Z Zimmer
Biographic Data
| ID | 14038 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Z Zimmer |
| GIVEN NAMES | Z |
| FAMILY NAME | Zimmer |
| SIGNATURE | ZIMMER Z |
| AFFILIATIONS | Mount Saint Vincent University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-3983-3021 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 97 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 796 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 97 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1991 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 14 |
Early-Life War Exposure and Later-Life Chronic Pain in Vietnam
Life course theories predict that early-life war experiences will impact later-life health through both risk and resilience processes, which may vary by age cohort. This study uses data on older adults from the 2018 Vietnam Health and Aging Study (N = 1,826) to explore associations between early-life war experiences and later-life moderate/severe chronic pain, highlighting the role of war-related risk or protective factors and testing for heterog…
Educational Disparities in Disability in Mid- to Late-Life
BackgroundEducational disparities in disability are substantial, but the contribution of pain remains underexplored.Research DesignUsing 2002-2018 National Health Interview Survey data, we examined the role of site-specific pain-joint, low back, neck, headache/migraine, and facial/jaw-in educational disparities in physical, cognitive, work, and social limitations, as well as activities of daily living (ADLs) and instrumental ADLs (IADLs). Karlson…
Linking Multi-Dimensional Religiosity in Childhood and Later Adulthood
This study examines religiosity patterns across childhood and later adulthood and their associations with later-life health using an experimental module from the 2016 Health and Retirement Study ( N = 1649; Mean Age = 64.0). Latent class analysis is used to categorize individuals by commonalities in religious attendance, religious identity, and spiritual identity. Cross-sectional and longitudinal associations are then explored using probable depr…
Patterns of productive aging among Vietnamese war survivors
Objectives War disrupts millions of lives, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where armed conflicts are most frequent. Although war has received extensive research attention, its long-term impact on productive aging remains unclear. This study investigates how early-life war exposure affects productive aging among older Vietnamese war survivors and examines the moderating role of past military service and gender. Methods Da…
Chronic pain prevalence and trends in urban, suburban, and rural areas amongAmerican adults aged 55+, 1998-2022
The long-term association between exposure to wartime bombing earlier in life and post-traumatic stress later in life among today's older Vietnamese population
This analysis examines the relationship between exposure to American wartime bombardments earlier in life and later-life PTSD among current surviving Vietnamese aged 59+. It also assesses whether the relationship varies by military status during the war - formal military, informal military, or civilian - and whether associations are explained by exposure to violence and malevolent conditions. Data link survey responses from the 2018 Vietnam Healt…
Rural-urban residence and life expectancies with and without pain
This paper analyzes rural-urban disparities in life expectancy with and without pain among upper-middle age and older adults. Data are from the nationally representative Health and Retirement Study, 2000-2018, N = 18,160, age 53+. Interpolated Markov Chain software, based on the multistate life tables, is used to calculate absolute and relative pain expectancies by age, sex, rural-suburban-urban residence and U.S. regions. Results show significan…
Does Pain Explain Trends in Disability? An Analysis of Middle-Aged and Older U.S. Adults, 2002–2018
Our research provides the first systematic, national examination of how pain is contributing to disability trends in the United States. The findings have implications for disability reduction policies and shed light on the far-reaching consequences of pain for overall population health
Untold Story of Wartime Children
Later-life social network profiles of male war survivors in Vietnam
Cognitive function following early life war-time stress exposure in a cohort of Vietnamese older adults
Are Religiosity and Spirituality Related to Self-Reported Health Expectancy? An Analysis of the European Values Survey
Research on religiosity and health has generally focussed on the United States, and outcomes of health or mortality but not both. Using the European Values Survey 2008, we examined cross-sectional associations between four dimensions of religiosity/spirituality: attendance, private prayer, importance of religion, belief in God; and healthy life expectancy (HLE) based on self-reported health across 47 European countries ( n = 65,303 individuals). …
War exposure
War exposure is a critical yet often ignored determinant of health in Asia. Cursory calculations suggest up to 80 per cent of Asians were alive at a point when a cumulatively intense war was ongoing in their country of current residence. As an example, data from Vietnam indicate that large proportions alive during past wars in that country experienced very traumatic and stressful events such as bombing in their region of residence and witnessing …
Respiratory Health Among Older Adults in Vietnam
ObjectiveWe explore how earlier-life military roles and war trauma associate with later-life respiratory health in Vietnam. Method: The population-based sample aged 60+ is from the 2018 Vietnam Health and Aging Study. Poisson and binary logistic regressions investigate correlates of overall lung health, measured as total number of four conditions, and individual conditions, with focus on earlier-life wartime experiences. Results: Exposure is asso…
Educational Differences in Life Expectancies With and Without Pain
Education promotes longer life and more pain-free years, but the specific degree of improvement by education varies across demographic groups. More research is needed to explain associations between education and more and less severe and limiting aspects of pain
Is Transition in Living Arrangements Associated With Older Adults’ Life Satisfaction When Preference Is Considered
While preference-matched living arrangement is critical for life satisfaction, especially for the young-old, the role of coresidence becomes more prominent at very old ages when various needs are likely to arise. It is too early to dismiss the role of coresidence with children in the Chinese context
Location and Provision of Support from Migrants to Left-behind Parents in Rural Cambodia
Assessing exposure to war-related traumatic events in older Vietnamese war survivors
These findings suggest the need for distinct but parallel approaches to measuring war-related stressors for populations of veterans and civilians exposed to war in their home countries and the need for greater public attention to the potential lingering trauma of noncombatants
Early-Life War Exposure and Later-Life Frailty Among Older Adults in Vietnam
War trauma hastens aging and warrants greater attention toward long-term implications of war on health among vast postconflict populations across the globe
Pain Trends Among American Adults, 2002–2018
Determining long-term trends in chronic pain prevalence is critical for evaluating and shaping U.S. health policies, but little research has examined such trends. This study (1) provides estimates of pain trends among U.S. adults across major population groups; (2) tests whether sociodemographic disparities in pain have widened or narrowed over time; and (3) examines socioeconomic, behavioral, psychological, and medical correlates of pain trends.…
Are Older Persons in China Living More Years in an Independent Living Arrangement? Estimates Using Multistate Life Tables
Adopting a multistate life table approach, this study estimates number of years the very old in China expect to live in an independent living arrangement (alone or with spouse only)—an estimate we term “independent living life expectancy” (ILLE)—as opposed to in coresidence with adult children or others. We also estimate how ILLE and proportion of total life expectancy (TLE) residing independently has changed over time. The backdrop for this stud…
Sociology of Chronic Pain
Chronic pain is a common, costly, and consequential health problem. However, despite some important analytic contributions, sociological research on pain has not yet coalesced into a unified subfield. We present three interrelated bodies of evidence and illustrative new empirical findings using 2010 to 2018 National Health Interview Survey data to argue that pain should have a central role in sociological investigations of health. Specifically, w…
The Structure and Determinants of Intergenerational Support Exchange Flows in an Eastern European Setting
Although the provision, receipt, and bidirectionality of support exchanges are important for generational well-being, our understanding of them is lacking in Eastern Europe, a region undergoing swift population aging and social change. This study links intergenerational support exchanges to determinants in Romania, with a focus on proximity of adult children. Data are from the Romanian Aging and Migration Survey ( N = 1,398). Analyses involve two…
Does Religious Activity Distinguish the Mortality Experiences of Older Taiwanese? An Analysis Using Eighteen Years of Follow-Up Data
Increases in BMI and chronic pain for US adults in midlife, 1992 to 2016
Recent unprecedented increases in mortality and morbidity during midlife are often ascribed to rising despair in the US population. An alternative and less often examined explanation is that these trends reflect, at least in part, the lagged effects of the obesity epidemic. Adults in midlife today are more likely to live with obesity and have a greater cumulative exposure to excess adiposity during their lifetime than any previous generation. Pri…
Living Arrangements of Older Adults in the Developing World
Although living arrangements differ across world regions and genders, within-region variations exist and are explained in part by associations between countrywide levels of education and household structure. These associations may be caused by a variety of intermediating factors, such as migration of children and preferences for privacy
Family size and support of older adults in urban and rural China
Change in China’s age structure is creating concerns about whether reductions in family size undermine traditional support mechanisms for older adults. Future generations may expect less support as the availability of children declines. In this article, the association between number of children and the receipt of instrumental and financial support is examined for rural and urban populations. Probabilities are modeled as bivariate probits. Coeffi…
Socioeconomic Status and Health among Older Adults in Rural and Urban China
Use and access to a health care professional might explain part of this anomaly
A multi-level analysis of urban/rural and socioeconomic differences in functional health status transition among older Chinese
Socioeconomic status and health among older adults in Thailand
Education of adult children and mortality of their elderly parents in Taiwan
In societies in which families are highly integrated, the education of family members may be linked to survival. Such may be the case in Taiwan, where there are large gaps in levels of education across generations and high levels of resource transfers between family members. This study employs 14 years of longitudinal data from Taiwan to examine the combined effects of the education of older adults and their adult children on the mortality outcom…
An Examination of Urban Versus Rural Mortality in China Using Community and Individual Data
There is great differentiation in economic and social life between urban and rural China, and this appears to be negatively influencing survival chances of older adults in rural areas. The policy implications are fairly clear: Investment in rural China is needed to reduce health inequalities
Older adults in sub-Saharan Africa living with children and grandchildren
Using data from Demographic and Health Surveys, we examine the composition of households containing older adults in 24 countries of sub-Saharan Africa, with a focus on those living with children and grandchildren. Overall, 59 per cent live with a child and 46 per cent with a grandchild. Men are more likely to live in nuclear households and women in extended households and alone. Regression analyses show that individual-level determinants of house…
Whose Education Counts? The Added Impact of Adult-Child Education on Physical Functioning of Older Taiwanese
This implies that models ignoring social network characteristics in determining health outcomes of older adults may be misspecified, at least in some non-Western societies, and calls for further testing in other societies as well
A Cross-National Examination of the Determinants of Self-Assessed Health
Self-assessed health measures are often utilized in surveys of older adults, and these have been found to be powerful predictors of other health indicators and future health. However, there is still much that is puzzling about the measure. Few studies use comparative techniques to ascertain the determinants of self-assessed health across diverse settings. Using recent data from the Philippines, Taiwan, and Thailand, the current study tests whethe…
Pain Trends Among American Adults, 2002–2018
Determining long-term trends in chronic pain prevalence is critical for evaluating and shaping U.S. health policies, but little research has examined such trends. This study (1) provides estimates of pain trends among U.S. adults across major population groups; (2) tests whether sociodemographic disparities in pain have widened or narrowed over time; and (3) examines socioeconomic, behavioral, psychological, and medical correlates of pain trends.…
Transitions in Marital Status and Functional Health and Patterns of Intergenerational Coresidence Among China's Elderly Population
Results are interpreted in light of the adaptability of living arrangements, novel forms such as skip generation households, and intergenerational support for China's elderly population
Poverty, wealth inequality and health among older adults in rural Cambodia
Educational attainment and transitions in functional status among older Taiwanese
Despite considerable research examining the influence of socioeconomic status on health, few studies have considered this relationship as it pertains to older adults in non-Western societies. We attempt to ascertain the influence of education on changes in physical functioning in a rapidly developing country. Data come from the 1989 Survey of Health and Living Status of the Elderly in Taiwan and a follow-up interview in 1993 (N = 4,049, age = 60+…
Sociology of Chronic Pain
Chronic pain is a common, costly, and consequential health problem. However, despite some important analytic contributions, sociological research on pain has not yet coalesced into a unified subfield. We present three interrelated bodies of evidence and illustrative new empirical findings using 2010 to 2018 National Health Interview Survey data to argue that pain should have a central role in sociological investigations of health. Specifically, w…
Persistent, Consistent, and Extensive
The increases in pain prevalence among older Americans are alarming and potentially of epidemic proportions. Population-health research must monitor and understand these worrisome trends
Living arrangements and socio-demographic conditions of older adults in Cambodia
The Rise and Prominence of Skip-Generation Households in Lower- and Middle-Income Countries
Investigations into changes in household formations across lower- and middle-income countries (LMICs) rarely consider skip-generation households. Yet, demographic, social, and economic forces increasingly encourage skip-generation household formations. We examine trends and changes in the prevalence of skip-generation households from 1990 to 2016, examining households, adults aged 60+, and children under 15, across 49 countries using household ro…
Modeling Disability Trajectories and Mortality of the Oldest-Old in China
This article uses a group-based modeling approach to jointly estimate disability and mortality trajectories over time based on data from the population aged 80 and older in China, and explores relations of demographic, socioeconomic, and early-life characteristics to membership in gender-specific trajectory groups. A three-group model best fits the data for both males and females. For most groups, predicted numbers of limitations in activities of…
Migrant Interactions With Elderly Parents in Rural Cambodia and Thailand
This paper examines interactions between older adults living in rural areas of Thailand and Cambodia and their adult children. Thai data come from the Survey of the Welfare of the Elderly (N= 3,202 older adults and 17,517 adult children). Cambodia data are from the Survey of the Elderly in Cambodia (N= 777 older adults and 3,751 adult children). Results indicate that older adults in rural areas are not being abandoned, and supportive expressions …
Reproductive History and Later-Life Comorbidity Trajectories
Reproductive lives of men and women may provide significant insight into later-life morbidity and mortality. Sociological, biological, and evolutionary theories predict a relationship between reproductive history and later-life health; however, current research is lacking consensus on the direction of the relationship. Parity, early age at first birth and last birth, birth weight of offspring, having a child die as an infant, and having a preterm…
Household Composition Among Elders in Sub-Saharan Africa in the Context of HIV/Aids
Cross-sectional and repeated surveys from household components of Demographic and Health Surveys in sub-Saharan Africa were examined to determine whether household composition indicators for older adults (N = 52,573), involving offspring and grandchildren, correlated with national levels of AIDS mortality. One in 4 was living with a grandchild whose own parents were absent. Absence was a result of residence elsewhere and parents being deceased. O…
Short Reviews
Books reviewed in this article: Martin Carnoy, Sustaining the New Economy: Work, Family, and Community in the Information Age Joop Garssen, Joop De Beer, Lieneke Hoeksma, Kees Prins, And Rolf Verhoef (Eds.), Vital Events: Past, Present and Future of the Dutch Population International Fund for Agricultural Development, Rural Poverty Report 2001: The Challenge of Ending Rural Poverty Andrew Mason and Georges Tapinos (Eds.), Sharing the Wealth: Demo…
Short Reviews
Books reviewed in this article: Gay Becker, The Elusive Embryo: How Women and Men Approach New Reproductive Technologies Theodore Caplow, Louis Hicks, and Ben J. Wattenberg, The First Measured Century: An Illustrated Guide to Trends in America, 1900–2000 Stephen Moore and Julian L. Simon, It's Getting Better All the Time: 100 Greatest Trends of the Last 100 Years Elisabeth Croll, Endangered Daughters: Discrimination and Development in Asia Barbar…
Offspring Socioeconomic Status and Parent Mortality Within a Historical Population
Considering a network approach to health determinants, we test the hypothesis that benefits of high socioeconomic status (SES) may be transmitted up the generational ladder from offspring to parents. Studies that examine own SES and own health outcomes, or SES of parents and outcomes of young or adolescent children, are common. Those that investigate SES of offspring and their association with parental health are rare. Employing data from a histo…
Common law union as a differentiating factor in the failure of marriage in Canada, 1984
Mobility Restriction and the Use of Devices among Seniors
A growing population of seniors in North America, coupled with increasing life expectancies, means there will likely be increased future demand for products to alleviate mobility problems commonly faced by elders. Although past research has documented the prevalence of mobility restriction among elderly populations, and the tendency of some to seek personal assistance to alleviate their difficulties, there is little research that looks at the use…
Leisure activity and well-being among the elderly in Taiwan
Receptivity to Protective Garments among the Elderly
Hip fractures among elders resulting from falls are a growing concern as the proportion of elders increases and health care costs mount. A recent innovation is the development of an undergarment worn to protect against hip injuries. This study attempted to determine whether a community population of elders would be receptive to wearing such a garment and the characteristics of those who would and would not be receptive. It was assumed that recept…
Educational attainment and transitions in functional status among older Taiwanese
Despite considerable research examining the influence of socioeconomic status on health, few studies have considered this relationship as it pertains to older adults in non-Western societies. We attempt to ascertain the influence of education on changes in physical functioning in a rapidly developing country. Data come from the 1989 Survey of Health and Living Status of the Elderly in Taiwan and a follow-up interview in 1993 (N = 4,049, age = 60+…
A Comparison of Correlates of Cognitive Functioning in Older Persons in Taiwan and the United States
Study findings suggest that the cognitive measures are capturing similar dimensions in Taiwan and the United States, and that factors associated with cognitive functioning and its consequences with respect to physical functioning are similar in the two countries
A Cross-National Examination of the Determinants of Self-Assessed Health
Self-assessed health measures are often utilized in surveys of older adults, and these have been found to be powerful predictors of other health indicators and future health. However, there is still much that is puzzling about the measure. Few studies use comparative techniques to ascertain the determinants of self-assessed health across diverse settings. Using recent data from the Philippines, Taiwan, and Thailand, the current study tests whethe…
Short Reviews
Books reviewed in this article: Martin Carnoy, Sustaining the New Economy: Work, Family, and Community in the Information Age Joop Garssen, Joop De Beer, Lieneke Hoeksma, Kees Prins, And Rolf Verhoef (Eds.), Vital Events: Past, Present and Future of the Dutch Population International Fund for Agricultural Development, Rural Poverty Report 2001: The Challenge of Ending Rural Poverty Andrew Mason and Georges Tapinos (Eds.), Sharing the Wealth: Demo…
Short Reviews
Books reviewed in this article: Gay Becker, The Elusive Embryo: How Women and Men Approach New Reproductive Technologies Theodore Caplow, Louis Hicks, and Ben J. Wattenberg, The First Measured Century: An Illustrated Guide to Trends in America, 1900–2000 Stephen Moore and Julian L. Simon, It's Getting Better All the Time: 100 Greatest Trends of the Last 100 Years Elisabeth Croll, Endangered Daughters: Discrimination and Development in Asia Barbar…
Short Reviews
Books reviewed in this article: Reginaijd Applbyard (Ed.), Emigration Dynamics in Developing Countries. Volume IV: The Arab Region James R. Carey and Debra S. Judge, Longevity Records: Life Spans of Mammals, Birds, Amphibians, Reptiles, and Fish Bart J. de Bruijn, Foundations of Demographic Theory: Choice, Process, Context Laurie Garrett, Betrayal of Trust: The Collapse of Global Public Health Ellen M. Gee and Gloria M. Gutman (Eds.). The Oversel…
Living arrangements and socio-demographic conditions of older adults in Cambodia
Socioeconomic status and health among older adults in Thailand
Living Arrangements of Older Adults in the Developing World
Although living arrangements differ across world regions and genders, within-region variations exist and are explained in part by associations between countrywide levels of education and household structure. These associations may be caused by a variety of intermediating factors, such as migration of children and preferences for privacy
Whose Education Counts? The Added Impact of Adult-Child Education on Physical Functioning of Older Taiwanese
This implies that models ignoring social network characteristics in determining health outcomes of older adults may be misspecified, at least in some non-Western societies, and calls for further testing in other societies as well
A geographical analysis of spatial differentials in mobility and self‐care limitations among older Americans
In this article we examine regional variations in functional limitations of older Americans. We consider models for ‘life‐long residents’ or those who currently live in their region of birth, and ‘secondary residents’ or those who live in a different region. Sizeable differences in limitations exist, with a higher rate in southern regions. Using a multinomial logit model, we further assess the geographical disparities in functional status while c…
Short Reviews
Books reviewed in this article: Kamran Asdar Ali, Planning the Family in Egypt: New Bodies, New Selves David I. Kertzer and Dominique Arel (EDS.), Census and Identity: The Politics of Race, Ethnicity, and Language in National Censuses Peter Lloyd‐Sherlock (ED.), Healthcare Reform and Poverty in Latin America Ishwar Modi (ED.), Ageing and Human Development: Global Perspectives United Nations Development Programme, Regional Bureau for Arab States, …
Short Reviews
Books reviewed in this article: Iris Chi, Neena L. Chappell, and James Lubben (eds.), Elderly Chinese in Pacific Rim Countries: Social Support and Integration Wayne A. Cornelius, Thomas J. Espenshade, and Idean Salehyan (eds.), The International Migration of the Highly Skilled: Demand, Supply, and Development Consequences in Sending and Receiving Countries Bimal Ghosh (ed.), Managing Migration: Time for a New International Regime? Institute of Me…
Changes in functional limitation and survival among older Taiwanese, 1993, 1996, and 1999
Using data from the Survey of Health and Living Status of the Elderly in Taiwan, we investigate changes in difficulties in walking and climbing stairs, tasks that represent basic lower-body movements less likely to be influenced by changes in environment and social roles than are activities and instrumental activities of daily living. Results are shown for unadjusted prevalence rates and rates adjusted for changes in population composition. The f…
Education, income, and functional limitation transitions among American adults
BACKGROUND: Although a robust association between socioeconomic status and health has been shown in past research, the processes that explain the connection are not well understood. This paper seeks to advance such understanding in two ways, first by attending to the distinction between onset of a functional health problem and its progression, and second by addressing whether and how education and income relate differently to the onset versus pro…
A Further Discussion on Revisiting the Classification of Household Composition Among Elderly People
Family size and support of older adults in urban and rural China
Change in China’s age structure is creating concerns about whether reductions in family size undermine traditional support mechanisms for older adults. Future generations may expect less support as the availability of children declines. In this article, the association between number of children and the receipt of instrumental and financial support is examined for rural and urban populations. Probabilities are modeled as bivariate probits. Coeffi…
Socioeconomic Status and Health among Older Adults in Rural and Urban China
Use and access to a health care professional might explain part of this anomaly
Research Note
Determinants of old-age mortality in Taiwan
Older adults in sub-Saharan Africa living with children and grandchildren
Using data from Demographic and Health Surveys, we examine the composition of households containing older adults in 24 countries of sub-Saharan Africa, with a focus on those living with children and grandchildren. Overall, 59 per cent live with a child and 46 per cent with a grandchild. Men are more likely to live in nuclear households and women in extended households and alone. Regression analyses show that individual-level determinants of house…
Medicine (75 works) · Gerontology (65 works) · Psychology (65 works) · Demography (59 works) · Sociology (54 works) · Population (50 works) · Demography (49 works) · Health disparities and outcomes (47 works) · Economics (36 works) · Geography (35 works)