L K George
Biographic Data
| ID | 155138 |
|---|---|
| NAME | L K George |
| GIVEN NAMES | L K |
| FAMILY NAME | George |
| SIGNATURE | GEORGE L K |
| AFFILIATIONS | Duke University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-6325-2040 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 74 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 666 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 74 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1977 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 11 |
Optimized Random-Combinations of Total Fertility Rates and Life Expectancies at Birth for Probabilistic Population Projections
Understanding the health decline of Americans in boomers to millennials
Rising childhood income inequality and declining Americans' health
Stressful Life Events
Life events are identifiable, discrete changes in life patterns that create stress and can lead to illness onset or the exacerbation of pre‐existing illness. A half‐century of research documents the strong and robust effect of negative life events on physical health, mental health, and general well‐being. Multiple social, psychological, and biological mechanisms explain why and how stressful life events affect health and well‐being
The Cumulative Impact of Chronic Stressors on Risks of Myocardial Infarction in US Older Adults
OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate the association between cumulative exposure to chronic stressors and the incidence of myocardial infarction (MI) in US older adults. METHODS: Nationally representative prospective cohort data of adults 45 years and older (n = 15,109) were used to investigate the association between the cumulative number of chronic stressors and the incidence of MI in US older adults. Proportional hazards models adjusted …
Aging, Sociology of
The sociology of aging encompasses investigations of aging as a process, of older adults as a group, and of old age as a distinctive stage of the life course. Aging research is performed at multiple levels of analysis, from macrolevel studies of age structure within and across societies, to mezzolevel studies of labor force participation and family structure, to microlevel investigations of health and well‐being. Aging research uses the full repe…
Does Medical Expansion Improve Population Health
Medical expansion has become a prominent dynamic in today's societies as the biomedical model becomes increasingly dominant in the explanation of health, illness, and other human problems and behavior. Medical expansion is multidimensional and represented by expansions in three major components of the healthcare system: increasing medical investment, medical professionalization/specialization, and the relative size of the pharmaceutical industry.…
Incorporating biomarkers into the study of socio-economic status and health among older adults in China
The social gradient in health - that individuals with lower SES have worse health than those with higher SES- is welldocumented using self-reports of health in more developed countries. Less is known about the relationship between SES and health biomarkers among older adults residing in less developed countries. We use data from the ChineseLongitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS) longevity areas sub-sample to examine the social gradient in h…
Human Development and Health
Age, Sociology of
Aging, Mental Health, and Well‐Being
Social factors are strongly implicated in mental health and well‐being throughout life, including old age. Mental health and subjective well‐being (SWB) are powerful indicators of the how well societies serve their members both individually and collectively. Effective societies not only meet the basic needs of their members, but also provide the conditions and opportunities that sustain emotional health and perceptions that life is good
Sex, Socioeconomic and Regional Disparities in Age Trajectories of Childhood BMI, Underweight and Overweight in China
Using a longitudinal dataset from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS), growth curve models were employed to examine age trajectories of BMI for 1,694 subjects who were aged 2-11 in 1993 and followed in four waves (1997, 2000, 2004 and 2006). Based on age- and sex-specific BMI cut-points recommended for international use, the prevalence rates of overweight and underweight in the transition from childhood to adulthood (age 6-18) were also …
Socioeconomic determinants of childhood overweight and obesity in China
Previous studies have widely reported that the association between socioeconomic status (SES) and childhood overweight and obesity in China is significant and positive, which lends little support to the fundamental-cause perspective. Using multiple waves (1997, 2000, 2004 and 2006) of the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) (N = 2,556, 2,063, 1,431 and 1,242, respectively) and continuous BMI cut-points obtained from a polynomial method, (mix…
Inflammation and Coagulation as Mediators in the Relationships Between Religious Attendance and Functional Limitations in Older Adults
Relationships between attendance and function may be due in part to lower levels of inflammation and coagulation among elders who attend services
Taking Time Seriously
Sociological research on mental health focuses on a multitude of dynamic processes, including changes in psychological symptoms or the onset of a mental disorder, the course and outcome of mental health problems, and the associations of mental health with a wide variety of time-varying social risk and protective factors. I argue that scholars studying mental health have, thus far, only scratched the surface of the temporal dynamics upon which men…
Longer Term Effects of Total Knee Arthroplasty From a National Longitudinal Study
Improvements in physical functioning of TKA recipients persisted in this longer term analysis of outcome in a nationally representative population study
Socioeconomic Status and the Black–White Mortality Crossover
Objectives. We investigated associations among age, race, socioeconomic status (SES), and mortality in older persons and whether low SES contributes to the Black–White mortality crossover (when elevated age–specific mortality rates invert). Methods. We used panel data from the North Carolina Established Populations for Epidemiologic Studies of the Elderly to test the main and interactive effects of SES on mortality. Results. Discrete-time hazard …
Rising U.S. income inequality and the changing gradient of socioeconomic status on physical functioning and activity limitations, 1984–2007
Still Happy After All These Years
UNLABELLED: OBJECTIVES. Understanding the factors that promote quality of life in old age has been a staple of social gerontology since its inception and remains a significant theme in aging research. The purpose of this article was to review the state of the science with regard to subjective well-being (SWB) in later life and to identify promising directions for future research. METHODS: This article is based on a review of literature on SWB in …
Diseases of the Teats and Udder
Cross-National Comparison of Social Support Structures between Taiwan and the United States
The study compares the effects of structural bases and functional elements of social support on mental health in Taiwan and the United States, using the study conducted in the United States by Lin, Ye, and Ensel (1999) as a reference. Based on a nationally representative sample of Taiwanese adults (n = 2,835), a fundamental similarity in social support structure and function between the two countries was observed. First, the structural bases of s…
Aging, Sociology of
The sociology of aging is both broad and deep. The breadth of the field can be highlighted in several ways. First, the sociology of aging encompasses investigations of aging as a process, of older adults as a group, and of old age as a distinctive stage of the life course. Second, aging research is performed at multiple levels of analysis, from macro‐level studies of age structure within and across societies, to meso‐level studies of labor‐force …
Aging, Mental Health, and Well‐Being
Social factors are strongly implicated in mental health and well‐being throughout life, including old age. Sociologists argue that mental health and subjective well‐being are powerful indicators of how well societies serve their members both individually and collectively. That is, effective societies not only meet the basic needs of their members, but also provide the conditions and opportunities that sustain emotional health and perceptions that…
Functional Disability, Disability Transitions, and Depressive Symptoms in Late Life
The authors discuss alternative interpretations of the findings and methodological concerns and also suggest avenues for future research
Socioeconomic Status and Health Across the Life Course
Religious Involvement, Social Ties, and Social Support in a Southeastern Community
Christopher G. Ellison, Linda K. George, Religious Involvement, Social Ties, and Social Support in a Southeastern Community, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Vol. 33, No. 1 (Mar., 1994), pp. 46-61
Sociological Perspectives on Life Transitions
Research on life transitions highlights the normative and nonnormative changes that individuals experience over time. During the past two decades, life course perspectives have provided a strategic context for studying the genesis of life transitions and their personal and social consequences. Both population-based and individual models of transitions have become more complex, focusing on the ways that social and historical contexts shape life tr…
Disability as a Function of Social Networks and Support in Elderly African Americans and Whites
The findings provide further evidence for the role of social relationships in the disablement process, although not all types of social relationships may be equally beneficial. Furthermore, these associations may be more complex than simple causal effects. There were few racial differences in the association of social relationships with disability, with the possible exception of instrumental support, which may allude to possible sociocultural dif…
Race Differences in Depressive Symptoms
The existence, nature, and strength of race differences in mental health remain unclear after several decades of research. In this research, we examine black-white differences in the relationship between acute stressors and depressive symptoms. We reframe the stress exposure and differential vulnerability hypotheses in the context of long-term trajectories of stress and depression, and we hypothesize that trajectories of stress growth will be ass…
Social Correlates of the Dimensions of Depression in the Elderly
Few investigations of the social correlates of depressive symptomatology have addressed variation in the correlates across multiple dimensions of depression scales. We examined the relationships of selected social, clinical, and demographic correlates with four dimensions of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression (CES-D) scale in 3,401 community-dwelling elders in the Piedmont area of North Carolina. These correlates explained significan…
Cross-sequential analysis of adult personality
Functional Disability, Disability Transitions, and Depressive Symptoms in Late Life
The authors discuss alternative interpretations of the findings and methodological concerns and also suggest avenues for future research
The Role of the Built Environment in the Disablement Process
The Disablement Process model explicates the transition from health conditions to disability and specifically emphasizes the role of intervening factors that speed up or slow down the pathway between pathology and disability. We used hierarchical Poisson regression analyses with data on older adults from central North Carolina to examine the role of the built environment as a modifying factor in the pathway between lower extremity functional limi…
I. Comparing Use of Public and Private Mental Health Services
Alternative models of the stress buffering hypothesis
The interactive effects of life events and social support on a DSM-III diagnosis of major depressive episode and on number of depressive symptoms were examined. Data are from a stratified random sample of 3,732 community-dwelling adults. The paper focuses on differences between linear probability models and logistic regression models with regard to the definition, detection, and interpretation of interaction effects. Results indicate that conclus…
Interlocking Trajectories of Loss-Related Events and Depressive Symptoms Among Elders
The results suggest that stress in later life may be conceived of as a growth process, with strong consequences for trajectories of mental health
Age-Related Declines in Activity Level
The study finds some evidence to support the idea that older adults withdraw from social activities such as religious involvement when faced with declining health. In contrast, levels of religious media use remain stable following the onset of one or more new chronic conditions
Taking Time Seriously
Sociological research on mental health focuses on a multitude of dynamic processes, including changes in psychological symptoms or the onset of a mental disorder, the course and outcome of mental health problems, and the associations of mental health with a wide variety of time-varying social risk and protective factors. I argue that scholars studying mental health have, thus far, only scratched the surface of the temporal dynamics upon which men…
Cross-National Comparison of Social Support Structures between Taiwan and the United States
The study compares the effects of structural bases and functional elements of social support on mental health in Taiwan and the United States, using the study conducted in the United States by Lin, Ye, and Ensel (1999) as a reference. Based on a nationally representative sample of Taiwanese adults (n = 2,835), a fundamental similarity in social support structure and function between the two countries was observed. First, the structural bases of s…
Sociocultural Factors in Sexual Assault
In previous research, the lifetime prevalence of sexual assault among U.S. women ranges from less than 15% to more than 50%. Much of this variability is due to methodological differences across studies, but some of the inconsistency may be substantively meaningful, reflecting the effects of social context on the risk of sexual assault. This paper provides a profile of sexual assault victims from a representative sample of urban and rural southern…
Psychiatric diagnoses of medical service users
Based on data from the five sites of the National Institute of Mental Health-sponsored Epidemiologic Catchment Area (ECA) Program, this paper examines the prevalence of psychiatric disorder among recent medical service users versus nonusers, with a particular focus on affective disorders, substance abuse/dependence, and phobias. The rate of current Diagnostic Interview Schedule (DIS) disorders among medical users in all five ECA sites is 21.7 per…
Socioeconomic determinants of childhood overweight and obesity in China
Previous studies have widely reported that the association between socioeconomic status (SES) and childhood overweight and obesity in China is significant and positive, which lends little support to the fundamental-cause perspective. Using multiple waves (1997, 2000, 2004 and 2006) of the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) (N = 2,556, 2,063, 1,431 and 1,242, respectively) and continuous BMI cut-points obtained from a polynomial method, (mix…
Rising U.S. income inequality and the changing gradient of socioeconomic status on physical functioning and activity limitations, 1984–2007
Socioeconomic Status and Health Across the Life Course
Rising childhood income inequality and declining Americans' health
Models of Transitions in Middle and Later Life
The topic of change during adulthood is receiving increased attention from social and behavioral scientists, as well as from the general public. This article describes and evaluates the contributions of four types of models designed to further our understanding of the causes and consequences of change during middle and later life: developmental models, life event models, adult socialization models, and integrated models that incorporate elements …
The Last Half-Century of Aging Research -- and Thoughts for the Future
Journal Article The Last Half-Century of Aging Research — and Thoughts for the Future Get access Linda K. George Linda K. George Departments of Psychiatry and Sociology, and Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development, Duke University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, Volume 50B, Issue 1, January 1995, Pages S1–S3, https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/50B.1.S1 …
Predictors of nursing home admission in a biracial population
Racial differences in predictors of institutionalization were studied in a biracial North Carolina cohort (n = 4074). During 3 years of follow-up, 8.5% of Whites and 6.4% of African Americans were admitted to nursing homes. African Americans were one half as likely as Whites to be institutionalized after adjustment for other risk factors. Among Whites, impaired activities of daily living and cognition were the strongest predictors; among African …
Life Course Perspectives on Intergenerational and Generational Connections
No abstract available for this article
Benzodiazepine anti-anxiety agents
BACKGROUND: Benzodiazepine anti-anxiety agents are the most widely prescribed psychotherapeutic drugs in the United States today. Recent evidence, however, suggests that their use may be decreasing. METHODS: We examine the population prevalence and correlates of use of benzodiazepine anxiolytics at the Duke site of the NIMH-sponsored Epidemiologic Catchment Area project. RESULTS: Bivariate analysis of use patterns for the drugs revealed demograph…
Aging and communication
Cross-sequential analysis of adult personality
Contemporary Theories about the Family
Contemporary Theories about the Family
Journal Article Contemporary Theories about the Family: Research-Based Theories. Vol. 1.Edited by Wesley R. Burr, Reuben Hill, F. Ivan Nye, and Ira L. Reiss and Contemporary Theories about the Family: General Theories/Theoretical Orientations. Vol. 2.Edited by Wesley R. Burr, Reuben Hill, F. Ivan Nye, and Ira L. Reiss Get access Linda K. George Linda K. George Duke University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Schola…
Quality of Life in Older Persons
Models of Transitions in Middle and Later Life
The topic of change during adulthood is receiving increased attention from social and behavioral scientists, as well as from the general public. This article describes and evaluates the contributions of four types of models designed to further our understanding of the causes and consequences of change during middle and later life: developmental models, life event models, adult socialization models, and integrated models that incorporate elements …
The urban elderly
Alternative Methods of Measuring Role/Identity
Journal Article Alternative Methods of Measuring Role/Identity: A Research Note Get access Elizabeth Mutran, Elizabeth Mutran University of Akron Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Linda K. George Linda K. George Duke University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Social Forces, Volume 60, Issue 3, March 1982, Pages 866–876, https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/60.3.866 Published: 0…
The Dynamics of Aging
Caregiver Weil-Being
The well-being of family caregivers of older memory-impaired adults was examined in four dimensions: physical health, mental health, financial resources, and social participation. Results indicated that, relative to random community samples, caregivers are most likely to experience problems with mental health and social participation. In addition, characteristics of the caregiving situation were more closely associated with caregiver well-being t…
Retirement
Retirement
Models of mental health training for primary care physicians
Since the majority of persons with alcohol, drug abuse, and/or mental disorders (19%) of Americans during any 6-month period are seen exclusively within the general health sector, it is imperative to know the quality and quantity of mental health training for primary care residents. In this study, the five program training model types previously described--Consultation, Liaison, Bridge, Hybrid, Autonomous--are validated by a random sampling techn…
Psychiatric diagnoses of medical service users
Based on data from the five sites of the National Institute of Mental Health-sponsored Epidemiologic Catchment Area (ECA) Program, this paper examines the prevalence of psychiatric disorder among recent medical service users versus nonusers, with a particular focus on affective disorders, substance abuse/dependence, and phobias. The rate of current Diagnostic Interview Schedule (DIS) disorders among medical users in all five ECA sites is 21.7 per…
The Use of Religion and Other Emotion-Regulating Coping Strategies Among Older Adults
A stratified random sample of 100 older participants in the Second Duke Longitudinal Study was interviewed. Responses to open-ended coping questions were commonly religious in nature. For at least 1 of the 3 stressful periods inquired about, 45% of the sample mentioned a religious coping behavior. Because of the socio-demographic characteristics of participants, these results provided evidence against the generally held view that religion is rele…
The Elderly
Age differences in life event qualities
Effects of age on the distribution of three life events qualities (expectation, valence, importance) for specific life events experienced during the past year by community-based adults were examined, controlling for sex, race, education, marital status, and place of residence. The controlled analyses were done using multiple regression. Data were gathered via personal interviews from 3,798 respondents aged 18 + years who participated in the Epide…
Social Support and the Outcome of Major Depression
One hundred and fifty middle-aged and elderly adults with a diagnosis of major depression were assessed initially as inpatients, and were reinterviewed 6–32 months later. Both size of social network and subjective social support were significant predictors of depressive symptoms at follow-up, with baseline depression scores and other predictors of outcome status statistically controlled. Subjective social support was most strongly associated with…
Alternative models of the stress buffering hypothesis
The interactive effects of life events and social support on a DSM-III diagnosis of major depressive episode and on number of depressive symptoms were examined. Data are from a stratified random sample of 3,732 community-dwelling adults. The paper focuses on differences between linear probability models and logistic regression models with regard to the definition, detection, and interpretation of interaction effects. Results indicate that conclus…
A More Balanced Perspective on 'Psychiatric Diagnosis as Reified Measurement
Dan L. Tweed, Linda K. George, A More Balanced Perspective on "Psychiatric Diagnosis as Reified Measurement": An Invited Comment on Mirowsky and Ross, Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Vol. 30, No. 1 (Mar., 1989), pp. 35-37
The Association of Age and Depression Among the Elderly
Advanced age among the elderly has been hypothesized to be a risk factor for depression, yet extant data do not uniformly support this hypothesis. The paucity of sufficiently large and representative samples of both the young-old and old-old and the failure to control for critical variables known to confound the association between advanced age and depression have prevented testing this hypothesis. The Duke EPESE (Establishment of a Population fo…
Life Course Perspectives on Intergenerational and Generational Connections
No abstract available for this article
Benzodiazepine anti-anxiety agents
BACKGROUND: Benzodiazepine anti-anxiety agents are the most widely prescribed psychotherapeutic drugs in the United States today. Recent evidence, however, suggests that their use may be decreasing. METHODS: We examine the population prevalence and correlates of use of benzodiazepine anxiolytics at the Duke site of the NIMH-sponsored Epidemiologic Catchment Area project. RESULTS: Bivariate analysis of use patterns for the drugs revealed demograph…
Sociocultural Factors in Sexual Assault
In previous research, the lifetime prevalence of sexual assault among U.S. women ranges from less than 15% to more than 50%. Much of this variability is due to methodological differences across studies, but some of the inconsistency may be substantively meaningful, reflecting the effects of social context on the risk of sexual assault. This paper provides a profile of sexual assault victims from a representative sample of urban and rural southern…
Abbreviating the Duke Social Support Index for Use in Chronically Ill Elderly Individuals
Psychology (56 works) · Medicine (53 works) · Health disparities and outcomes (32 works) · Sociology (29 works) · Psychiatry (26 works) · Gerontology (25 works) · Gerontology (22 works) · Demography (21 works) · Population (18 works) · Environmental health (16 works)