relative income and income inequality on health from the China Health and Nutrition Survey," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(11), pages 2206-2217, June.
    7. Hiroko Kamide, 2021. "The Effect of Social Cohesion on Interest, Usefulness, and Ease of Use of a Driving Assistance System in Older Adults," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-11, October.
    8. Dimiter Philipov & Sergei Scherbov, 2016. "Differences by union status in health and mortality at older ages: Results for 16 European countries," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 35(19), pages 535-556.
    9. Ming Wen & Danan Gu, 2011. "The Effects of Childhood, Adult, and Community Socioeconomic Conditions on Health and Mortality among Older Adults in China," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 48(1), pages 153-181, February.
    10. Virginia Zarulli, 2016. "Unobserved Heterogeneity of Frailty in the Analysis of Socioeconomic Differences in Health and Mortality," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 32(1), pages 55-72, February.
    11. Li, Ting & Yang, Yang Claire & Zhang, Yanlong, 2018. "Culture, economic development, social-network type, and mortality: Evidence from Chinese older adults," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 204(C), pages 23-30.
    12. Andrews, Gavin J. & Cutchin, Malcolm & McCracken, Kevin & Phillips, David R. & Wiles, Janine, 2007. "Geographical Gerontology: The constitution of a discipline," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 65(1), pages 151-168, July.
    13. Brenner, Allison B. & Borrell, Luisa N. & Barrientos-Gutierrez, Tonatiuh & Diez Roux, Ana V., 2015. "Longitudinal associations of neighborhood socioeconomic characteristics and alcohol availability on drinking: Results from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA)," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 17-25.
    14. Cláudia Jardim Santos & Inês Paciência & Ana Isabel Ribeiro, 2022. "Neighbourhood Socioeconomic Processes and Dynamics and Healthy Ageing: A Scoping Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(11), pages 1-26, May.
    15. Denis Gerstorf & Nilam Ram & Jan Goebel & Jürgen Schupp & Ulman Lindenberger & Gert G. Wagner, 2010. "Where People Live and Die Makes a Difference: Individual and Geographic Disparities in Well-Being Progression at the End of Life," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 287, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    16. Rosaria Lumino & Giancarlo Ragozini & Marijtje Duijn & Maria Prosperina Vitale, 2017. "A mixed-methods approach for analysing social support and social anchorage of single mothers’ personal networks," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 51(2), pages 779-797, March.
    17. Bagdonavicius, Vilijandas & Nikulin, Mikhail, 2000. "On goodness-of-fit for the linear transformation and frailty models," Statistics & Probability Letters, Elsevier, vol. 47(2), pages 177-188, April.
    18. Jenny Gierveld & Pearl A. Dykstra & Niels Schenk, 2012. "Living arrangements, intergenerational support types and older adult loneliness in Eastern and Western Europe," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 27(7), pages 167-200.
    19. Yahia Salhi & Pierre-Emmanuel Thérond, 2016. "Age-Specific Adjustment of Graduated Mortality," Working Papers hal-01391285, HAL.
    20. Feehan, Dennis & Wrigley-Field, Elizabeth, 2020. "How do populations aggregate?," SocArXiv 2fkw3, Center for Open Science.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:174:y:2017:i:c:p:149-158. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.