Journal
JOURNALS OF GERONTOLOGY SERIES B-PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
Volume 64, Issue 1, Pages 87-94Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC
DOI: 10.1093/geronb/gbn007
Keywords
Self-rated health; Health pessimism; Objective measures; Physical functioning
Funding
- Kellogg Health Scholars Program
- W. K. Kellogg Foundation [P0117943]
- University of Pittsburgh Center for Minority Health [NIH-5-P60MD000207-07]
- National Institutes of Health
- National Institute on Aging
- [N01-AG-6-2101]
- [N01-AG-6-2103]
- [N01-AG-6-2106]
- [R01 AG18037]
- NATIONAL CENTER ON MINORITY HEALTH AND HEALTH DISPARITIES [P60MD000207] Funding Source: NIH RePORTER
- NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON AGING [N01AG062106, N01AG062101, R01AG018037, N01AG062103] Funding Source: NIH RePORTER
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Background. The health pessimism hypothesis suggests that Black elders are more pessimistic about health than Whites and therefore tend to report lower self-rated health (SRH) at comparable health status. The current analysis examined the factors associated with SRH and tested the health pessimism hypothesis among older adults at similar levels of physical functioning. Methods. The study example included 2,729 Health, Aging, and Body Composition study participants aged 70-79 years. We used hierarchical logistic regression to examine the association between race and SRH while adjusting for demographic, physical health, and psychosocial factors. The analyses were repeated for participants at similar levels of objective functioning to test the health pessimism hypothesis. Results. The association between race and SRH remained independent of physical and psychosocial health variables, with Whites being 3.7 times more likely than Black elders to report favorable SRH. This association was significant at each level of physical functioning and greater at the higher (odds ratio [OR] = 5.5) versus lower ( OR = 2.2) levels of functioning. Conclusions. The results suggest greater health pessimism among Black elders and expand previous work by including objective functioning in multidimensional models to deconstruct race variations in the SRH of older adults
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