The life course of activity limitations: exploring indicators of functional limitations over time.
OBJECTIVE
To strengthen the foundations for the use of survey-based measures of functional limitations and to explore associations between limitations in a variety of activities across the adult life course.


METHODS
Five panels of data from the young and mature women's cohorts of the National Longitudinal Surveys are used to (a) examine patterns of limitations in activities as women age, (b) compare how limitations develop over the life course, (c) explore how limitations in one activity are associated with limitations in others, and (d) investigate whether limitations develop incrementally or occur in clusters.


RESULTS
We find that scales of functional limitations are not dependent on the age of the respondent, activity limitations emerge in clusters, and relationships between items do not consistently fall into upper and lower body groups.


CONCLUSIONS
Scales of functional limitations are equally applicable to younger and older women, but further research is needed to compare substantive results using different methods of scale construction.
Department of Sociology, Indiana University, Ballantine Hall 744, 1020 E. Kirkwood Ave., Bloomington, IN 47405-7103 USA. jslong@indiana.edu
J Scott
JS
Long
Eliza K
EK
Pavalko
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging; D015331:Cohort Studies; D006233:Persons with Disabilities; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008875:Middle Aged; D013997:Time Factors; D014481:United States; D014930:Women