Skip to main content
GSA 2024 Main banner
Icon Legend
This session is not in your schedule.
This session is in your schedule. Click again to remove it.
Back
Symposium

Behavioral and Social Sciences

Contextual Determinants of Aging and Health

Thursday, November 14, 2024
8:00 AM – 9:30 AM PST
Location: Room 615
CE: 1.5

    Chair(s)

  • JY

    Jiao Yu, PhD (she/her/hers)

    Postdoc Associate
    Department of Health Policy & Management
    Yale University
    New Haven, Connecticut, United States

    • Discussant(s)

  • RT

    Roland Thorpe, Jr., ,PhD, FGSA (he/him/his)

    Professor
    Health, Behavior, and Society
    Johns Hopkins University
    Baltimore, Maryland, United States

    • Individual Symposium Abstract First Author(s)

  • Min Hee Kim, PhD (she/her/hers)

    Assistant Professor
    Institute for Health Policy Studies
    Rutgers University
    San Francisco, California, United States

  • Yulin Yang, PhD

    Postdoctoral researcher
    Epidemiology and Biostatistics
    University of California San Francisco
    San Francisco, California, United States

  • WQ

    Weidi Qin, PhD, MSW, MPH

    Assistant Professor
    Sandra Rosenbaum School of Social Work
    University of Wisconsin Madison
    Madison, Wisconsin, United States

  • Shutong Huo, MPH (she/her/hers)

    PhD student
    Department of Health, Society, and Behavior
    University of California Irvine
    Irvine, California, United States

Addressing social determinants of health is crucial for promoting healthy aging. As this field grows, there is an increasing emphasis on understanding the upstream contextual factors of poor health and inequities. Contextual factors, operating at multiple societal levels, profoundly shape health and well-being among older adults. Guided by social disadvantage theory, this symposium aims to advance research on contextual determinants of aging and health through both innovative multilevel and life course perspectives as well as methodological advancements in novel statistical models and machine learning methods. This symposium will present four studies exploring how important contextual factors, ranging from education, neighborhoods, and childhood social-historical contexts are associated with health outcomes among older adults. Dr. Kim et al.’s interdisciplinary study delves into the micro-level, employing quantile regressions to investigate gender differences in the effects of education on brain pathology and cognitive decline. Dr. Yang et al. explore how meso-level neighborhood affluence and disadvantage influence older adults’ pain outcomes and medication choices. Focusing on minority aging, Dr. Qin et al. examine how neighborhood disadvantage moderates the association between disability and cognitive decline among older Mexican Americans. Finally, Huo and co-authors take a life course perspective, utilizing machine learning tree and forest models to examine a comprehensive set of 43 childhood micro- and meso-level family and residential characteristics contributing to later life frailty. Through these diverse investigations, this session will provide insights into the contextual determinants related to healthy aging, which will inform targeted interventions and policies to address health disparities among older populations.

Learning Objectives:

  • After attending this session, participants will be able to better understand how contextual factors, particularly neighborhood characteristics and childhood circumstances influence various health outcomes, including cognitive health, functional health, and disabilities.
  • After attending this session, participants will gain insights into the recent methodology advancements, such as quantile regression, machine learning models, in researching contextual determinants of health.
  • After attending this session, participants will be able to understand how integrating multilevel and life course perspectives into gerontological research can advance understanding of healthy aging in later life.

Presentations:

  • 8:00 AM – 9:30 AM PST
    The Role of Education on Brain Pathology and Cognitive Decline Across Women and Men in the US

    Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Min Hee Kim, PhD (she/her/hers) – Rutgers University

  • 8:00 AM – 9:30 AM PST
    The Role of Neighborhood Disadvantage in Pain and Medication Among Older Adults With or Without Cognitive Impairment

    Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Yulin Yang, PhD – University of California San Francisco

  • 8:00 AM – 9:30 AM PST
    Neighborhood Disadvantage, Functional Disability, and Cognitive Decline Among Older Mexican Americans

    Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Weidi Qin, PhD, MSW, MPH – University of Wisconsin Madison

  • 8:00 AM – 9:30 AM PST
    Childhood Roots of Frailty: Machine Learning Insights Into Health Inequality in Later Life

    Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Shutong Huo, MPH (she/her/hers) – University of California Irvine