Resources and the Productive Activity of Elders Race and Gender as Contexts

Basic assumptions about the centrality of individual resources and social context for predicting the productive activities of elders among White men, Black men, White women, and Black women were tested with data from the 1986 Americans' Changing Lives survey (N = 1,644). Multivariate analyses test the assumption that race and gender are critical contexts for understanding the productive activity of elders. Results show that the effect of individual resources (health, socioeconomic status, and personal support) is dependent not only on race and gender but also on type of productive activity. Discussion suggests how the ties among individual resources, social context, and the productive behavior of older Americans fit into contemporary gerontological theories such as social exchange.