Jersey Liang

Measuring childlessness is complicated by the increasing complexity of family structure. Using data from the 2014 Health and Retirement Study, in this research note we compared three definitions of childlessness: (1) respondent never fathered/gave birth to a child, (2) respondent had no children who were living and in contact, and (3) respondent and spouse/partner had no children or stepchildren who were living and in contact. Results showed that the prevalence of childlessness among Americans aged 55 or older ranged from 9.2% to 13.6% depending on which definition was used. The association between select individual characteristics (gender and marital status) and the likelihood of childlessness, as well as the association between childlessness and loneliness and living arrangements, also varied depending on how childlessness was defined. Therefore, how we define childlessness can affect our understanding of its prevalence, correlates, and relationships with well-being. Future research on childlessness should carefully consider the choice of definition and its implications for research and policy discussions.

Although retirement age is increasing in aging societies, its impact on individuals and communities is unclear. This study examined how age moderates the linkage between transition into retirement and participation in productive and non-productive social activities after retirement, using a nationwide longitudinal survey with a probability sample of Japanese aged 60 and over (n = 3,493). Multinomial logistic regression analyses were performed to predict changes in volunteering and hobbies/learning during 3–5 years of follow-up and their participation level at the follow-up. The significant interactions between change in work status (remained working as reference, full/partial retirement, remained not-working) and age at baseline showed that fully retired persons were more likely to increase these activities than remained workers only when they retired by their early seventies. Thus it is important to encourage engagement in social activities before retirement and remove psychological and environmental barriers that hinder starting new activities at old age.

Living arrangements of older adults have important implications for their well-being and healthcare and long-term care needs. However, prior research has focused on older adults with living children while little is known about living arrangements of childless elders who account for approximately 15% of the U.S. elderly population. To address this knowledge gap, we examined the living arrangements of childless older Americans and how they changed over time. Data on 751 community-dwelling childless persons aged 65 years or older in 1998 were obtained from the Health and Retirement Study with repeated observations biennially until 2014. Living arrangements were categorized as living independently (alone or with spouse), living with others, or living in nursing homes. We estimated a multilevel mixed effects model to examine how a person’s living arrangements changed over time and the associated risk factors. As opposed to living independently, the likelihood of childless elders living in a nursing home increased over time (odds ratio [OR] associated with each year lapsed = 1.22, p<0.001), whereas the likelihood of living with others decreased (OR=0.93, p=0.02). Hispanics were less likely than non-Hispanic whites to live in nursing homes (OR=0.04, p=0.01). Being married and having greater income or wealth significantly reduced a person’s likelihood of living with others or in a nursing home, whereas childless elders with greater physical or cognitive impairments were more likely to live with others or in nursing homes. These differences in living arrangements of childless older adults by sociodemographic and health characteristics can inform targeted interventions.

Objectives: This study reports findings on functional change trajectories for long-stay residents by examining the effects of baseline medical conditions and functional status on changes in physical impairment across residents’ length of stay (LOS). Method: A 5% sample of nursing home residents from Michigan from 1999 through 2003 was used to create longitudinal episodes of care including Minimum Data Set (MDS) assessments. Data were analyzed using hierarchical linear models. Results: On average, physical impairment increases throughout a resident’s stay and is more rapid later in the stay. Greater physical and cognitive impairment at baseline leads to increasing impairment for residents whereas presence of baseline medical conditions, including heart disease and hip fracture, leads to slower rates of impairment. Discussion: Baseline functional status is critical to predicting changes in impairment while the impact of medical diagnoses is significant but weaker than the effect of baseline impairment.

This study examined the longitudinal changes in alcohol consumption among elderly Japanese, characterized the subtrajectories within the aggregate trend, and examined potential predictors of these trajectories. Data come from a nationally representative survey of 2,566 persons in Japan, ages 60 to 96, followed over five waves between 1987—1999. Hierarchical linear modeling and cluster analysis were used to uncover trajectories of alcohol use. Multinomial logistic regression was employed to examine the predictors of trajectory association at baseline. Alcohol use appears relatively stable between ages 60 and 70, but declines thereafter. Further, there are three subtrajectories: stable, declining, and curvilinear (in addition to abstainers). Predictors of these trajectories varied by trajectory. Alcohol use may continue to be an important part of life at older ages. However, older drinkers appear to follow four drinking trajectories. Demographic characteristics and stressors may be associated with these trajectories. Knowledge of these trajectories may aid in targeting of interventions.