Showing 1 – 3 of 3 results.
Curated
Changing Lives of Older Couples (CLOC): A Study of Spousal Bereavement in the Detroit Area, 1987-1993 (ICPSR 3370)
Released/updated on: 2006-01-18
Geographic coverage: Detroit, United States, Michigan
Time period: 1987-01-01--1993-01-01
Changing Lives of Older Couples (CLOC) is a large multi-wave prospective study of spousal bereavement. Face-to-face baseline interviews with married older adults in the Detroit, Michigan standardized metropolitan statistical area (SMSA) were conducted between June 1987 and April 1988, and follow-up interviews were conducted at six months (Wave 1), 18 months (Wave 2), and 48 months (Wave 3) after a spouse's death. Each widowed person was assigned a same-age, same-sex, same-race matched control from the baseline sample. Controls were interviewed again at each of the three follow-ups as well. Spousal loss was monitored using state-provided monthly death records and through daily obituaries from local area newspapers. The National Death Index (NDI) and direct ascertainment of death certificates were used to confirm all deaths. The primary strength of the CLOC study is its ability to measure spousal bereavement quantitatively. For this purpose a global grief scale and six grief subscales, unique to the CLOC study, were prepared. Depression was measured for all respondents with conceptualizations of depression at each wave, as well as major depressive episodes according to DSM-III-R criteria. Other survey questions focused on the social, psychological, and physical functioning of older adults (e.g., demographic, financial, housing, life events, social support, work and activities, marriage and family, religion, health and well-being). For a portion of the respondents (n = 432) in what was referred to as the MacBat study, various biomedical indicators (motor and cognitive, physiological, endocrinological and biochemical) were measured as well. The CLOC study has been subset into four primary datasets. The core, or Complete, dataset (Part 1) contains all available variables from all four waves of the study (Baseline, W1, W2, W3) for the entire sample of 1,532 persons (excluding clones, the 13 individuals who initially participated in a follow-up interview as control subjects, but who subsequently experienced spousal loss, and then entered the study as bereaved subjects). The Baseline Only dataset (Part 2) contains all variables collected at the baseline interview (V1-V957) for the entire sample of 1,532 persons (excluding clones). It also contains the baseline physiological variables (V20001-V20991) from the subsample of 432 persons who also participated in the baseline MacBat portion of the study. The Widowed-Controls Only datasets (Parts 3 and 4) contain all available data from anyone who participated as either a widowed person or a control subject in at least one of the three CLOC follow-up surveys (W1, W2, W3). This dataset is available with or without clones (n = 558 subjects including clones, and n= 545 excluding clones). The Couples Only dataset (Part 5) contains data collected from both the husband and the wife of 423 couples (n = 846) and includes all available data from all four waves of data collection (baseline, W1, W2, W3). Each record contains data for the wife (the "V" variables) and data for the husband (the "S" variables). A Clones Only dataset (Part 6) is also included for the advanced user and contains data for the 13 individuals identified as clones. A case-control matched design is recommended for analysis of the Clones Only data.
Curated
Do Older Adults Know Their Spouses' End-of-Life Treatment Preferences? (ICPSR 25701)
Released/updated on: 2009-06-23
Geographic coverage: United States
When terminally ill patients become mentally incapacitated, their surrogates often make treatment decisions in collaboration with health care providers. The authors examined how surrogates' errors in reporting their spouses' preferences are affected by their gender, status as durable power of attorney for health care (DPAHC), whether they and their spouses discussed end-of-life preferences, and their spouses' health status. Structural equation models were applied to data from married couples in their mid-60s from the 2004 wave of the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study. Surrogates reported their spouses' preferences incorrectly 13 percent and 26 percent of the time in end-of-life scenarios involving cognitive impairment and physical pain, respectively. Surrogates projected their own preferences onto their spouses'. Similar patterns emerged regardless of surrogate gender and status as DPAHC, marital discussions about end-of-life preferences, or spousal health status. Implications for the process of surrogate decision-making and for future research are discussed.
Curated
Vital Statistics: Marriage Detail [United States], 1979 (ICPSR 8113)
Released/updated on: 1992-02-16
Geographic coverage: United States
This file contains demographic data for marriages occurring in the United States during the 1979 calendar year. The data were taken from marriage certificates registered with the vital statistics offices of 42 states and the District of Columbia. The certificates for each state were chosen at one of five sampling rates (5 percent, 10 percent, 20 percent, 50 percent, or 100 percent), depending on the total number of marriages performed in the state during the year. Each record includes a weight factor based on the sampling fraction of the reporting state. The demographic data collected includes age, race, previous marital status, number of this marriage, education, and natality of both the bride and groom. Information about the marriage ceremony itself includes date, day of the week, and type of ceremony.