Health Status and Functional Limitations in a National Sample of Elderly Mexicans: Levels, Age Patterns and Socioeconomic Differentials

Alberto Palloni, University of Wisconsin at Madison

We use newly available data from a nationally representative sample of the Mexican population 50 years and older to assess levels and age patterns of health status among males and females, to compare them with those observed among elderly Mexicans living in the U.S., and to contrast them with levels and patterns of health status among elderly in other Latin American countries. We also use couples (spouse-based) models to investigate the factors accounting for socioeconomic differentials in health status while controlling for factors (measured and unmeasured shared by spouses). finally, we investigate the role that the health status of one spouse has on the health status of the other.