title: Variation in the associations of education, occupation, income, and assets with functional limitations in older Mexican Americans.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The primary aim was to examine the particular components of socioeconomic status that may be associated with functional limitation among older Mexican American men and women.
  
  
  METHODS
  Using baseline data from the Hispanic Established Population for the Epidemiologic Study of the Elderly, the education, past occupation, household income, and assets of those with and without limitations in activities of daily living (ADL), instrumental activities of daily living (IADL), and those scoring 9 versus < 9 on the performance oriented mobility assessment (POMA) were compared.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Not completing at least 12 years of education was associated with a two-fold higher likelihood of having an IADL limitation, but not significantly associated with other indicators of functional limitation. Men who had been skilled manual, farm workers, or laborers were 1.82 to 2.59 times as likely as those who had been white-collar workers to have a POMA score below 9. Homemakers had significantly higher odds of all three measures of functional/mobility impairment than women white-collar workers.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Different dimensions of socioeconomic status may be associated with separate aspects of functional limitation in distinct ways, which vary by sex.
authors.affiliation: Sealy Center on Aging and Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health, University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, Galveston, TX 77555-0460, USA. arkeddie@UTMB.edu
authors.forename: Arlene M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Keddie
authors.forename: M Kristen
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Peek
authors.forename: Kyriakos S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Markides
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D017058:Mexican Americans; D009790:Occupations; D012923:Social Class; D015206:Southwestern United States