RCMAR Annual Meeting: May, 2008 Using the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) for Research on Minority Aging Jacqui Smith Department of Psychology and Institute for Social Research Health and Retirement Study (HRS)

Why is the HRS a Good Resource?  Nationally representative panel of 50+  Longitudinal: Biennial waves since 1992  Heterogeneous sample  Multidisciplinary data Economics, medicine, public health, sociology, psychology, demography  Many topic areas Health, health services, employment history, financial status and expenses, pension information, wealth and debt, family structure, cognition, depression, biomarker, psychosocial functioning  Good place to shop for ideas  It is "free" RCMAR Annual Meeting: May, 2008

Evolution of the HRS Longitudinal Sample Design COHORT < Includes spouse / partner of sampled individual Includes oversamples of African-American and Hispanics

Minority Elders in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS)  HRS Core sample in 2006: N = 30,888  79% White (N = 24,402); 14.8% Black (N = 4569); 4.4% Hispanic (N = 1344).  Black gender ratio 39.4% Men; 60.6% Women  Psychosocial / Biomarker sample (> 53 yrs) : 12.9% Black (N = 920) 2006 biomarkers include height, waist, weight, grip strength, walking speed, puff test, balance, blood pressure, pulse, cholesterol, C-reactive protein, saliva (DNA storage). RCMAR Annual Meeting: May, 2008

Documentation on: HRS Psychosocial and Lifestyle Battery in 2006 Personality Traits Extraversion Neuroticism Openness Agreeableness Conscientiousness Control Beliefs (Internal-External) Domain control Loneliness Anxiety Hostility Anger Optimism/Pessimism Hopelessness Subjective Well-being Life Satisfaction Positive Affect Negative Affect Psychological Well-being Purpose in life Personal Growth Self Acceptance Social Network and Relationships Size of kin and friend network Closeness of relationships Quality of spousal relationship Quality of child relationships Quality of kin relationships Quality of friend relationships Social Participation Perceived social status Social Integration Neighborhood Social Capital Everyday / Lifetime Discrimination Religiosity Critical lifetime / recent events Work Stress Domain-specific stresses Work-family balance RCMAR Annual Meeting: May, 2008

What Do You Need to Do Know to Use HRS?  Spend time exploring and reading material on the HRS website RCMAR Annual Meeting: May, 2008

Start here

Last Wave

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED !

Start here

Enter a topic to search

HRS Summer Workshop at SRC/ ISR Held in Ann Arbor, June , 2008 Part of Survey Research Center’s Summer Institute in Survey Research Techniques Substantive focus in 2008 on physical measures and biomarkers To learn more or register:

What Do You Need to Do and Know to Use HRS? After browsing the HRS website…………  Decide on your set of variables and sample  Learn a statistical package (SPSS, SAS, STATA)  Learn how to merge data sets  Prepare / clean up the downloaded data  Run descriptive statistics  Build composite variables  Be creative ! RCMAR Annual Meeting: May, 2008

Examples of Research Questions  Does the structure of social networks differ for Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics?  Do race/ethnic group differences in health change with age?  Perceived control of health and finances: Are age trends different for Whites, Blacks and Hispanics? RCMAR Annual Meeting: May, 2008

Race / Ethnicity Differences in Marital Status in HRS WhiteBlackHispanic Married Divorced/Separated Widowed Single This might be a variable to control in some analyses Percent RCMAR Annual Meeting: May, 2008

The Structure of Social Networks Race/Ethnic Group Differences WhiteBlackHispanic Zero One Two Three Four Count for presence of: - Spouse/partner - Children - Other family (siblings, grandchildren, in laws) - Friends Percent RCMAR Annual Meeting: May, 2008

HRS Indicators of Socio-Economic Status e.g., Highest Level of Education WhiteBlackHispanic No degree GED High School 2 yr College 4 yr College Masters Professional Another variable to control (or examine) in some analyses Percent RCMAR Annual Meeting: May, 2008

HRS Indicators of Health Status e.g., Subjective Health (5-point Scale) Percent RCMAR Annual Meeting: May, 2008

Race/Ethnicity Differences in Multimorbidity Age-cohort Trends < > Number Age Groups White Black Hispanic < > Number Age Groups Nr. FUNCTIONAL LIMITATIONSNr. CHRONIC ILLNESSES RCMAR Annual Meeting: May, 2008

Circle one number none Very Much Circle one number none Very Much Q24 Using a 0 to 10 scale where 0 means “ no control at all ” and 10 means “ very much control, ” how would you rate the amount of control you have over your health these days? Q26 Using a 0 to 10 scale where 0 means “ no control at all ” and 10 means “ very much control, ” how would you rate the amount of control you have over your financial situation these days? HRS Psychosocial and Lifestyle Battery in 2006 Questions about Perceived Control

Perceived Personal Control Over Health and Finances Age-cohort and Race Trends < > z-score Age Group White Black Hispanic < > z-score Age Group HEALTHFINANCES RCMAR Annual Meeting: May, 2008

What Steps to Take Now?  Browse the HRS website  Find a research question to ask (or several)  Schedule some time to work  Enroll in the HRS Summer Institute Workshop  Write a proposal  BEGIN! RCMAR Annual Meeting: May, 2008 Jacqui Smith