Advisor(s)
David Warner
Committee Member(s)
Myles Moody
Olivio Clay
Patricia Drentea
Verna Keith
School
College of Arts and Sciences
Document Type
Dissertation
Department (new version)
Social & Behavioral Sciences
Date of Award
9-11-2025
Abstract
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.
ProQuest ID
Recommended Citation
Lewis, Joshua Christian Julian, "Racial/Ethnic Heterogeneity In Women’S Aging Experiences Over Time: A Latent Transition Analysis" (2025). All ETDs from UAB. 7440.
https://digitalcommons.library.uab.edu/etd-collection/7440
