ROLE OF ETHNICITY IN THE DISABILITY AND WORK EXPERIENCE OF PRERETIREMENT-AGE AMERICANS

Using the 1992 HRS, this study examines the effects of social and demo graphic risk factors, including ethnicity, as well as health and job c haracteristics on disability and work status among 8,701 preretirement -age Americans with work history. Analytic results indicated that non- Angle ethnicity was not a significant predictor of disability status b ut that being African American was a strong significant predictor of b eing a past versus current worker. The primary predictors of disabilit y and work status were health behaviors, effects of health conditions, job characteristics, and workplace adaptations, factors that lend the mselves to policy manipulation.