Showing papers by "Ashton M. Verdery published in 2022"

Aging and the Left Behind: Puerto Rico and its Unconventional Rapid Aging.

Abstract: Puerto Rico is aging more rapidly than almost any country, with 2020 estimates placing its population share of adults older than 65 as being the 10 th highest in the world. Unlike most locales, Puerto Rico's aging is driven by both a) the culmination of long-running fertility and mortality trends, and b) high levels of outmigration of working-age adults, which contributes both directly (removal of young people) and indirectly (reduced births) to its pace of population aging. This article offers an overview of the main issues surrounding population aging in Puerto Rico. Policymakers and government leaders must plan for Puerto Rico's unconventional population aging, which will exacerbate traditional concerns about the sustainability of government services and long-term economic prospects. Additional concerns emerge related to reduced social support networks and their impact on caregiving dynamics and implications for health. Puerto Rico's unique history and political relationship with the United States presents challenges and benefits for its aging population. Research on aging in Puerto Rico and public health policies must adapt to the needs of the country's aging society.

Analytic Advances in Social Networks and Health in the Twenty-First Century

Abstract: The study of social networks is increasingly central to health research for medical sociologists and scholars in other fields. Here, we review the innovations in theory, substance, data collection, and methodology that have propelled the study of social networks and health from a niche subfield to the center of larger sociological and scientific debates. In particular, we contextualize the broader history of network analysis and its connections to health research, concentrating on work beginning in the late 1990s, much of it in this journal. Using bibliometric and network visualization approaches, we examine the subfield’s evolution over this period in terms of topics, trends, key debates, and core insights. We conclude by reflecting on persistent challenges and areas of innovation shaping the study of social networks and health and its intersection with medical sociology in the coming years.

Population Aging, Demographic Metabolism, and the Rising Tide of Late Middle Age to Older Adult Loneliness Around the World

Abstract: This study examines how population aging shapes a crucial aspect of mental health and social well-being: loneliness. Drawing on theories of demographic metabolism, United Nations population estimates and projections, and survey data covering approximately 50 percent of the world's population aged 50 and above living in 27 countries, we estimate the role of population aging in shaping cross-national differences in loneliness from 1990 to 2050. We used survey data to estimate the prevalence of late middle age and older adult loneliness by age and sex and then applied these rates to the evolving age and sex distributions of the populations. Our results highlight massive increases in loneliness at ages 50 and above with a tripling of the number of lonely adults in these age groups in our sample countries from 104.9 million in 1990 to 333.5 million in 2050, increasing variability across countries in the share of their populations composed of lonely adults 50 and above, and the feminization of global later life loneliness with an increasing share of lonely adults in these age ranges being women. These results illustrate the power of demographic modeling to advance our understanding of national profiles of mental health and social well-being.

Community Lost? Changes and Stratification in Perceived Neighborhood Social Cohesion among Families with Children

Abstract: Neighborhood social cohesion is strongly associated with health and well-being, especially among families with children. However, there is a widespread perception in the media, policy circles, and prominent research traditions that neighborhood social cohesion has decreased in recent decades for the United States as a whole and among certain subpopulations. Unfortunately, the empirical evidence for such trends is thin. In this study, we use data on families with children from two studies, the Survey of Income and Program Participation and the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, to explore trends in neighborhood social cohesion and how individual- and neighborhood-level characteristics pattern disparities in the experience of neighborhood social cohesion. Counter to popular perceptions, our results show increases in neighborhood social cohesion over recent decades, at least for families with children. However, our results reveal persistent disparities in the experience of neighborhood social cohesion by individual and neighborhood characteristics.

Mourning in a Pandemic: The Differential Impact of COVID-19 Widowhood on Mental Health

Abstract: Abstract Objectives The death of a spouse is an established predictor of mental health decline that foreshadows worsening physical health and elevated mortality. The millions widowed by COVID-19 worldwide may experience even worse health outcomes than comparable pre-pandemic widows given the particularities of dying, mourning, and grieving during a pandemic defined by protracted social isolation, economic precarity, and general uncertainty. If COVID-19 pandemic bereavement is more strongly associated with mental health challenges than pre-pandemic bereavement, the large new cohort of COVID-19 widow(er)s may be at substantial risk of downstream health problems long after the pandemic abates. Methods We pooled population-based Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe data from 27 countries for two distinct periods: (1) pre-pandemic (Wave 8, fielded October 2019–March 2020; N = 46,266) and (2) early pandemic (COVID Supplement, fielded June–August 2020; N = 55,796). The analysis used a difference-in-difference design to assess whether a spouse dying from COVID-19 presents unique mental health risks (self-reported depression, loneliness, and trouble sleeping), compared with pre-pandemic recent spousal deaths. Results We find strong associations between recent spousal death and poor mental health before and during the pandemic. However, our difference-in-difference estimates indicate those whose spouses died of COVID-19 have higher risks of self-reported depression and loneliness, but not trouble sleeping, than expected based on pre-pandemic associations. Discussion These results highlight that the millions of COVID-19 widow(er)s face extreme mental health risks, eclipsing those experienced by surviving spouses pre-pandemic, furthering concerns about the pandemic’s lasting impacts on health.

Covid-19 widowhood or pandemic widowhood: examining the differential implications for mental health

Abstract: Abstract Millions of COVID-19 widows worldwide face elevated mental health risks that foreshadow worsening physical health and elevated mortality. It remains unknown whether the excess mental health problems for COVID-19 widows are a result of the “bad death” experiences from COVID-19 (e.g., unexpected death and high levels of medical intervention) or pandemic-induced social changes (e.g., social isolation and limited funerals). This study examines whether older adults whose spouses died of COVID-19 disease have worse mental health (self-reported depression, loneliness, and trouble sleeping) than those whose spouses died from causes other than COVID-19 before and during the pandemic. We used Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe data collected before (Wave 8, fielded October 2019 to March 2020) and during the pandemic (COVID-19 Supplement-2, fielded June to August 2021) to compare three groups whose spouses died (a) before the pandemic, (b) from COVID-19 during the pandemic, and (c) from non-COVID-19 causes during the pandemic. We find those spouses died from COVID-19 have higher risks of self-reported depression, loneliness, and trouble sleeping than those losing a spouse before the pandemic. However, losing a spouse due to non-COVID-19 causes during the pandemic is not significantly associated with worse mental health compared to pre-pandemic scenarios. During the pandemic, older adults whose spouses died from COVID-19 report higher risks of loneliness than those spouses died from non-COVID-19 causes. This study suggests losing a spouse due to COVID-19 presents unique mental health risks for older adults, clarifying prior theories about mental health impacts of pandemic bereavement.

Left out to dry: unmet needs and risk of depression among older adults

Abstract: Abstract Pre-pandemic research has shown adverse consequences of having unmet care needs for older adults’ mental health. Due to the broad psychological distress and increased caregiving challenges during COVID-19, older adults’ vulnerabilities to unmet needs may be amplified by the pandemic, especially for those with functional limitations and intense care needs. This study aims to examine (1) the associations between unmet needs and depression among older adults before and during the COVID-19 and (2) whether the excess mental health consequences from unmet needs and COVID-19 vary by older adults’ dementia status. We pool data from the 2018, 2019, and 2020 rounds of National Health and Aging Trends Study, a nationally representative sample of U.S. Medicare beneficiaries. We analyze N=6,273 older adults aged 70 years and older who had limitations with self-care, household activities, or mobility. Results show that older adults with functional limitations experienced increased risk of depression over time. Before and during the pandemic, older adults with unmet needs and older adults with probable dementia had higher risks of depression compared to their counterparts, respectively. The risk of depression was highest among older adults who had probable dementia and could not have their care needs met. For older adults without dementia, their risks of depression increased significantly from pre-pandemic to COVID-19 if they had unmet care needs. Findings demonstrate the disproportionate impacts of COVID-19 on mental health among older adults. Older adults who have cognitive impairments and unmet needs are in particular need of mental health support.