Social and Personal Coping Resources, Functional Impairment, and Perceived Health Status Among Mexican-Origin Elders

Abstract

This study explores the contributions of social and personal coping resources to selfreported health among Mexican-origin elders. While these resources have been studied previously in the general population, less is known about how they operate in Mexican-origin Americans. The authors used data from the Hispanic Established Populations for the Epidemiological Study for the Elderly (HEPESE), a longitudinal survey of 3,050 Mexican Americans to examine the effects of social and personal coping resources on selfreported health two years later. The results of the ordered logistic regression analysis indicated that personal coping resources were a significant predictor of better selfreported health. Social coping resources approached significance. Neither of these resources, however, mediated or moderated the considerable relationship between functional impairments and perceived, selfreported health. Implications for practice and further research are discussed.