Coping Skills As a Mediating Factor in Perceived Stress and Life Satisfaction: A Comparison between Minority and Non-Minority Older Adults

Purpose: Despite of the importance of quality of life in old age, minority groups typically face difficulty in ensuring a high level of life satisfaction. When minority groups face stressful situations, they are more likely to have difficulties in improving their quality of life. Older minority group members face double jeopardy – racial discrimination and age discrimination which can lead to added stress. Few quantitative studies to date have focused on the differences between minority and non-minority older adults in examination of how the stress an older adult experiences and the coping skills they use to combat that stress may impact their quality of life. The purpose of this is to explore the mediating affects of coping skills on the relationship between perceived stress and life satisfaction among minority and non-minority older adults.  

Methods: This current study utilized data from the Well Elderly 2 study (n=1600) conducted in Los Angeles, California during 2004-2008. The Well Elderly 2 study was a face-to-face survey that obtained self-reported measures of individual health-related quality of life, life satisfaction, and depression. The Well Elderly 2 sample includes 600 whites, 523 African Americans, 342 Hispanics, 69 Asian, and 62 individuals of other races/ethnicities (all of whom were 60 years or older). A multiple linear regression of quality of life was run on stress and coping skills.

Results: Both minority and non-minority older adults (67% female and 33% male) were included in the analysis. Of those participants, 29% had less than a high school education, 20% completed high school, and 51% were educated beyond the high school level. Seventy six percent of the participants were retired, and half of participants (52%) made less than $1000 per month. A multiple regression of QOL on stress and coping skills for minority older adults (n=990) revealed that for each additional point a participant scores on the stress scale, the QOL score decreases by .189 points (b = -.189, t=-14.209, p=.000). For each additional point an individual scores on the coping skills scale, the QOL score increases by .137 points (b = .137, t=-4.780, p=.000). To compare, the analysis was run again with non-minority older adults. A multiple regression of QOL on stress and coping skills for non-minority older adults (n=596) revealed that for each additional point a participant scores on the stress scale, the QOL score decreases by .262 points (b = -.262, t=-14.553, p=.000). For each additional point an individual scores on the coping skills scale, the QOL score increases by 1.861 points (b = 1.861, t=5.707, p=.000).

Conclusions and Implications: As hypothesized, coping skills significantly improved the quality of life in older adults when controlling for stress; however this improvement was much more apparent for non-minority older adults than for minority older adults. This demonstrates the double-jeopardy principle which affects minority older adults. Future research should delve into this difference in the effectiveness of coping skills on decreasing stress among different racial and ethnic groups and on ways to reduce this disparity.