Subjective Disability and Mortality Risk among Elderly Mexican Americans with Severe Physical Limitations

• In Event: 499 - Section on Aging and the Life Course Roundtable Session.
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 05. Illness and Disability Experience

Abstract

Abstract: Using the disablement process framework, we examine the impact of the degree of concordance between objective measures of functional capacity and self-assessed disability on mortality for elderly Mexican Americans over a seventeen year period. The analyses are based on the longitudinal Hispanic Established Populations for the Epidemiologic Study of the Elderly (HEPESE). Analysis is limited to individuals with severe measured physical limitations (N=863), labeling those who report disability “realists” and those who do not “optimists”. Logistic models reveal that mortality is higher for “realists” than for “optimists”. The association between optimism and mortality is mediated by more complex measures of disability and reveals the complex cognitive and social construction of self-reported measures of physical functioning. We discuss the implications of the discrepancies for understanding predictors of functional decline in the older Mexican-origin population.

Authors

• Ronald J. Angel, University of Texas-Austin

• Phillip Cantu, University of Texas