Age Trajectories of Physical Health Among Older Adults of Mexican Descent: Implications of Immigrant Status, Age at Immigration, and Gender

Abstract

This study highlights the multidimensional nature of physical health by demonstrating that immigrant status-gender disparities can vary by the health outcome examined.

Gender and Age of Migration Differences in Mortality Among Older Mexican Americans

“…Consistent with prior studies, we find men who migrated as children have similar mortality profiles as their U.S.-born co-ethnics (Angel et al, 2010;Holmes et al, 2015). These findings corroborate previous research documenting health advantages among midlife migrant men in disability, functional limitations, and cognitive functioning (Garcia & Reyes, 2018;Garcia, Valderrama-Hinds, et al, 2017;Hill et al, 2012;Monserud, 2017).…”

“…In sum, previous research has found that midlife migrants tend to have better health outcomes than individuals born in the U.S. as well as those arriving in early-or late-life (Garcia & Reyes, 2018;Gubernskaya, 2015). Furthermore, immigrant men from Mexico retain a health advantage longer than immigrant women across several health domains including: self-rated health (Gubernskaya, 2015;Read & Reynolds, 2012), disability (Garcia & Reyes, 2018;Monserud, 2017), obesity (Antecol & Bedard, 2006), and cognition (Hill et al, 2012). Two explanations are posited for the observed gender differences: First, women are less autonomous in the migration process (Carr & Tienda, 2013;Treas, 2015), and thus may be less select on individual health characteristics than men upon initial migration and may also experience faster declines in health since arrival (Eschbach, Al-Snih, Markides, & Goodwin, 2007;Markides & Rote, 2015).…”

“…However, the ability of midlife migrant men and women to retain these health advantages varies across health outcomes. Midlife male migrants from Mexico have slower cognitive decline yet exhibit a faster decline in self-rated health, chronic conditions, and physical functioning compared to their U.S.-born co-ethnics; whereas midlife female migrants exhibit no advantages in their health trajectories in late life (Garcia & Reyes, 2018;Gubernskaya, 2015;Hill et al, 2012;Monserud, 2017).…”

“…Among migrants from Mexico to the U.S. during the 20th century, men are more likely to migrate for occupational opportunities, whereas women are more likely to migrate to follow their husbands or for family reunification at older ages (Carr & Tienda, 2013;Donato, 2010;Massey et al, 2006). In addition, recent findings show the association between age of migration and several health domains including morbidity, physical functioning, cognition, disability, and mental health among older Mexican-Americans to vary by gender (Garcia & Reyes, 2018;Garcia, Valderrama-Hinds, et al, 2017;Hill, Angel, Balistreri, & Herrera, 2012;Monserud, 2017;Monserud & Markides, 2018).…”

Factors Associated With Physical Performance Measures in a Multiethnic Cohort of Older Adults

“…Similarly, some significant associations by ethnic groups may have been missed (Type II error) because of low power in data. Also, the study was not powered to examine specific subgroups within ethnic minorities (e.g., U.S.- vs. foreign-born), hence each ethnicity was regarded as a homogeneous group and the effect of cultural beliefs, nativity, immigration status, and acculturation ( Monserud, 2017 ) on PP was not explored. Adjusted R 2 in several models across the ethnic groups was less than 20%, suggesting that residual confounding and factors not available for inclusion in the models (e.g., social gradient, childhood health, diet; Nguyen et al, 2014 ; Stuck et al, 1999 ) may have explained additional variance.…”