Individual Differences in Aging Minorities

Abstract

To fully understand the differences present between various ethnic and racial groups, there must be an understanding of the heterogeneity that is represented within a given ethnic/racial group. The purpose of this article is to discuss the importance of an individual differences approach in studying the ethnic diversity of an aging population. Conceptual, methodological, and design issues are discussed with the goal of better understanding the developmental processes of aging minority elderly populations.

Lifecourse Social Conditions and Racial and Ethnic Patterns of Cognitive Aging

“…Attempts to "equate" ethnic groups on years of education across ethnic and racial groups have not fully controlled for the effects of educational experience on cognitive test performance. Along with several other authors, (Loewenstein et al 1994;Kaufman et al 1997;Whitfield and Baker-Thomas 1999), we argue that due to the disparities in quality of education, matching on quantity of formal education does not necessarily mean that the quality of education received by each racial group is comparable. Systematic differences between African Americans and whites in quality of school (Welch 1966(Welch , 1973Smith and Welch 1977;Smith 1984;Margo 1985;Margo 1990) result in persistence of racial differences in cognitive test performance despite matching groups on years of education.…”

Do reading tests measure the same construct in multiethnic and multilingual older persons?

“…Increasingly, however, research involving multiethnic and multilingual samples has challenged neuropsychologists to reconsider traditional means of incorporating educational background into test interpretation as striking differences in the educational quality across Caucasians and ethnic minorities, particularly in elders, result in systematic bias when adjusting only for years of education in cross-cultural samples (Kaufman et al, 1997;Loewenstein et al, 1994;Whitfield & Baker-Thomas, 1999). While single word reading has been established as a less culturally biased proxy for educational experience (Hedges et al, 1994;Manly et al, 2002), the degree to which reading score captures a broad range of educational experience, and does so in a consistent fashion across groups remains unclear.…”

Intracultural Variation in Cross-Cultural Gerontology

“…In gerontology, Whitfield and colleagues have been instrumental in articulating the importance of individual differences research when making ethnic comparisons in a multicultural society (Whitfield and Baker-Thomas 1999;Whitfield et al 2008). Their research points again to the necessity of ensuring measurement and construct equivalence across groups in order to make meaningful comparisons, but they also draw attention to critical sampling issues and within-group heterogeneity.…”