Maurice MacDonald

The Relationship between Physical Health and Psychological Well-Being among Oldest-Old Adults

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between physical health and psychological well-being among oldest-old adults. Structural equation modeling was performed to examine health influences on psychological well-being among 306 octogenarians and centenarians from the Georgia Centenarian Study. Latent variables were created to reflect subjective health, as measured by self-ratings of health and objective health, as measured by physical health impairment (i.e., health problems, past and present diseases, hospitalization) and biomarkers (i.e., hemoglobin and albumin). Psychological well-being was measured by positive and negative affect. There were significant direct effects of subjective health on affect and significant indirect effects of objective health through subjective health on positive affect and negative affect. Subjective health took the role of a mediator between objective health and psychological well-being. These results highlight the status and perceptions of health as a critical indicator for well-being in extreme old age.

The relationship between measures of subjective and economic well-being: A new look

The objective of this research is to examine the importance of variable specification in using economic variable to explain the variance in individuals perceived (1) overall psychological, (2) economic, and (3) non-economic well-being. Results indicate that careful specification of economic variables improves the explained variance of perceived subjective well-being. Specification of dependent variable, life satisfaction, based on a domain-specific scale, proves superior to using the response to the global satisfaction question, “How do you feel about life as a whole?’ Economic variables prove significant in explaining both perceived economic and non-economic domains of life satisfaction. Although its overall effect on life satisfaction is negative, increased family size is found to enhance non-economic life satisfaction, while detracting from economic aspects of life satisfaction.

Predicting Successful Aging in a Population-Based Sample of Georgia Centenarians

Used a population-based sample (Georgia Centenarian Study, GCS), to determine proportions of centenarians reaching 100 years as (1) survivors (43%) of chronic diseases first experienced between 0–80 years of age, (2) delayers (36%) with chronic diseases first experienced between 80–98 years of age, or (3) escapers (17%) with chronic diseases only at 98 years of age or older. Diseases fall into two morbidity profiles of 11 chronic diseases; one including cardiovascular disease, cancer, anemia, and osteoporosis, and another including dementia. Centenarians at risk for cancer in their lifetime tended to be escapers (73%), while those at risk for cardiovascular disease tended to be survivors (24%), delayers (39%), or escapers (32%). Approximately half (43%) of the centenarians did not experience dementia. Psychiatric disorders were positively associated with dementia, but prevalence of depression, anxiety, and psychoses did not differ significantly between centenarians and an octogenarian control group. However, centenarians were higher on the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) than octogenarians. Consistent with our model of developmental adaptation in aging, distal life events contribute to predicting survivorship outcome in which health status as survivor, delayer, or escaper appears as adaptation variables late in life.

The earnings of men and remarriage

Focusing on the effects of men’s earnings, this paper analyzes remarriage. Previous empirical research has not established what theoretical aspects of men’s earnings are important. Here, data for Wisconsin high school graduates that include male respondents’ Social Security earnings history are analyzed. The results indicate that absolute earnings, earnings instability, and earnings relative to peers have minimal effects on a man’s probability of remarriage, but that permanent income positively affects remarriage. However, studies of marital disruption often find permanent income is not as important as relative earnings measures. Concluding remarks speculate about the meaning of these contrasting findings for the economics of marriage.

Food Stamps: An Analytical History

Since 1970, annual federal outlays for the food stamp program have increased tenfold from

Experimental Meal Pattern Requirements and School Lunch Participation

600 million to the nearly

Does child support support the children

6 billion currently received by over 18 million recipients. Because eligibility is conditioned only on household income and assets, the program supplements the low wages of the working poor as well as public assistance payments. Food producers and distributors are also enriched. This article provides analysis of the political evolution of food stamps from a device to absorb Depression-era food surpluses into a primarily welfare-oriented program. The quantitative importance of various factors that have contributed to rapid program growth during the seventies is also assessed. The article demonstrates that Congress gradually modified the program to enhance its income supplementation role. The concluding section discusses the likely impact on the food stamp program of the Carter administration reform proposals.

Food, stamps, and income maintenance

In 1977 the Department of Agriculture proposed regulations to vary minimum meal portion sizes for children of different age grades and to effect other changes to improve the nutritional adequacy of the Type-A meal pattern requirements in the National School Lunch Program. The impact of these regulations on student participation in school lunch was analyzed. Previous research on school lunch participation has not examined the influence of meal quality variations. The Food and Nutrition Service obtained data from 352 experimental schools that implemented interim meal pattern requirements during the 1978–79 school year, and from 28 control schools. School food service manager reports and meal portion quantities were collected prior to and during the interim regulation period. Pre- and post- implementation comparisons of experimental and control school average participation rates revealed no significant participation differences. However, some experimental schools may not have implemented the requirements as well as others. Therefore variables that indicate the degree of compliance were also used in multivariate analyses of participation after implementation. There were no significant effects for the meal pattern compliance indicators. Apparently student participation would not be affected by the proposed regulations.

Earnings, relative income, and family formation

To answer the question posed in the title, we shall review and summarize descriptive empirical evidence and discuss the policy implications for better support of children. First the paper develops a perspective on the information needed to evaluate the payment of child support. We take two approaches. We discuss the evidence needed to determine whether child support constitutes a serious social problem; for this, the adequacy and equity of support income are considered. Then we examine how an empirical analysis of the process by which a custodial parent obtains child support income might inform policies of public intervention. The support system is characterized as having stages, with the transitions between them providing opportunities for intervention.