title: Perceived discrimination and physical, cognitive, and emotional health in older adulthood.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine whether perceived discrimination based on multiple personal characteristics is associated with physical, emotional, and cognitive health concurrently, prospectively, and with change in health over time among older adults.
  
  
  METHODS
  Longitudinal.
  
  
  METHODS
  Health and Retirement Study (HRS).
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants (N = 7,622) who completed the Leave-Behind Questionnaire as part of the 2006 HRS assessment (mean age 67 years); participants (N = 6,450) completed the same health measures again in 2010.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants rated their everyday experience with discrimination and attributed those experiences to eight personal characteristics: race, ancestry, sex, age, weight, physical disability, appearance, and sexual orientation. At both the 2006 and 2010 assessments, participants completed measures of physical health (subjective health, disease burden), emotional health (life satisfaction, loneliness), and cognitive health (memory, mental status).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Discrimination based on age, weight, physical disability, and appearance was associated with poor subjective health, greater disease burden, lower life satisfaction, and greater loneliness at both assessments and with declines in health across the four years. Discrimination based on race, ancestry, sex, and sexual orientation was associated with greater loneliness at both time points, but not with change over time. Discrimination was mostly unrelated to cognitive health.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The detrimental effect of discrimination on physical and emotional health is not limited to young adulthood but continues to contribute to health and well-being in old age. These effects were driven primarily by discrimination based on personal characteristics that change over time (e.g., age, weight) rather than discrimination based on more stable characteristics (e.g., race, sex).
authors.affiliation: Florida State University College of Medicine, Tallahassee, FL. Electronic address: angelina.sutin@med.fsu.edu.
authors.forename: Angelina R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Sutin
authors.affiliation: University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France.
authors.forename: Yannick
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Stephan
authors.affiliation: Florida State University College of Medicine, Tallahassee, FL.
authors.forename: Henry
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Carretta
authors.affiliation: Florida State University College of Medicine, Tallahassee, FL.
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Terracciano
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D003071:Cognition; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D011287:Prejudice / Q000523:psychology*; D012938:Social Perception
keywords: Discrimination; disease burden; loneliness; stress; well-being
references.citation: J Health Soc Behav. 1999 Sep;40(3):208-30
references.pmid: 10513145
references.citation: Res Aging. 2004;26(6):655-672
references.pmid: 18504506
references.citation: Soc Sci Med. 2010 Sep;71(6):1182-8
references.pmid: 20659782
references.citation: J Health Soc Behav. 1997 Mar;38(1):21-37
references.pmid: 9097506
references.citation: J Pers Assess. 1985 Feb;49(1):71-5
references.pmid: 16367493
references.citation: Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2014 Jun;22(6):564-9
references.pmid: 23806682
references.citation: Am Psychol. 1999 Oct;54(10):805-16
references.pmid: 10540593
references.citation: Am J Prev Med. 2013 Jun;44(6):612-21
references.pmid: 23683979
references.citation: Am J Hypertens. 2011 May;24(5):518-29
references.pmid: 21331054
references.citation: PLoS One. 2013 Jul 24;8(7):e70048
references.pmid: 23894586
references.citation: J Womens Health (Larchmt). 2010 Apr;19(4):741-50
references.pmid: 20350207
references.citation: Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2014 Jul;22(7):653-60
references.pmid: 24125815
references.citation: Brain Behav Immun. 2010 Mar;24(3):438-43
references.pmid: 19944144
references.citation: Psychol Bull. 2009 Jul;135(4):531-54
references.pmid: 19586161
references.citation: Am J Public Health. 2012 May;102(5):844-51
references.pmid: 22420821
references.citation: Soc Sci Med. 2007 May;64(10):1984-96
references.pmid: 17374553
references.citation: JAMA. 2012 Nov 21;308(19):1972-3
references.pmid: 23168819
references.citation: J Pers Soc Psychol. 2012 May;102(5):1089-104
references.pmid: 22390225
references.citation: Dev Psychol. 2006 Mar;42(2):218-36
references.pmid: 16569162
references.citation: Ann Behav Med. 2010 Oct;40(2):218-27
references.pmid: 20652462
references.citation: Am J Public Health. 2008 Jul;98(7):1241-7
references.pmid: 18511732
references.citation: J Health Psychol. 1997 Jul;2(3):335-51
references.pmid: 22013026
references.citation: Int J Behav Med. 2012 Dec;19(4):489-95
references.pmid: 21913047
references.citation: J Behav Med. 2009 Feb;32(1):20-47
references.pmid: 19030981
references.citation: Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2014 May;22(5):510-8
references.pmid: 23933425
references.citation: Health Educ Res. 2008 Apr;23(2):347-58
references.pmid: 17884836
references.citation: Soc Sci Res. 2013 May;42(3):742-54
references.pmid: 23521992
references.citation: Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2014 Nov;22(11):1180-7
references.pmid: 23871114
references.citation: J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2012 Jul;67(4):432-6
references.pmid: 22056832
references.citation: Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2014 Nov;22(11):1158-67
references.pmid: 23890752
references.citation: Cultur Divers Ethnic Minor Psychol. 2008 Oct;14(4):326-35
references.pmid: 18954168
references.citation: Obesity (Silver Spring). 2008 May;16(5):1129-34
references.pmid: 18356847