IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v14y2017i4p387-d95147.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Relative Association of Multi-Level Supportive Environments on Poor Health among Older Adults

Author

Listed:
  • Nelda Mier

    (Department of Public Health Studies, Texas A&M School of Public Health, McAllen Campus, McAllen, TX 78503, USA)

  • Marcia G. Ory

    (Department of Health Promotion and Community Health Sciences, Texas A&M School of Public Health, College Station, TX 77843, USA)

  • Samuel D. Towne

    (Department of Health Promotion and Community Health Sciences, Texas A&M School of Public Health, College Station, TX 77843, USA)

  • Matthew Lee Smith

    (Department of Health Promotion and Community Health Sciences, Texas A&M School of Public Health, College Station, TX 77843, USA
    Institute of Gerontology, Department of Health Promotion and Behavior, College of Public Health, The University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA)

Abstract

Background : The aging of the United States population poses significant challenges to American healthcare and informal caregiving systems. Additional research is needed to understand how health promotion programs and policies based on a socio-ecological perspective impact the health and well-being of older persons. The purpose of this study was to investigate personal characteristics and supportive environments associated with poor health among older individuals aged 65 and over. Methods : This study used a cross-sectional design and was guided by a conceptual framework developed by the authors to depict the relationship between personal characteristics and environments associated with poor health status. Environment types included in this study were family, home, financial, neighborhood, and healthcare. The sample was comprised of 1319 adults aged 65 years and older residing in Central Texas. From a random selection of households, participants were administered a mail-based survey created by a community collaborative effort. Descriptive statistics and three binary logistic regression models were fitted to examine associations with poor health status (i.e., physical, mental, and combined physical/mental). Results : Two personal characteristics (number of chronic conditions and educational level) were consistently related ( p < 0.05) to health outcomes. Supportive family, home, financial, neighborhood, and health care environmental factors were shown to be related ( p < 0.05) to various aspects of physical or mental health outcomes. Conclusions : Multidimensional factors including personal characteristics and protective environments are related to health status among older individuals. The unique roles of each environment can help inform public health interventions to create and enhance support for older adults to engage in healthful activities and improve their physical and mental health.

Suggested Citation

  • Nelda Mier & Marcia G. Ory & Samuel D. Towne & Matthew Lee Smith, 2017. "Relative Association of Multi-Level Supportive Environments on Poor Health among Older Adults," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-16, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:14:y:2017:i:4:p:387-:d:95147
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/14/4/387/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/14/4/387/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Manzoli, Lamberto & Villari, Paolo & M Pirone, Giovanni & Boccia, Antonio, 2007. "Marital status and mortality in the elderly: A systematic review and meta-analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(1), pages 77-94, January.
    2. Murtagh, K.N. & Hubert, H.B., 2004. "Gender differences in physical disability among an elderly cohort," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 94(8), pages 1406-1411.
    3. Crooks, V.C. & Lubben, J. & Petitti, D.B. & Little, D. & Chiu, V., 2008. "Social network, cognitive function, and dementia incidence among elderly women," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 98(7), pages 1221-1227.
    4. Montez, J.K. & Berkman, L.F., 2014. "Trends in the educational gradient of mortality among US adults aged 45 to 84 years: Bringing regional context into the explanation," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 104(1), pages 82-90.
    5. Powell, L.M. & Slater, S. & Chaloupka, F.J. & Harper, D., 2006. "Availability of physical activity-related facilities and neighborhood demographic and socioeconomic characteristics: A national study," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 96(9), pages 1676-1680.
    6. Hauck, K. & Martin, S. & Smith, P.C., 2016. "Priorities for action on the social determinants of health: Empirical evidence on the strongest associations with life expectancy in 54 low-income countries, 1990–2012," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 167(C), pages 88-98.
    7. Liu, Gordon G. & Xue, Xindong & Yu, Chenxi & Wang, Yafeng, 2016. "How does social capital matter to the health status of older adults? Evidence from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Survey," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 22(C), pages 177-189.
    8. Nicolle A Mode & Michele K Evans & Alan B Zonderman, 2016. "Race, Neighborhood Economic Status, Income Inequality and Mortality," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(5), pages 1-14, May.
    9. Stephanie A. Robert & Dasha Cherepanov & Mari Palta & Nancy Cross Dunham & David Feeny & Dennis G. Fryback, 2009. "Socioeconomic Status and Age Variations in Health-Related Quality of Life: Results From the National Health Measurement Study," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 64(3), pages 378-389.
    10. Venn, Danielle & Strazdins, Lyndall, 2017. "Your money or your time? How both types of scarcity matter to physical activity and healthy eating," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 98-106.
    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. Marcia G. Ory & Matthew Lee Smith, 2017. "What If Healthy Aging Is the ‘New Normal’?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-5, November.

    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. Sékou Samadoulougou & Laurence Letarte & Alexandre Lebel, 2022. "Association between Neighbourhood Deprivation Trajectories and Self-Perceived Health: Analysis of a Linked Survey and Health Administrative Data," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-14, December.
    2. Jon Anson, 2010. "Beyond Material Explanations: Family Solidarity and Mortality, a Small Area‐level Analysis," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 36(1), pages 27-45, March.
    3. Robert G. Wood & Brian Goesling & Sarah Avellar, "undated". "The Effects of Marriage on Health: A Synthesis of Recent Research Evidence," Mathematica Policy Research Reports d69bf47785bc4154a4e184aa5, Mathematica Policy Research.
    4. Kai Hong & Peter A. Savelyev & Kegon T. K. Tan, 2020. "Understanding the Mechanisms Linking College Education with Longevity," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 14(3), pages 371-400.
    5. Rebeca de Jesús Crespo & Madison Harrison & Rachel Rogers & Randy Vaeth, 2021. "Mosquito Vector Production across Socio-Economic Divides in Baton Rouge, Louisiana," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-11, February.
    6. Yee Mang Chan & Norhafizah Sahril & Ying Ying Chan & Nor’ Ain Ab Wahab & Norliza Shamsuddin & Muhd Zulfadli Hafiz Ismail, 2021. "Vision and Hearing Impairments Affecting Activities of Daily Living among Malaysian Older Adults by Gender," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(12), pages 1-12, June.
    7. María Elena Martínez & Jonathan T Unkart & Li Tao & Candyce H Kroenke & Richard Schwab & Ian Komenaka & Scarlett Lin Gomez, 2017. "Prognostic significance of marital status in breast cancer survival: A population-based study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(5), pages 1-14, May.
    8. Haan, Peter & Hammerschmid, Anna & Schmieder, Julia, 2019. "Mortality in midlife for subgroups in Germany," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 14.
    9. Scharadin, Benjamin, 2022. "The efficacy of the dependent care deduction at maintaining diet quality," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    10. Sonja Jungreitmayr & Susanne Ring-Dimitriou & Birgit Trukeschitz & Siegfried Eisenberg & Cornelia Schneider, 2021. "Effects of an Information and Communication Technology-Based Fitness Program on Strength and Balance in Female Home Care Service Users," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(15), pages 1-14, July.
    11. Camila Maciel de Oliveira & Luciane Viater Tureck & Danilo Alvares & Chunyu Liu & Andrea Roseli Vançan Russo Horimoto & Mercedes Balcells & Rafael de Oliveira Alvim & José Eduardo Krieger & Alexandre , 2020. "Relationship between marital status and incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus in a Brazilian rural population: The Baependi Heart Study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(8), pages 1-10, August.
    12. Molly A. Martin & Margaret Gough Courtney & Adam M. Lippert, 2022. "The Risks and Consequences of Skipping Meals for Low-Income Mothers," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 41(6), pages 2613-2644, December.
    13. Tyler Prochnow & Meg Patterson & M. Renée Umstattd Meyer & Joseph Lightner & Luis Gomez & Joseph Sharkey, 2022. "Conducting Physical Activity Research on Racially and Ethnically Diverse Adolescents Using Social Network Analysis: Case Studies for Practical Use," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(18), pages 1-16, September.
    14. Young Bum Kim & Seung Hee Lee, 2022. "Gender Differences in Correlates of Loneliness among Community-Dwelling Older Koreans," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(12), pages 1-11, June.
    15. Janet Currie & Hannes Schwandt & Josselin Thuilliez, 2020. "Pauvreté, Egalité, Mortalité: mortality (in)equality in France and the United States," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 33(1), pages 197-231, January.
    16. Sabela Siaba, & Bruno Casal & Berta Rivera, 2024. "The Impact of Financial Constraints on Quality of Life and Mental Health in the Elderly: Evidence from Spain," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 249(2), pages 9-34, June.
    17. Blankenship, Kim M. & del Rio Gonzalez, Ana Maria & Keene, Danya E. & Groves, Allison K. & Rosenberg, Alana P., 2018. "Mass incarceration, race inequality, and health: Expanding concepts and assessing impacts on well-being," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 215(C), pages 45-52.
    18. Robert G. Wood & Brian Goesling & Sarah Avellar, "undated". "The Effects of Marriage on Health: A Synthesis of Recent Research Evidence (Issue Brief)," Mathematica Policy Research Reports 2685fc6f3f9a4fbd9e672e524, Mathematica Policy Research.
    19. Zacharias Papadakis & Jeffrey S. Forsse & Andreas Stamatis, 2021. "High-Intensity Interval Exercise Performance and Short-Term Metabolic Responses to Overnight-Fasted Acute-Partial Sleep Deprivation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(7), pages 1-17, April.
    20. García-Muñoz, Teresa & Neuman, Shoshana & Neuman, Tzahi, 2014. "Health Risk Factors among the Older European Populations: Personal and Country Effects," IZA Discussion Papers 8529, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    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:gam:jijerp:v:14:y:2017:i:4:p:387-:d:95147. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.