INTEGRATING SELF-RATED HEALTH AND SOCIAL INVOLVEMENT FOR THE EXAMINATION OF MORTALITY AMONG OLDER PERSONS

Self-rated health status and social network variables have each been s hown to independently predict mortality among older persons. However, the potential effect of these two variables when combined into a singl e index has not been studied. Therefore, this investigation integrated ratings of global health status and reports of social involvements in to a single, combined variable. This variable was then used to predict mortality over three time periods (1984-1986, 1984-1988, 1984-1990). Data were drawn from the Longitudinal Study of Aging, and were based o n 6053 self-respondents aged seventy and older at baseline in 1984. Mu ltiple logistic regression analysis, using several health status and d emographic controls, showed that the combined variable produced substa ntial effects on mortality, particularly for the 1984-86 and 1984-88 f ollow-up time periods. Results suggested that integrating these two co nstructs may be a helpful step in research on the psychosocial epidemi ology of aging.