© 1994 The Gerontological Society of America
Gender, Race, and Health: The Structure of Health Status Among Older Adults1
2 Department of Sociology, Kent State University Kent, OH 44242-0001.
3 Department of Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine 1001 West Tenth Street, Regenstrief Health Center Fifth Floor, Indianapolis, IN 46202-2859
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Abstract |
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A previously developed model of disease, disability, functional limitation, and perceived health was examined for race and/or gender biases. This model focuses on (a) the direct effects of three factors on perceived health status, (b) how disability, functional limitations, and self-rated health interrelate, and (c) how race and gender condition these interrelationships. The results confirm the construct validity of separate dimensions of disability and functional limitation, and indicate that their differential effects are further modified by gender. Eight significant differences in structural effects are identified, including one gender effect among both blacks and whites, and seven additional gender effects among whites. In the structural model, then, most differences are gender differences among whites. The significant racial differences within gender were found only in the measurement model. Race differences for upper body disability and perceived health are consistent across gender. Sex differences, however, in measures of basic ADLs and household ADLs are not consistent across race. The findings confirm earlier conclusions that differences in the measurement of health exist between males and females, and between blacks and whites, but that the differences in the causes of perceived health exist only between males and females.
Keywords: Disease, Disability, Functional limitation, Perceived health
Received August 31, 1992; Accepted September 27, 1993
1 This study was supported by grant R37-AG09692 to Dr. Wolinsky from the National Institutes of Health and by a Research and Creative Activity Award to Dr. Johnson from the Research Council of Kent State University. The opinions expressed here are those of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect those of the funding agencies or academic institutions involved.
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