Predicting Ethnic Variation in Adaptation to Later Life: Styles of Socioemotional Functioning and Constrained Heterotypy

Abstract

It is an axiom of social gerontology that populations of older individuals become increasingly differentiated as they age. Adaptations to physical and social losses and the increased dependency that typically accompany greater age are likely to be similarly heterogeneous, with different individuals adjusting to the aging process in widely diverse ways. In this paper we consider how individuals with diverse emotional and regulatory profiles, different levels of religiosity, and varied patterns of social relatedness fare as they age. Specifically, we examine the relation between ethnicity and patterns of socioemotional adaptation in a large, ethnically diverse sample (N = 1118) of community-dwelling older adults. Cluster analysis was applied to 11 measures of socioemotional functioning. Ten qualitatively different profiles were extracted and then related to a measure of physical resiliency. Consistent with ethnographic and psychological theory, individuals from different ethnic backgrounds were unevenly distributed across the clusters. Resilient participants of African descent (African Americans, Jamaicans, Trinidadians, Barbadians) were more likely to manifest patterns of adaptation characterized by religious beliefs, while resilient US-born Whites and Immigrant Whites were more likely to be resilient as a result of non-religious social connectedness. Taken together, although these data underscore the diversity of adaptation to later life, we suggest that patterns of successful adaptation vary systematically across ethnic groups. Implications for the continued study of ethnicity in aging and directions for future research are given.

Prostate Cancer Screening Behavior in Men from Seven Ethnic Groups: the Fear Factor

“…In so doing, however, the interpretation of the predicted quadratic effect of fear becomes less simple, because all contributing factors must be accounted for in the interpretation of the original PSA and DRE scores. The coefficients b and c in the simple form of the quadratic equation, y = a + bx + cx (35,39).…”

“…However, ethnic categories, such as ''African American,'' are frequently arbitrary, in many cases encompassing U.S.-born African Americans as well as immigrants from Africa and individuals of African descent from the West Indies (38,39). Similar diversity exists within the global Hispanic grouping (36,40,41).…”

Associations between neurocognitive functioning and social and occupational resilience among South African women exposed to childhood trauma

“…For the purposes of the current study, resilience was defined as functionality relative to childhood abuse (see Consedine et al, 2004, 2005; Hayman et al, 2016 for similar approaches). Consistent with prior studies, the resilience score considered in the present report was derived by regressing the total childhood trauma score on the total household functioning score (henceforth referred to as occupational resilience), F 1, 310 = 7.48, p  = .007, R 2  = .024, and total social functioning scores (henceforth referred to as social resilience), F 1, 310 = 3.20, p  = .075, R 2  = .01, treating the standardized residuals (observed – expected) as an index of resilience.…”

“…Self-report instruments of resilience do not incorporate measures of event exposure(s) or offer a specific index of preservation of functioning (see Denckla and Mancini, 2016, for details). To address these limitations, the present study employed an index of resilience used in prior studies (Consedine, Magai, & Conway, 2004; Consedine, Magai, & Krivoshekova, 2005; Hayman, Kerse, & Consedine, 2016) that estimates functioning in social and occupational domains beyond what would be expected given prior exposure to childhood trauma. Specifically, this index is generated by regressing childhood trauma exposure on social and occupational functioning and treating the standardized residuals as an index of resilience (see Methods for further details).…”

“…Contextual relevance was based on (1) prior qualitative studies in the target population suggesting that prosocial behaviour was associated with greater educational attainment following women’s exposure to severe sexual abuse (Phasha, 2009), and (2) reasoning that a measure of occupational resilience would be especially salient given the under-resourced economic and instrumental contexts in which these women carry out their daily lives. This general approach has been used in prior studies of diverse samples (Consedine et al, 2004) and is advantaged insofar as it ensures that measurement and operationalization are contextually relevant to both (a) the common traumas and (b) adaptive outcomes of importance to the sample (see Hayman et al, 2016, for a similar approach).…”