# COMMUNITY RELOCATION AND HEALTH--PSYCHOSOCIAL LINKAGES

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON · 1993 · $361,485

## Abstract

This is a revised proposal for a multidisciplinary study to investigate the
psychosocial linkages between community relocation and health (mental and
physical) for older women.  Revisions made in response to IRG concerns
include:  Model - Indicators of the social environment are added; housing
type is included as an exogenous variable; methods for controlling other
sources of unobserved heterogeneity are specified.  Measures - Secondary
stressors and age density are specified; further assessment is reported for
measures of self-assessments and relocation factors; issues of reliability
are clarified.  Data Analyses - Steps to build, estimate, and test the
longitudinal model, including substantive hypotheses of the relocation-
health process, are specified; issues in modelling multi-wave data are
addressed.

The sample will be 600 women, 55+ years, obtained from waiting lists of
planned retirement communities (PRCs), naturally-occurring retirement
communities (NORCs), and subsidized housing (SHs) in Madison and Milwaukee,
Wisconsin.  Sampling from these settings ensures variability in SES, age
density, services provided, and other factors that are naturally-occurring
interventions in relocation.  The women will be interviewed within 2 months
prior to moving, and 1 month, 6 months, and 1 year after moving.
Relocation variables include "push" (e.g., health problems) and "pull"
(e.g., location, services) factors that influence the decision to move; age
density of new setting; and the voluntariness of the move.  Secondary
stressors include measures of chronic difficulties (e.g., increased
isolation) that arise after relocation.  Health status includes objective
and subjective measures of physical health, depression (CES-D and NIMH-
DIS), and positive psychological well-being.  The psychosocial linkages,
derived from self-concept theory, include the interpretive mechanisms
(i.e., self-assessments through social comparisons, reflected appraisals,
self-perceptions, psychological centrality) derived from the surrounding
social environment, that influence how older women make sense of their
relocation experiences in ways that maintain, enhance, or diminish their
health status.  Major categories of hypotheses are that (a) women with
positive relocation profiles (e.g., high push/pull "fit") will show better
health following relocation; (b) women who engage in positive social
comparisons, reflected appraisals, and self-perceptions will show better
health following relocation and that (c) these interpretive mechanisms,
derived from the social environment, will mediate or buffer the effects of
relocation factors and secondary stressors on health.  Furthermore, (d)
women who engage in positive self-assessments in life domains (e.g.,
family) that are central to their identities will show especially positive
health profiles.  Thus, (e) overall, relocation sets up a process whereby
secondary stressors, the social environment, interpretive mechanisms, and
health are ...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 3120782
- **Project number:** 5R01AG008979-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON
- **SAM.gov UEI:** LCLSJAGTNZQ7
- **Principal Investigator:** CAROL D. RYFF
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 1993
- **Award amount:** $361,485
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1992-04-01 → 1996-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/3120782

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 3120782, COMMUNITY RELOCATION AND HEALTH--PSYCHOSOCIAL LINKAGES (5R01AG008979-02). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-25 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/3120782. Licensed CC0.

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