Integrating Self-Rated Health and Social Involvement for the Examination of Mortality among Older Persons

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Abstract
Self-rated health status and social network variables have each been shown to independently predict mortality among older persons. However, the potential effect of these two variables when combined into a single index has not been studied. Therefore, this investigation integrated ratings of global health status and reports of social involvements into 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 on 6053 self-respondents aged seventy and older at baseline in 1984. Multiple logistic regression analysis, using several health status and demographic controls, showed that the combined variable produced substantial effects on mortality, particularly for the 1984–86 and 1984–88 follow-up time periods. Results suggested that integrating these two constructs may be a helpful step in research on the psychosocial epidemiology of aging.