Kelley-Moore Jessica, Huang Wenxuan
1 Department of Sociology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA.
Res Aging. 2017 Apr;39(4):526-548. doi: 10.1177/0164027516655582.
Race differences in midlife circumstances explain much of the disability gap in older adulthood, but questions remain about whether early life selection processes are race invariant. To address this, we (1) isolate the 1930s cohort to explore potential race-specific life courses and (2) utilize a two-stage estimation procedure to examine the role of early-to-midlife selection in shaping later-life functional limitations. Using data on Black and White adults born 1931-1941 from the Health and Retirement Study (W2-W9), we estimate trajectories of later-life functional limitations after modeling midlife income and comorbidity as a function of early life factors. Fair/poor childhood health similarly impacts midlife morbidity for both races. Childhood disadvantage (poor family, father unemployed, and no father/deceased) had an adverse effect on midlife income for White but not for Black adults. An education gradient in functional limitations exists only for White adults. We interpret these findings in the sociohistorical context of this birth cohort.
中年时期环境方面的种族差异在很大程度上解释了老年期的残疾差距，但早期生活选择过程是否存在种族不变性仍存在疑问。为了解决这个问题，我们（1）隔离出20世纪30年代出生的人群，以探索潜在的特定种族生活轨迹，（2）采用两阶段估计程序，研究从早年到中年的选择在塑造晚年功能限制方面的作用。利用来自健康与退休研究（W2 - W9）中1931年至1941年出生的黑人和白人成年人的数据，我们在将中年收入和合并症建模为早期生活因素的函数后，估计晚年功能限制的轨迹。童年健康状况不佳/较差对两个种族的中年发病率有类似影响。童年劣势（家庭贫困、父亲失业以及没有父亲/父亲去世）对白人中年收入有不利影响，但对黑人成年人没有。功能限制方面的教育梯度仅存在于白人成年人中。我们在这一出生队列的社会历史背景下解读这些发现。
