Stress in Racial Differences in Self-Reported Health Among the Elderly

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the self-rated health of older blacks is worse than that of older whites and, if such differences exist, whether the life stress perspective is useful for explaining racial differences in perceived health. Blacks were found to perceive their health as worse than whites. Chronic financial strain was found to be associated with ill health among whites whereas network crisis events were related to poor self-reported health among blacks.