Table 1.
Sample Statistics of Puerto Rican Older Adults by Color/Race presented as Weighted Percentages (%) and Means (Standard Errors), PREHCO (2002, 2005).
| Full sample | Negro | Trigueño mulato | Blanco | Mestizo | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cognitive health outcomes | ||||||
| MMC score | 16.9 (0.1) | 16.4 (0.3) | 16.9 (0.1) | 16.9 (0.l) | 17.0 (0.2) | |
| Cognitive decline (wave1 – wave2) | 0.8 (0.1) | −1.4 (0.3) | −1.0 (0.1) | −0.8 (0.1) | −0.3 (0.3) | * |
| Health behaviors | ||||||
| Hypertension (self-report) (%) | 58 | 66 | 60 | 56 | 56 | |
| Diabetes (self-report) (%) | 28 | 39 | 28 | 28 | 24 | |
| Ever smoke (%) | 34 | 28 | 33 | 33 | 39 | |
| Exercise (%) | 43 | 45 | 42 | 43 | 48 | |
| Education (%) | *** | |||||
| 6th grade or less | 40 | 37 | 45 | 36 | 38 | |
| 7th to 12th grade | 40 | 43 | 42 | 38 | 37 | |
| More than 12th grade | 20 | 20 | 13 | 26 | 25 | |
| Discrimination (skin color) | ||||||
| Ever experienced | 5 | 14 | 6 | 2 | 10 | *** |
| Individual factors | ||||||
| Age | 69.1 (0.2) | 71.2 (1.4) | 68.7 (0.3) | 69.2 (0.2) | 69.2 (0.6) | |
| Female (%) | 56 | 55 | 60 | 56 | 47 | *** |
| Foreign-born (%) | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 7 | ** |
| Married (%) | 53 | 40 | 52 | 55 | 61 | |
| Family background | ||||||
| Father literate (%) | 66 | 65 | 60 | 70 | 67 | * |
| Father literacy unknown | 6 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 7 | |
| Lived in Countryside before age 18 (%) | 54 | 48 | 59 | 51 | 49 | * |
| Number of observations (unweighted) | 3575 | 197 | 1499 | 1627 | 235 | |
| % of study sample | 5.5% | 41.9% | 45.5% | 6.6% | ||
Source: Puerto Rican Elderly Health Conditions project (PREHCO).
Notes: p value for differences among color/race groups. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001.