Future Directions for the Demography of Aging Proceedings of a Workshop (2018) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
13 New Measures and New Designs in Demography of Aging Research - David R. Weir, Linda J. Waite, Rebeca Wong, and Vicki A. Freedman
13 New Measures and New Designs in Demography of Aging Research - David R. Weir, Linda J. Waite, Rebeca Wong, and Vicki A. Freedman
Pages 371-396
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 371... ...
Design choices arise about which part of that aging process to include directly or to query indirectly. Moreover, individuals are situated in couples, households, families, neighborhoods, schools, workplaces, social networks, and so on.
|
From page 372... ...
After a brief description of data sharing practices, the final section sheds light on what data collection scholars foresee as measurements and designs for the future of the demography of aging, while pointing out possible challenges and ethical issues derived from the vast reach of new data collection technologies that have recently emerged. STUDY DESIGNS: ADVANTAGES AND CHALLENGES This section provides a summary of several of the more significant studies, highlighting their unique design features.
|
From page 373... ...
. The National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (NSHAP)
|
From page 374... ...
, including the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging (Park et al., 2007) , the adaptation of the ongoing Indonesia Family Life Survey to the HRS model, the Japanese Study of Aging and Retirement, the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (Zhao et al., 2014)
|
From page 375... ...
The encouragement and support to the collaborative network has been essential, including support for data harmonization for analysts through the University of Southern California's Gateway to Global Aging Data.4 The ability to collect population-based measures in aging research has accelerated as mentioned, but the pace has varied widely across the globe, in particular in the poorer developing nations. Longitudinal studies with large national cohorts of older adults are just beginning to proliferate in middle- and low-income countries.
|
From page 376... ...
NSHAP pioneered collection of social network data in older adults by focusing on their discussion networks: the people with whom they talk about things that are important to them. The respondent names these people, called "alters," and the relationship of each of them to the respondent (referred to as "ego" in social network research)
|
From page 377... ...
. The study of social networks is poised to benefit from recent leaps in social connectivity and the technology that supports it.
|
From page 378... ...
As with many of the measurement innovations in aging studies, time use had been traditionally measured in separate surveys before ongoing national panel studies such as HRS, PSID, NHATS, and the National Study of Caregiving supplement to NHATS, among others, began to incorporate time-use measures and in some cases associated measures of experienced well-being. The three most common forms of time assessment are experiential sampling methods (Csikszentmihalyi and Larson, 1987)
|
From page 379... ...
They provide information on biological aging prior to the development of age-related disease and physical dysfunction, as well as the progression of disease processes and functioning of multiple organ systems in the aging population. Although some aging studies do incorporate clinic visits, most surveys use biomeasures, obtained by trained interviewers in the home, that have been modified from and validated against clinical measures (O'Doherty et al., 2014)
|
From page 380... ...
Frailty is typically measured in surveys as an accumulation of health deficits such as poor balance, weakness or exhaustion, unintentional weight loss, slow walking speed, poor grip strength, low physical activity, limited lung capacity, and poor leg strength (Fried et al., 2001; Huisingh-Scheetz et al., 2014)
|
From page 381... ...
. The most prominent of these is dried blood spots, which can be collected by field interviewers; dried, stored, and mailed without much difficulty; then assayed for various blood-borne markers of biological func
|
From page 382... ...
One substantial drawback of biomarkers collected through dried blood spots is the cost of the assays, which can run to $25 per assay per person, which adds up quickly given the number of markers to be assayed and the number of respondents. Another drawback is the variability across laboratories and between venous blood and dried blood assays of identical samples ( rimmins et al., 2014)
|
From page 383... ...
Surveys have tended to draw more on the former, reflecting both the importance attached to dementia and the development of short scales for clinical use. One of the earliest studies to include a measure of cognition was the National Long Term Care Survey, which used the Pfeiffer short portable mental status questionnaire (Pfeiffer, 1975)
|
From page 384... ...
. More recently, HRS in conjunction with most of its international sister studies developed a new assessment termed the Harmonized Cognitive Assessment Protocol, a flexible structure harmonized to ADAMS and other major U.S.
|
From page 385... ...
Most studies collect DNA through either saliva samples or blood draws, although dried blood spots have also been used. A particularly promising approach for bringing genomic science to bear on social and health questions is the use of polygenic scores (Belsky et al., 2013)
|
From page 386... ...
At present there is also no comparable linkage resource for the population under age 65, and no standardized system of electronic medical records that would permit the study of health and not just health care billing. The other major federal record system for older populations is the Social Security Administration (SSA)
|
From page 387... ...
Simple reliance on those with known vital status to do imputation implies assumptions about missing-at-random data that are almost certain to be violated, even with extensive covariate controls. Conversely, using national life table rates as constraints on the overall imputation could add valuable information.
|
From page 388... ...
The nature of clinical encounters and clinical assessments will drastically change through advances in technology, including mobile sensors, smart voice technology, smart homes, the collection of ambulatory data from the real environment, and the incorporation of these data streams into individuals' electronic medical records. Further, technology will make it easier for older adults to reconnect to resources such as friends, family, caregivers, health care providers, and information that they often struggle to reach due to physical limitations.
|
From page 389... ...
The personalized medicine movement is looking to include diverse groups; hence the ability to expand demographic research on aging to these groups will be positioned to benefit as well. The study of social networks for older adults is bound to benefit from technology developments supporting social media platforms.
|
From page 390... ...
. Longitudinal aging study in India: Vision, design, implementation, and preliminary findings.
|
From page 391... ...
. Valida tion of blood-based assays using dried blood spots for use in large population studies.
|
From page 392... ...
Journals of erontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 69(Suppl 2)
|
From page 393... ...
. The utility and dynamics of sali vary sex hormone measurements in the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project, wave 2.
|
From page 394... ...
. The Montreal Cognitive Assessment, MoCA: A brief screening tool for mild cognitive impairment.
|
From page 395... ...
. A short portable mental status questionnaire for the assessment of organic brain deficit in elderly patients.
|
From page 396... ...
. The National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project: An introduction, Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 64B(Suppl.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.