Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 May 11;78(5):866-879.
doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbad001.

Everyday Discrimination, Neighborhood Perceptions, and Incidence of Activity Limitations Among Middle-Aged and Older African Americans

Weidi Qin  1 , Ann W Nguyen  2 , Yi Wang  3 , Tyrone C Hamler  4 , Fei Wang  2
Affiliations

Everyday Discrimination, Neighborhood Perceptions, and Incidence of Activity Limitations Among Middle-Aged and Older African Americans

Weidi Qin et al. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. .

Abstract

Objectives: This study aims to examine the relationship between everyday discrimination, neighborhood perceptions, and the incidence of daily activity limitations (i.e., activities of daily living [ADL] and instrumental activities of daily living [IADL]) among middle-aged and older African Americans. This study also examines whether neighborhood perceptions moderate the association between discrimination and the incidence of daily activity limitations.

Methods: Data were from the 2006 to 2016 waves of the Health and Retirement Study. African Americans aged 50 or older free of ADL limitations (N = 1,934) and IADL limitations (N = 2,007) at baseline were selected. Cox proportional hazards regression models were performed to test the study aims. Multiple imputations were applied to handle missing data.

Results: One-unit increase in everyday discrimination was associated with a 25% (p < .05) higher risk of ADL limitation onset. Perceived neighborhood social cohesion and physical disadvantage moderated the association between discrimination and IADL limitation onset.

Discussion: Everyday discrimination represents a significant stressor that negatively affects older African Americans' performance of daily activities. Community-level efforts that improve neighborhood perceptions are needed to alleviate the negative effects of discrimination on the incidence of activity limitations.

Keywords: Household activity; Older Blacks; Physical disadvantage; Self-care activity; Social cohesion.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

References

    1. Aneshensel, C. S. (1992). Social stress: Theory and research. Annual Review of Sociology, 18(1), 15–38. doi:10.1146/annurev.so.18.080192.000311 - DOI
    1. Aneshensel, C. S., & Sucoff, C. A. (1996). The neighborhood context of adolescent mental health. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 37(4), 293–310. doi:10.2307/2137258 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ben, J., Cormack, D., Harris, R., & Paradies, Y. (2017). Racism and health service utilisation: A systematic review and meta-analysis. PLoS One, 12(12), e0189900. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0189900 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bowen, M. E., & González, H. M. (2008). Racial/ethnic differences in the relationship between the use of health care services and functional disability: The Health and Retirement Study (1992–2004). Gerontologist, 48(5), 659–667. doi:10.1093/geront/48.5.659 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bowling, C. B., Deng, L., Sakhuja, S., Morey, M. C., Jaeger, B. C., & Muntner, P. (2019). Prevalence of activity limitations and association with multimorbidity among US Adults 50 to 64 years old. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 34(11), 2390–2396. doi:10.1007/s11606-019-05244-8 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types