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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2019 Jan 1.
Published in final edited form as: Ethn Health. 2016 Oct 24;23(1):57–71. doi: 10.1080/13557858.2016.1246430

Table 2.

Characteristics of older parents in the final sample according to having one or more adult children living in the United States (N = 2609).

Measure No adult children living in the
United States (n = 1936)
Adult child living in the United
States (n = 673)
P-
Value
Age, mean (SD) 66.6 (5.5) 66.2 (5.3) 0.09
Gender, n (%) 0.51
  Male 809 (41.8) 291 (43.2)
  Female 1127 (58.2) 382 (56.8)
Education, n (%) 0.01
  0 years 489 (25.2) 207 (30.8)
  1+ years 1447 (74.7) 466 (69.2)
Currently married, n (%) 0.01
  No 673 (34.8) 195 (29.0)
  Yes 1263 (65.2) 478 (71.0)
Live in urban region, n (%) <0.01
  No 564 (29.1) 343 (51.0)
  Yes 1372 (70.9) 330 (49.0)
Currently employed, n (%) 0.35
  No 1216 (62.8) 409 (60.8)
  Yes 720 (37.2) 264 (39.2)
Toilet in the household, n (%) <0.01
  No 1316 (68.0) 533 (79.2)
  Yes 620 (32.0) 140 (20.8)
Number of kids 15 or older, mean (SD) 5.4 (3.0) 7.3 (2.9) <0.01
Number of kids who completed high school, mean (SD) 1.8 (2.1) 1.6 (2.1) <0.01
Number of kids married, mean (SD) 4.1 (2.8) 5.8 (2.7) <0.01
Live in a high migration state, n (%) <0.01
  No 1511 (78.0) 413 (61.4)
  Yes 425 (22.0) 260 (38.6)
Parent has lived/worked in the United States, n (%) <0.01
  No 1811 (93.4) 537 (79.8)
  Yes 125 (6.6) 136 (20.2)
Diabetes, n (%) 0.21
  No 1675 (86.5) 595 (88.4)
  Yes 261 (13.5) 78 (11.6)
Hypertension, n (%) 0.42
  No 1159 (59.9) 391 (58.1)
  Yes 777 (40.1) 282 (41.9)
Heart attack, n (%) 0.27
  No 1883 (97.3) 649 (96.4)
  Yes 53 (2.7) 24 (3.6)
Stroke, n (%) 0.57
  No 1897 (98.0) 657 (97.6)
  Yes 39 (2.0) 16 (2.4)
High depressive symptoms, n (%) 0.01
  No 1456 (75.2) 471 (70.0)
  Yes 480 (24.8) 202 (30.0)
Head injury as a child, n (%) 0.72
  No 1861 (96.1) 649 (96.4)
  Yes 75 (3.9) 24 (3.6)
Number of chats/visits with friends per month, mean (SD) 13.0 (13.1) 15.3 (13.4) <0.01
Have friends who live in the neighborhood, n (%) 0.02
  No 390 (20.1) 109 (16.2)
  Yes 1546 (79.9) 564 (83.8)
Have relatives who live in the neighborhood, n (%) 0.71
  No 599 (30.9) 203 (30.2)
  Yes 1337 (69.1) 470 (69.8)
Have friends you can count on, n (%) <0.01
  No 734 (37.9) 202 (30.5)
  Yes 1162 (60.1) 461 (69.5)
Volunteer in community, n (%) 0.52
  No 296 (15.3) 96 (14.3)
  Yes 1640 (84.7) 577 (85.7)
Cognitive status Wave III, n (%) 0.54
  Not impaired 1620 (83.7) 570 (84.7)
  Impaired 316 (16.3) 103 (15.3)

Note: Differences in continuous and dichotomous variables determined using t-test and Chi-square test. Poisson regression used for variables related to a number of children and times per month visiting with neighbors.

Not married included participants who reported being divorced, separated, or widowed.

Percentages are based on column totals.