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Native American Elders' Health CongruenceThe Role of Gender and Corresponding Functional Well-being, Hospital Admissions, and Social EngagementUniversity of North Dakota, USA, joelle.ruthig{at}und.nodak.edu
University of North Dakota, USA Addressing the need to explore how Native American (NA) elders' subjective health (SH) compares to their objective health (OH; chronic disease conditions), we examined whether: congruence between 8191 NA elders' SH and OH parallels that of non-NA elders; health optimism (SH > OH) is protective and health pessimism (SH < OH), is detrimental; and whether gender moderates links between health congruence and health-related outcomes. Results comparing health optimists and pessimists to realists in functioning, hospitalizations, and social engagement showed optimists experienced better outcomes; pessimists had poorer outcomes; the role of health congruence differed by gender. Findings suggest implications for improving health-related outcomes among NA elders.
Key Words: health congruence optimism pessimism subjective health
Journal of Health Psychology, Vol. 13, No. 8,
1072-1081 (2008) |
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