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Social Determinants of Health Behaviour and Health of Middle-Aged and Older Adults

This subproject will examine how social factors influence health behaviours and the overall health of middle-aged and older adults, and how these influences change with increasing age.

 

Using a life course perspective and data from the ESTHER study, an epidemiological longitudinal study largely unknown in the social sciences, this subproject will undertake an analysis to determine the effects of social factors on health behaviours and the health of middle-aged and older adults. In particular, biological and medical factors will be taken into consideration. Potential interactions between biological and medical, behavioural and situational factors and their influence on health and mortality will be analysed. The subproject will examine how social factors influence the health behaviours and overall health of middle-aged and older adults and how these influences change with increasing age.

 

That there is a connection between health status and social factors has been well documented. This pertains to situation-related factors such as socio-economic status and household and living arrangements as well as the behaviour-related factors correlated to these, such as diet and physical activity. However, most studies on this topic concentrate on the working-age population and as such, cannot necessarily be projected onto older adults without further analysis. As people age, both the social factors (ex. occupation, marital status) as well as the biological and medical factors (blood values, body weight) that are important determinants for health behaviours and overall health change.

Editor: office
Latest Revision: 2011-06-21
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