Table 1.
Comparison of Descriptive Statistics by Gender for Initial Risk Groupa in 1998
| Distributional informationb | Total sample (N = 2,722) | Women (N = 1,787) | Men (N = 935) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Social relationships | |||
| Familial social network | |||
| Partnered (yes = 1) | 48.2% | 38.0% | 67.6% |
| Number of living children | 3.2 (2.5) | 3.1 (2.5) | 3.3 (2.4) |
| Number of living siblings | 2.3 (2.4) | 2.3 (2.4) | 2.2 (2.4) |
| Relatives residing nearby | 34.1% | 34.7% | 32.9% |
| Neighborhood engagement and embeddedness | |||
| Engaged (yes = 1) | 70.2% | 68.4% | 73.6% |
| Embedded (yes = 1) | 63.6% | 62.5% | 65.8% |
| Community engagement (yes = 1) | 12.8% | 13.2% | 12.2% |
| Instrumental support | |||
| Received (financial) | 2.0% | 2.4% | 1.2% |
| Given (unpaid help) | 30.0% | 28.0% | 33.9% |
| Sociodemographic characteristics | |||
| Gender (female = 1) | 65.7% | — | — |
| Race/ethnicity | |||
| White | 72.1% | 71.1% | 74.0% |
| Black | 18.4% | 19.4% | 16.5% |
| Latino/Hispanic | 7.6% | 7.8% | 7.3% |
| Other Race | 1.9% | 1.7% | 2.2% |
| Baseline age groups | |||
| 51–59 years (ref.) | 16.3% | 16.8% | 15.4% |
| 60–69 years | 24.7% | 23.1% | 27.6% |
| 70–79 years | 27.7% | 26.2% | 30.6% |
| 80+ years | 31.3% | 33.9% | 26.4% |
| Education | |||
| Less than high school | 47.8% | 48.0% | 47.5% |
| High school degree/GED | 42.6% | 42.8% | 42.1% |
| More than high school | 9.6% | 9.2% | 10.4% |
| Income quartiles | |||
| Bottom quartile | 48.8% | 55.6% | 35.9% |
| Bottom-middle quartile | 26.5% | 24.0% | 31.3% |
| Upper-middle quartile | 15.6% | 13.2% | 20.2% |
| Upper quartile | 9.1% | 7.3% | 12.5% |
| Proxy interview (yes = 1) | 22.5% | 19.5% | 28.2% |
| Health risk factors | |||
| Health behaviors | |||
| Smoking status | |||
| Never smoked | 39.2% | 49.5% | 19.6% |
| Former smoker | 43.3% | 34.9% | 59.3% |
| Current smoker | 17.5% | 15.6% | 21.1% |
| Body mass index (BMI) | |||
| Underweight | 9.0% | 10.4% | 6.3% |
| Healthy weight | 32.6% | 31.7% | 34.4% |
| Overweight | 30.1% | 26.3% | 37.2% |
| Obese | 28.3% | 31.6% | 22.0% |
| Healthcare access | |||
| Private health insurance | 9.0% | 9.3% | 8.4% |
| Government insurance | 85.1% | 84.7% | 86.0% |
| No health insurance | 5.9% | 6.0% | 5.6% |
| Healthcare utilization | |||
| Doctor’s visit (past 2 years) | 97.0% | 97.7% | 95.6% |
| Hospitalization (past 2 years) | 52.6% | 50.6% | 56.5% |
| Outpatient surgery (past 2 years) | 21.0% | 20.8% | 21.2% |
| Regularly taking R x (past 2 years) | 91.8% | 93.1% | 89.3% |
| Nursing home stay (past 2 years) | 14.5% | 15.6% | 12.3% |
| Morbidity status | |||
| Number of chronic conditions | 2.8 (1.5) | 2.8 (1.4) | 2.8 (1.5) |
| Self-rated health (5 = excellent) | 1.9 (1.0) | 1.9 (1.0) | 1.8 (0.9) |
aInitial risk group = respondents with severe mobility limitation in 1998.
bPercentages shown for categorical variables; mean and (standard deviation) shown for continuous variables.
Bolded items indicate significant (p < .05) distributional differences between women and men.