Life course perspective can be gained through examining how the elderly keep themselves active. In a study by Hinterlong (2006), productive engagement activities include formal and irregular paid employment, caregiving, volunteering, and informal social assistance. He wanted to determine the relationship of productive engagement to the health and observed health of older African American and whites and believed that "the relevance of race to productive engagement is best considered from a life course perspective."
             This study analyzed data from the 1986, 1989, and 1994 Americans' Changing Lives (ACL) survey. There were 494 black and 1,150 white respondents at wave 1. The sample decreased to 1,195 by wave 3, with 336 African Americans and 859 whites surviving. The Likert scale measured self-rated health and an index of activities of daily living (ADLs) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs) measured functional status. Analysis was conducted by generalized estimating equations (GEE), a method for longitudinal data that consists of repeated measures of an individual(s) over time.
             Findings showed productive engagement is related to modestly better functional status for both African American and white older adults and to better self-perceptions of health for white individuals. The findings contribute to a growing body of evidence linking engagement and health and suggest engagement improves benefits of traditional health promotion interventions, such as physical activity.
             Li and Ferraro (2006) conducted a similar study using three waves of ACL to better understand the barriers to and benefits from volunteering that change over the adult life course. They analyzed data from two groups of people, those 40-59 years old (875) and those 60 years and older (1,669). Their variables included amount of volunteer work as well as mental and physical well-being, self-esteem, social interaction, status and education. They f...