Saturday, 15 January 2005 - 4:00 PM

This presentation is part of: Services for Older Adults

Health Status and Social Correlates of Stress Levels Among Older African American Women

Minority populations have shown higher levels of stress and fewer coping resources compared to the general population. Moreover, minority women have often been under represented in health studies. The purpose of this research was to examine the correlates of stress among 170 African American women with a mean age of 64 (50-86). Approximately 69% had less than high school education; 65% had annual income of less than $12,000 and 66% were not currently married. The dependent variable was an index of perceived stress. The independent variables were indices of hassles related to personal health, health care services and physical condition. Mediating variables were measured by indices of religiosity and social support. The control variables included age, income and education. Stepwise regression was used to enter variables in blocks in the following order: health, mediating and control variables. Results indicate that after adjusting for age, education and income, stress levels were significantly associated with hassles related to physical condition (beta = .33) and medical services (beta = .32, all P < .001). Surprisingly, neither religiosity nor social support moderated stress levels. Age and income were inversely related while education was positively related with stress level. The model explained 47% of the variance in stress levels. These results suggest that stress levels in older African American women are associated with perceived hassles related to their health status and the health services that they receive. Further research is needed on how these factors could be altered to lower stress levels in older women.

See more of Services for Older Adults
See more of Oral and Poster

See more of Celebrating a Decade of SSWR (January 13 - 16, 2005)