Correlates of Health-Related Behaviors in Older African American Adults: Implications for Health Promotion

The literature on the health behaviors of elderly African Americans rarely looks beyond gender variations. This article attempts to determine if health-related behaviors (ie, regular exercise, cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, and health care seeking) vary by demographic, sociocultural, and mental health factors in a community sample of 311 men and women 55 years of age and older. The results indicate that over a third of the sample participated in no regular exercise, smoked cigarettes, consumed alcohol, and sought health care from hospitals and clinics. Results of the bivariate analyses revealed several significant relationships between the health behaviors and the nine independent variables. Gender, age group, church attendance, and perceived control were significantly related to three of the four health behaviors. Implications for health promotion efforts targeting elderly African Americans are discussed.