BACKGROUND Given the volume and cost of inpatient care during the last year of life, there is a critical need to identify patterns of dying as a means of planning end-of-life care services, especially for the growing number of older persons who receive services from the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). METHODS A retrospective computerized record review was conducted of 20,933 VHA patient...

OBJECTIVES Rapid growth in the size of the childless elderly population has prompted concerns about the negative effects of childlessness on psychological well-being. This study adds to this line of inquiry by examining the effects of childlessness on two important dimensions of elderly persons' psychological well-being: loneliness and depression. METHODS Using the 1993 Asset and Health Dynam...

OBJECTIVE To investigate physical activity during leisure time and commuting among persons aged 15-69 years in the urban population of Tianjin, China, and to assess its associations with demographic and health-related characteristics. METHODS In 1996 a cross-sectional survey of 2002 males and 1974 females provided information on physical activity during leisure time and commuting and on demog...

Mate preferences are cognitions about the characteristics desired in a romantic partner, and many of these cognitions have links with emotion, such as the preferences for ``mutual attractionÐlove'' and ``emotional stability and maturity''. A large literature has emerged over the past several decades on the characteristics that men and women desire in a long-term mate. This research has addresse...

OBJECTIVES Although fibromyalgia criteria have been in effect for decades, little is known about how the fibromyalgia diagnosis is applied and understood by clinicians and patients. We used the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) to determine the prevalence of self-reported clinician diagnosed fibromyalgia and then compared demographics, symptoms, disability and medical utilization measures...

OBJECTIVES To examine the association of living arrangements with functional disability among older persons and explore the mediation of impact factors on the relationship. DESIGN Cross-sectional analysis using data from Healthy Aging study in Zhejiang Province. PARTICIPANTS Analyzed sample was drawn from a representative rural population of older persons in Wuyi County, Zhejiang Province, ...

This article critically evaluates the available data on trends in divorce in the United States. We find that both vital statistics and retrospective survey data on divorce after 1990 underestimate recent marital instability. These flawed data have led some analysts to conclude that divorce has been stable or declining for the past three decades. Using new data from the American Community Survey...