Older people of Mexican origin make up one of the fastest growing segments of the U.S. population, and their numbers are projected to increase sevenfold by 2050. Since Mexican Americans suffer disproportionately from disabling functional limitations, this demographic explosion will place serious demands on America’s safety net. Despite recent advances in research on the functional health among American elders, scholars have only recently begun to explore these relationships among Mexican Americans. Considerably less is known about the effect of religious involvement on functional health outcomes within this population. This neglect is curious given that Mexican elders comprise one of the most disabled segments of the U.S. population. This neglect also occurs despite a growing body of evidence suggesting that religion improves a number of non-functional health outcomes among Mexican elders.

Specific Aims

The research proposes to:

1. Explore what factors might mediate or explain the association between religious involvement and the trajectories of functional disability

2. Identify the conditions in which religious involvement is more or less protective against the trajectories of functional disability

This dissertation relies on standard demographic techniques to analyze 2,050 individuals included in the largest and most representative survey on the longitudinal health of Mexican elders.