RACIAL/ETHNIC HETEROGENEITY IN WOMEN’S AGING EXPERIENCES OVER TIME: A LATENT TRANSITION ANALYSIS

U.S. population aging and unprecedented racial/ethnic diversity will affect the
types of social and healthcare services older adults need. These projections have renewed
attention to healthy aging, which refers to the physiological/functional, psychological,
and social capacity to maintain well-being. Extant research finds that most are aging
unwell and through binary and biomedical operationalizations—which do not account for
patterns of chronic conditions, disability, intersecting race/ethnic and gender inequality,
socioculturally developed resources, and social relations—reifies the exceptions,
typically men and non-Hispanic Whites, as the “aging well” benchmark. Integrating
theoretical considerations of the life course, cumulative inequality, stress process, and
limitations of healthy aging as a guiding praxis, this dissertation examined multiple
pathways to age (un)well among and between older racially/ethnically diverse women.
Using nationally representative data of Black, Hispanic, and White women from the U.S.
Health and Retirement Study, cross-sectional latent class analysis, and longitudinal latent
transition analysis, I examined (a) how physical health, psychological well-being, quality
of social relations, and social engagement indicators combined to define multiple forms
of aging experiences; (b) how aging experiences changed over time; and (c) how time
invariant socioeconomic (SES) resources and interpersonal stressors were associated with
aging experiences and experiences over time. Finding highlights included: (1) aging
experiences—expressed through the mutually exclusive distinctions of infirm, isolated, taxed, independent, vivacious, and robust—were similar for Black, Hispanic, and White
women; (2) Black and Hispanic women were more likely to have poorer aging
experiences compared to White women at Time 1, however, aging experiences transitions
did not vary by race/ethnicity; (3) transitions indicated changes in women’s physical
health, socioculturally defined resources, and/or quality of social relations; (4) SES
resources were generally protective of aging experiences; (5) interpersonal stressors were
inversely associated with aging experiences at Time 1 and increased transition odds; and
(6) net of SES resources, Black women were dually at greater risk of mortality and aging
well over time relative to White and Hispanic women. Although multiple dynamic and
non-deterministic aging experiences among older women exist, women of color are at
greater risk of adverse aging-related outcomes than their advantaged White counterparts.