{"id":{"repo_id":"buffalo","oai_identifier":"oai:ubir.buffalo.edu:10477/86845"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/buffalo/oai:ubir.buffalo.edu:10477/86845","repository":{"repo_id":"buffalo","name":"Buffalo","base_url":"https://ubir.buffalo.edu/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Chronic Pain and Social Relationships Among Midlife and Older Adults in the United States","abstract":"Ph.D.","abstract_html":"Ph.D.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Yang, Yulin; 0000-0002-6662-1198"],"institution":"State University of New York at Buffalo","degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Grol-Prokopczyk, Hanna","Sociology"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2025,"date_issued":"2025-02-25T23:23:22Z","date_published":"2025-02-25T23:23:22Z","updated_at":"2026-07-27T19:05:37Z","subjects":["sociology"],"languages":["eng"],"rights":["Users of works found in University at Buffalo Institutional Repository (UBIR) are responsible for identifying and contacting the copyright owner for permission to reuse. University at Buffalo Libraries do not manage rights for copyright-protected works and cannot assist with permissions.","Copyright retained by author."],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/10477/86845","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Grol-Prokopczyk, Hanna","Sociology"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Yang, Yulin; 0000-0002-6662-1198"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2025-02-25T23:23:22Z","2020","2020-08-06 14:49:00"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["State University of New York at Buffalo"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Text","Dissertation"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["sociology"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["eng"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Users of works found in University at Buffalo Institutional Repository (UBIR) are responsible for identifying and contacting the copyright owner for permission to reuse. University at Buffalo Libraries do not manage rights for copyright-protected works and cannot assist with permissions.","Copyright retained by author."]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/10477/86845"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Ph.D.","The prevalence of chronic pain in the over-50 population is approximately 25-35% and has been rising over time in the United States. However, the social consequences of chronic pain in later life are relatively understudied in the social sciences. This dissertation examines whether and how chronic pain impacts social lives among midlife and older adults in the United States. Drawing on data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), I address this research question with three empirical chapters using a variety of statistical models. In the first empirical chapter, I examine the impact of chronic pain on relationship-type-specific support and strain from spouses, children, relatives, and friends. Two competing perspectives — the classic sick role theory versus pain as a threat to social self — were tested. I first use group-based trajectory models to identify four pain trajectory groups, then analyze the associations between relationship-type-specific support and strain and pain trajectory groups with multilevel mixed-effect models. Results suggest that respondents who were consistently experiencing moderate or severe pain perceived less support and more strain from all types of relationships. Therefore, the classic sick role hypothesis is not supported, but the pain as a \"threat to the social self\" hypothesis is supported by my findings. The second empirical chapter investigates the association between chronic pain and marital quality among older heterosexual couples using dyadic analysis of Actor–Partner Interdependence Models. Results indicate that an actors' moderate pain is marginally associated with perceiving more support from their partners, while partners' moderate and severe pain is significantly associated with actor’s perceptions of less spousal support. Also, an individual’s moderate pain and his/her partner's moderate and severe pain are associated with more strain from the partner. The relationship between partners’ pain and spousal support varies by gender in that wives whose husbands experience pain perceive less spousal support, but not vice versa. In the final empirical chapter, I examine how onset of chronic pain is associated with two aspects of friendship in later life, using linear regression with a lagged dependent variable approach. Results show that the onset of moderate pain is marginally associated with reporting more friends and more frequent meet-ups, which is similar to the effects of life-threatening disease (e.g., cancer) on friendship. This association can be interpreted by both classic sick role theory and the social network activation perspective. However, different from life-threatening diseases, more severe condition, i.e., onset of severe pain, does not necessarily predict more friends or more frequent meetings, indicating that both timing and severity of pain matter in predicting friendship in later life. Overall, my dissertation integrates sociological theories in aging, health, and social relationships/networks, and uses advanced statistical methods to explore the social consequences of chronic pain.","**To request an accessible version of the file(s) associated with this item, contact library@buffalo.edu. Please include the item's persistent URL [http://hdl.handle.net/. . .] in your request.**"]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Chronic Pain and Social Relationships Among Midlife and Older Adults in the United States"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Grol-Prokopczyk, Hanna","Sociology"],"dc:creator":["Yang, Yulin; 0000-0002-6662-1198"],"dc:date":["2025-02-25T23:23:22Z","2020","2020-08-06 14:49:00"],"dc:description":["Ph.D.","The prevalence of chronic pain in the over-50 population is approximately 25-35% and has been rising over time in the United States. However, the social consequences of chronic pain in later life are relatively understudied in the social sciences. This dissertation examines whether and how chronic pain impacts social lives among midlife and older adults in the United States. Drawing on data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), I address this research question with three empirical chapters using a variety of statistical models. In the first empirical chapter, I examine the impact of chronic pain on relationship-type-specific support and strain from spouses, children, relatives, and friends. Two competing perspectives — the classic sick role theory versus pain as a threat to social self — were tested. I first use group-based trajectory models to identify four pain trajectory groups, then analyze the associations between relationship-type-specific support and strain and pain trajectory groups with multilevel mixed-effect models. Results suggest that respondents who were consistently experiencing moderate or severe pain perceived less support and more strain from all types of relationships. Therefore, the classic sick role hypothesis is not supported, but the pain as a \"threat to the social self\" hypothesis is supported by my findings. The second empirical chapter investigates the association between chronic pain and marital quality among older heterosexual couples using dyadic analysis of Actor–Partner Interdependence Models. Results indicate that an actors' moderate pain is marginally associated with perceiving more support from their partners, while partners' moderate and severe pain is significantly associated with actor’s perceptions of less spousal support. Also, an individual’s moderate pain and his/her partner's moderate and severe pain are associated with more strain from the partner. The relationship between partners’ pain and spousal support varies by gender in that wives whose husbands experience pain perceive less spousal support, but not vice versa. In the final empirical chapter, I examine how onset of chronic pain is associated with two aspects of friendship in later life, using linear regression with a lagged dependent variable approach. Results show that the onset of moderate pain is marginally associated with reporting more friends and more frequent meet-ups, which is similar to the effects of life-threatening disease (e.g., cancer) on friendship. This association can be interpreted by both classic sick role theory and the social network activation perspective. However, different from life-threatening diseases, more severe condition, i.e., onset of severe pain, does not necessarily predict more friends or more frequent meetings, indicating that both timing and severity of pain matter in predicting friendship in later life. Overall, my dissertation integrates sociological theories in aging, health, and social relationships/networks, and uses advanced statistical methods to explore the social consequences of chronic pain.","**To request an accessible version of the file(s) associated with this item, contact library@buffalo.edu. Please include the item's persistent URL [http://hdl.handle.net/. . .] in your request.**"],"dc:format":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier":["http://hdl.handle.net/10477/86845"],"dc:language":["eng"],"dc:publisher":["State University of New York at Buffalo"],"dc:rights":["Users of works found in University at Buffalo Institutional Repository (UBIR) are responsible for identifying and contacting the copyright owner for permission to reuse. University at Buffalo Libraries do not manage rights for copyright-protected works and cannot assist with permissions.","Copyright retained by author."],"dc:subject":["sociology"],"dc:title":["Chronic Pain and Social Relationships Among Midlife and Older Adults in the United States"],"dc:type":["Text","Dissertation"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-27T19:05:37Z"}