Text

theses

Older adulthood is a period of the life course during which household living arrangements may become particularly salient for health and well-being. Changes such as the loss of a spouse, age-related health declines that require assistance from other people to manage, as well as the possibility that older adults may spend more time in their residential environments than younger cohorts, are all among the reasons why living arrangements may be linked to health outcomes for older adults. Research has found consistent patterns of associations between the living arrangements of older adults, such as whether one lives alone, with a spouse, or with others, and their physical and mental health. However, scant research has considered how these patterns are associated with health across different racial/ethnic groups. Race is a strong predictor of health outcomes in later life, and older Blacks and Whites vary in both patterns of and attitudes toward different living arrangements. Expanding existing knowledge of how living arrangements are linked to older adult health outcomes by stratifying by race can further explicate how and why the individuals with whom one lives can positively or negatively affect their well-being. Using data from Wave 2 of the Survey of Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS), I construct and test two kinds of relationships among living arrangements, race, and health for older Blacks and Whites. I evaluate whether differences in living arrangements can explain the well-documented race disparities in older adult physical health, including self-rated health and functional limitations, and find that living with someone other than one’s spouse or children partially accounts for the race disparity in functional limitations. I also consider that living arrangements may be evaluated differently by older Blacks and Whites due to structural and cultural factors, and test whether variation in the statistical and cultural normativity of living arrangements produces different subjective well-being (SWB) outcomes for older Blacks and Whites, including positive affect, negative affect, and life satisfaction. I find that living with children has a positive association with positive affect for older Blacks. Finally, I consider that race intersects with other social statuses to produce health outcomes, and that experiences with living arrangements are significantly different by gender. I thus further explore how SWB is influenced by living arrangements differently for older Black and Whites by looking specifically at the experiences of women, as well as gender-specific psychosocial pathways that may account for these differences. I find that the benefits of living with children for positive affect persist when only women are considered, and that living with someone other than one’s spouse or children is associated with poorer life satisfaction among older Black women. Attention to the ways in which living arrangements are related to older adult health through race-specific contexts can help researchers, clinicians, and policy makers better address the needs of the growing and diversifying population of older adults in the United States.

ETD_10250

Ph.D.

Includes bibliographical references

doi:10.7282/t3-a6cb-6v05

ETD doctoral

The author owns the copyright to this work.