This study is designed to examine change in physical health status among White and African-American adults using two nationally representative panel studies. It is widely known that African-Americans have more health problems than White Americans as manifested on most indicators of morbidity and mortality. This research examines the racial disparity in health between Black and White adults and seeks to identify the mechanisms of more rapid health declines. The two surveys used in the analysis are: (1) The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey I: Epidemiological Follow-up Study (NHEFS) and (2) Americans' Changing Lives (ACL). NHEFS follows 6,931 adults over 20 years while ACL follows 3,617 adults over 2.5 years; both surveys contain extensive health information. A prospective research design is used to evaluate health trajectories among Black and White men and women.
Specific aims are to: (1) Compare changes in health status among Black and White subjects over the duration of the panel studies incorporating selection bias models (e.g., Heckman) to account for attrition. (2) Examine the role of socioeconomic resources for maintaining health among Black and White adults, with special attention given to interactions between race and socioeconomic variables. (3) Investigate whether religion influences health for Black and White adults. (4) Model mortality risk for Black and White NHEFS subjects over the twenty year period. Data from the NHEFS will be used for aims 1,2, and 4, while data from the ACL will be used for aims 1,2, and 3. These surveys provide the scientific community with hitherto unavailable information for understanding health trajectories in adulthood and later life among Black and White persons.
| Shippee, Tetyana Pylypiv; Schafer, Markus H; Ferraro, Kenneth F (2012) Beyond the barriers: racial discrimination and use of complementary and alternative medicine among Black Americans. Soc Sci Med 74:1155-62 |
| Shippee, Tetyana P; Ferraro, Kenneth F; Thorpe, Roland J (2011) Racial disparity in access to cardiac intensive care over 20 years. Ethn Health 16:145-65 |
| Ferraro, Kenneth F; Shippee, Tetyana Pylypiv (2008) Black and white chains of risk for hospitalization over 20 years. J Health Soc Behav 49:193-207 |
| Schafer, Markus H; Ferraro, Kenneth F (2007) Long-term obesity and avoidable hospitalization among younger, middle-aged, and older adults. Arch Intern Med 167:2220-5 |
| Ferraro, Kenneth F; Thorpe Jr, Roland J; McCabe, George P et al. (2006) The color of hospitalization over the adult life course: cumulative disadvantage in black and white? J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 61:S299-306 |
| Ferraro, Kenneth F; Nuriddin, Tariqah A (2006) Psychological distress and mortality: are women more vulnerable? J Health Soc Behav 47:227-41 |
| Farmer, Melissa M; Ferraro, Kenneth F (2005) Are racial disparities in health conditional on socioeconomic status? Soc Sci Med 60:191-204 |
| Kelley-Moore, Jessica A; Ferraro, Kenneth F (2005) A 3-D model of health decline: disease, disability, and depression among Black and White older adults. J Health Soc Behav 46:376-91 |
| Kelley-Moore, Jessica A; Ferraro, Kenneth F (2004) The black/white disability gap: persistent inequality in later life? J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 59:S34-43 |
| Ferraro, Kenneth F; Kelley-Moore, Jessica A (2003) A half century of longitudinal methods in social gerontology: evidence of change in the journal. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 58:S264-70 |
Showing the most recent 10 out of 20 publications
