PowerPointPrsentation

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Health and Retirement Study (HRS)
Using the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) for
Research on Minority Aging Jacqui
Smith Department of Psychology and Institute for
Social Research
RCMAR Annual Meeting May, 2008
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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
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Evolution of the HRS Longitudinal Sample Design
COHORT lt1923 1924-30 1931-41
1942-47 1948-53 1954-59

• Includes spouse / partner of sampled individual
• Includes oversamples of African-American and
  Hispanics

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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
• 2006 - Psychosocial / Biomarker sample (gt 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
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HRS Psychosocial and Lifestyle Battery in 2006
Personality Traits Extraversion Neuroticism Ope
nness Agreeableness Conscientiousness Control
Beliefs (Internal-External) Domain
control Loneliness Anxiety Hostility Anger Optimis
m/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 Qual
ity 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
Documentation on www.hrsonline.isr.umich.edu
RCMAR Annual Meeting May, 2008
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What Do You Need to Do Know to Use HRS?

• Spend time exploring and reading material on the
  HRS website

http//www.hrsonline.isr.umich.edu
RCMAR Annual Meeting May, 2008
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http//www.hrsonline.isr.umich.edu
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http//www.hrsonline.isr.umich.edu
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http//www.hrsonline.isr.umich.edu
Start here
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http//www.hrsonline.isr.umich.edu
Last Wave
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http//www.hrsonline.isr.umich.edu
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http//www.hrsonline.isr.umich.edu
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED !
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http//www.hrsonline.isr.umich.edu
Start here
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http//www.hrsonline.isr.umich.edu
Enter a topic to search
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HRS Summer Workshop at SRC/ ISR

• Held in Ann Arbor, June 9 - 13, 2008
• Part of Survey Research Centers Summer Institute
  in Survey Research Techniques
• Substantive focus in 2008 on physical measures
  and biomarkers
• To learn more or register
• http//www.isr.umich.edu/src/si/

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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
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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
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Race / Ethnicity Differences in Marital Status in
HRS

Percent
This might be a variable to control in some
analyses
RCMAR Annual Meeting May, 2008
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The Structure of Social Networks Race/Ethnic
Group Differences





Percent
Count for presence of - Spouse/partner -
Children - Other family (siblings, grandchildren,
in laws) - Friends
RCMAR Annual Meeting May, 2008
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HRS Indicators of Socio-Economic Status e.g.,
Highest Level of Education

Percent
Another variable to control (or examine) in some
analyses
RCMAR Annual Meeting May, 2008
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HRS Indicators of Health Status e.g., Subjective
Health (5-point Scale)
Percent
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Race/Ethnicity Differences in Multimorbidity Age-
cohort Trends



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HRS Psychosocial and Lifestyle Battery in
2006 Questions about Perceived Control
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?
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Perceived Personal Control Over Health and
Finances Age-cohort and Race Trends






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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!

Jacqui Smith smitjacq_at_isr-umich.edu
RCMAR Annual Meeting May, 2008