• 2002 Fellow, Gerontology Society of America
• 1997 Charter Fellow, Association for Gerontology in Higher Education
• 1993 President's Award, Outstanding Service, Southern Gerontological Society
• 1992 President's Award, Outstanding Service, Southern Gerontolgical Society

Rural older adult quality of life - Older women - Health decision-making - Examination of family and well-being scales

FSoS 8200: Process Seminar

Rural Older Adult Quality of Life In the area of rural older adult quality of life, I have supported my work with both internal and external funding to examine the effects of social risks and resources on older rural Appalachian adults mental and physical health, the relationship of psychological hardiness to aspects of mental health, and most recently, factors affecting the sustained work of older farmers. This body of work includes papers and presentations investigating the relationships of various psychosocial factors to mental health outcomes including depressive symptomatology, anxiety, and positive and negative affect; social and individual predictors of social service and rural health service utilization; the availability of psychological resources for older rural adults; barriers to service delivery and public policy in rural areas; and gender differences in family proximity, social support, mental health, and rural women's health decisions.

Older Women A second theme found in my research is the investigation of issues relating to older women and gender. Some of the empirical and review work in this area has focused on rural women while other pieces have examined issues relevant to the general population of older women. In collaboration with colleagues in 1997, I edited a book entitled Old, Female, and Rural. This collection of papers focused on the value of qualitative and quantitative contributions and the importance of critical comment of a collection of manuscripts.

Methodological Issues The third theme I have pursued in my scholarly work concerns the replicability of scales across diverse groups. The basis for this work has been my concern for over-generalization. Although it is true that scale consistency is important for comparisons across studies, greater attention is needed regarding the possible effects that population subgroup membership might have for validity and reliability. I have used confirmatory factor analysis techniques to examine the hypothesized factor structure of commonly used family and well-being scales. In these studies, my primary interest has been the testing of hypotheses and research questions addressing the appropriateness of assuming a universal meaning for complex well-being and family constructs across heterogeneous families or groups of older adults.

Schulman, E.D., Gairola, G., Kuder, L., & McCulloch, B.J. (2002). Depression and Associated Characteristics among Elderly Community Dwelling Residents. Journal of Allied Health. 31:140-146.

Plahuta, J.M., McCulloch, B.J., Kasarskis, E.J., Ross, M.A., Walter, R.A., & McDonald, E.R. 2002. ALS and Hopelessness: Psychosocial Factors. Social Science and Medicine 55: 49-58.

Lawrence, S.A., & McCulloch, B.J. 2001. Rural Mental Health and Elders: Historical Inequities. In B.J. McCulloch & G.D. Rowles (Eds.), Special Issue: Journal of Applied Gerontology, 20:144-169.

Richardson, D., McCulloch, B.J., & Rowles, G.D. 2001. Homeostasis and Complexity as Integrating Tools in Gerontological Education. Educational Gerontology, 27: 669-680.

McCulloch, B.J. 1998. Old, Female, and Rural. New York: Haworth Press.

McCulloch, B. J., & Kivett, V. R. 1998. Older Rural Women: Aging in Historical and Current Contexts. In R. T. Coward & J. A. Krout (Eds.), Aging in Rural Settings: Life Circumstances and Distinctive Features (pp. 149-166). New York: Springer.

Wilson, S. M., Larson, J. H., McCulloch, B. J., & Stone, K. L. 1997. Dyadic Adjustment: An Ecosystemic Examination. American Journal of Family Therapy 25: 291-306.

McCulloch, B.J. 1995. Aging and Kinship in the Rural Context. In R. Blieszner & V.H. Bedford (Eds.), Handbook on Aging and the Family (pp. 332-354). Westport, CT:Greenwood Press.

McCulloch, B.J. 1995. The Relationship of Family Proximity and Social Support to the Mental Older Rural Adults: The Appalachian Context. Journal of Aging Studies 9: 65-81.

McCulloch, B.J., & Kivett, V.R. 1995. Characteristics of and Survivorship among the Very-Old: Implications for Rural Families and Service Delivery. Family Relations 44:87-94.

Wineman, N. M., Durand, E. J., & McCulloch, B. J. 1994. Revisiting the Ways of Coping Questionnaire: Examination of Factor Structure with a Clinical Population. Journal of Nursing Research 43: 267-273.