Abstract
The present study examined how self-rated health was influenced by sociodemographic characteristics, physical health indicators, and sociocultural resources among four racial/ethnic groups of older adults. The data source was the Survey of Older Floridians, a statewide sample of Whites (n = 503), African Americans (n = 360), Cubans (n = 328), and non-Cuban Hispanics (n = 241) who were age 65 and older. Hierarchical regression models of self-rated health were estimated to explore the direct effects of the predictor variables as well as their interactive roles in each racial/ethnic group. Compared to Whites, racial/ethnic minority older adults rated their health more poorly. Although physical health indicators were significant predictors of self-rated health across all groups, the authors found group-specific predictors and interactions. Findings show similarities and differences in predictors of self-rated health across diverse racial/ethnic groups and suggest the importance of understanding group-specific factors in efforts to improve older adults' perceived and actual health.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 201-219 |
| Number of pages | 19 |
| Journal | Research on Aging |
| Volume | 35 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Mar 2013 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:We thank T. Fredericks, J. Ward, and K. Webb for assistance with data acquisition and preparation, A. Dhondt, M. Iliff, and D. Winkler for valuable discussions, and two anonymous reviewers for constructive comments. We are grateful to the many eBird participants for their contributions. This work was funded by the Leon Levy Foundation, Wolf Creek Foundation, and the National Science Foundation (IIS-1125098 and IIS-1017793) with computing support from CNS-1059284, OCI-1053575, and DEB-110008.
Keywords
- disability
- minority older adults
- racial/ethnic differences
- self-rated health