GENDER, RACE, AND HEALTH - THE STRUCTURE OF HEALTH-STATUS AMONG OLDERADULTS

A previously developed model of disease disability, functional limitat ion, and perceived health was examined for race and/or gender biases. This model focuses on (a) the direct effects of three factors on perce ived health status, (b) how disability, functional limitations, and se lf-rated health interrelate, and (c) how race and gender condition the se interrelationships. The results confirm the construct validity of s eparate dimensions of disability and functional limitation, and indica te that their differential effects are further modified by gender. Eig ht significant differences in structural effects are identified, inclu ding one gender effect among both blacks and whites, and seven additio nal gender effects among whites. In the structural model, then, most d ifferences are gender differences among whites. The significant racial differences within gender were found only in the measurement model. R ace differences for upper body disability and perceived health are con sistent across gender. Sex differences, however, in measures of basic ADLs and household ADLs are not consistent across race. The findings c onfirm earlier conclusions that differences in the measurement of heal th exist between males and females, and between blacks and whites, but that the differences in the causes of perceived health exist only bet ween males and females.