Lewis Joshua C J, Drentea Patricia, Warner David F
Department of Sociology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, USA.
Center for Family and Demographic Research, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio, USA.
Gerontologist. 2024 Dec 13;65(1). doi: 10.1093/geront/gnae111.
Although prior research has identified racial/ethnic and gender differences in successful aging (SA), heterogeneity within groups has been little examined. We consequently explore the variety of aging experiences among older Black women.
We used the 2010/2012 U.S. Health and Retirement Study, limiting analyses to Black women who completed the Psychosocial Leave-Behind Questionnaire (N = 1,186). We conducted latent class analysis using indicators of physical health, psychological well-being, social support/strain, and social engagement.
Six SA latent classes were identified and labeled according to their distinctive characteristics: infirm, isolated, taxed, independent, vivacious, and robust. The infirm class had uniformly poor health, whereas the isolated class was in poor physical health but also lacked social relations. Although both had average physical health and psychological well-being, the taxed class experienced high levels of social support and social strain compared to the high support (and unpartnered) independent class. The vivacious and robust classes exhibited high physical health and psychological well-being, high social support/low social strain, and high social engagement, but vivacious women (23% of respondents) were unpartnered and robust women (16% of respondents) were partnered. The robust class had the highest physical and psychological well-being, and best social relations across all classes.
Using nationally representative data, we reveal significant heterogeneity in Black women's aging experiences. Although many face difficult aging experiences, 39% of older Black women fit the SA framework well. Future work should recognize that Black women's aging experiences are not homogenous.
尽管先前的研究已经确定了成功老龄化（SA）方面的种族/族裔和性别差异，但群体内部的异质性却很少得到研究。因此，我们探讨老年黑人女性的各种衰老经历。
我们使用了2010/2012年美国健康与退休研究，将分析限制在完成社会心理遗留问卷的黑人女性中（N = 1186）。我们使用身体健康、心理健康、社会支持/压力和社会参与度指标进行了潜在类别分析。
确定了六个成功老龄化潜在类别，并根据其独特特征进行了标注：体弱型、孤立型、负担型、独立型、活泼型和强健型。体弱型类别健康状况普遍较差，而孤立型类别身体健康状况不佳且缺乏社会关系。与高支持（且无伴侣）的独立型类别相比，负担型类别虽然身体健康和心理健康状况一般，但经历了高水平的社会支持和社会压力。活泼型和强健型类别表现出身体健康和心理健康状况良好、社会支持高/社会压力低以及社会参与度高，但活泼型女性（占受访者的23%）无伴侣，强健型女性（占受访者的16%）有伴侣。强健型类别在所有类别中身体健康和心理健康状况最佳，社会关系也最好。
使用具有全国代表性的数据，我们揭示了黑人女性衰老经历中的显著异质性。尽管许多人面临艰难的衰老经历，但39%的老年黑人女性非常符合成功老龄化框架。未来的研究应该认识到黑人女性的衰老经历并非同质化的。
