This research assesses the quantitative analyses included in four journal articles dealing with the health of older persons, wherein nutrition is one facet of the functional health of older persons. Each article is assessed separately, and no comparison is made between articles.
DETERMINANTS OF FUNCTIONAL HEALTHOF OLDER PERSONS
This study investigated relationships among demographics, self esteem, health locus of control, health promotion behaviors, perceived health, and functional health ratings in 179 older men and women in the 65 99 year old age group (Duffy and MacDonald, 1990).
Only those tables and charts dealing with the quantitative analyses performed are considered in this assessment. Table 1 presented the demographic characteristics of the research sample in terms of frequencies and percentages. These data were presented for four specific variables gender, marital status, race, and education. Using martial status for purposes of illustration, the reported frequency of 15 in the "never married" category indicated that 15 members of 179 member sample had never been married. The reported percentage of 8.4 percent for this sub group meant that 8.4 percent, or approximately one twelfth, of the total sample had never been married. With respect to marital status, the largest sub group was "widowed," for which the reported frequency was 87 and the reported percent was 48.6. These data indicated that 87 members of the 179 member research sample were widowed, and that the sub group represented almost one half of the sample. Comparable frequencies and percents were reported for each category of each of the four variables.
Table 2 presented means and standard deviations for the continuous variables measured in the conduct of the study. There were nine continuous variables age, annual income, health promotion life style profile, internal health locus of control, chance health locus of control, powerful others heal...