title: A cross-cultural longitudinal examination of the effect of cumulative adversity on the mental and physical health of older adults.
abstract: Self-oriented adversity refers to traumatic events that primarily inflict the self, whereas other-oriented adversity refers to events that affect the self by primarily targeting others. The present study aimed to examine whether cultural background moderates the effects of self-oriented and other-oriented adversity on mental and physical health of older adults. Using longitudinal data from the Israeli component of the Survey of Health and Retirement, we focused on 370 Jews and 239 Arabs who reported their exposure to various adversities across the life span, and completed questionnaires regarding mental and physical health. Results showed that the effect of self-oriented adversity on health did not differ among Jews and Arabs. However, other-oriented adversity showed a stronger effect on Arabs' mental and physical health than on Jews' health. Our findings suggest that the accumulation of adverse events that affect the self by primarily targeting others may have a stronger impact in collectivist cultures than in individualist cultures.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gerontology.
authors.forename: Yuval
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Palgi
authors.affiliation: Interdisciplinary Department of Social Sciences.
authors.forename: Amit
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shrira
mesh_terms: D018912:Arabs / Q000523:psychology*; D003071:Cognition; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003469:Culture; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005260:Female; D006262:Health; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel / Q000453:epidemiology; D007585:Jews / Q000523:psychology*; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000208:ethnology; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life; D012044:Regression Analysis; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000208:ethnology*