Lifecourse Patterns of Productive Engagement among Rural and Urban Older Adults

<p>Many older adults are engaged in productive activities that have important ramifications for health in later life. However, little is known about rural-urban patterns of productive engagement across the lifecourse. This dissertation used six waves (2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018) of the nationally representative Health and Retirement Study to identify patterns of working, volunteering, and caregiving activities over a ten-year period using multichannel sequence analysis and cluster analysis. The antecedents of the patterns were studied using multinomial logistic regression, and the associations of the patterns with longstanding rural-urban disparities in cognitive functioning and self-rated health were studied using multiple linear regression and ordinal logistic regression, respectively. This study found conceptually meaningful patterns of productive engagement that varied by rural/urban residence and age groups. Furthermore, rural respondents had a significantly lower likelihood than urban respondents of being in the pattern of ‘increasing high-intensity volunteering’ and the pattern of ‘decreasing part-time working,’ after controlling for gender, age, education, marital status, race, religious affiliation, income, and number of diagnosed health problems. Finally, the patterns of ‘increasing high-intensity volunteering,’ ‘decreasing full-time working and low-intensity volunteering,’ and ‘decreasing full-time working and high-intensity volunteering’ were significantly associated with higher cognitive functioning scores in 2018; the pattern of ‘decreasing full-time working and low-intensity volunteering’ was significantly associated with higher self-rated health in 2018; and the pattern of ‘steady caregiving and decreasing volunteering and working’ was associated with lower self-reported health in 2018. These findings may inform programs and policies aimed at narrowing rural-urban health disparities and increasing the productive engagement of rural and urban older adults.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Social Work

Year dc:date.available

2024

Author dc:creator

• Sun, Peter C

Contributors dc:contributor

• Nancy Morrow-Howell

• caregiving;productive aging;sequence analysis;volunteering;working
• Social and Behavioral Sciences
• Social Work

Statement dc:rights

• I have not registered my thesis with the U.S. Copyright Office, and do not intend to.

Language dc:language

English (en)

Identifier

https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/brown_etds/28

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:openscholarship.wustl.edu:brown_etds-1027