Wen-hua (Zoey) Lai's Dissertation Defense: "Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Mental and Cognitive Health Among Older Adults: The Roles of Stress Exposure and Social Relationships"
Mon, June 12, 2023 8:00 AM at Zoom
Sociology PhD candidate Wen-hua (Zoey) Lai will present their dissertation defense over Zoom.
Dissertation Title:
"Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Mental and Cognitive Health Among Older Adults: The Roles of Stress Exposure and Social Relationships"
Abstract:
Racial and ethnic health disparities are prevalent in the United States. While socioeconomic factors and physical health partially explain these disparities, the psychosocial mechanisms contributing to mental and cognitive health inequalities among Black, U.S.-born, and foreign-born Latinx individuals are understudied. This dissertation adopts the stress process model to investigate racial/ethnic disparities in late-life mental and cognitive health through two pathways: 1) the differential exposure to stressors and access to protective recourses; and 2) the differential effect of such factors, which may collectively shape health inequalities experienced by Black and Latinx older adults. Three empirical studies are conducted using a nationally representative survey. The first study examines the presence of racial/ethnic disparities in late-life mental health, focusing on the influence of financial circumstances and social relationships on mental health disadvantaged faced by Black and Latinx older adults. The second study investigates the impact of chronic exposure to everyday discrimination on cognitive health, considering race/ethnicity and nativity. Finally, the third study adopts an intersectional perspective to explore the structural and qualitative characteristics of friend relationships and their association with cognitive health disparities by race/ethnicity/nativity and gender. Overall, the findings highlight that racial/ethnic health disparities can be attributed to greater exposure to stressors and an overlooked mechanism—the diminished health return from protective resources, despite some relationship support being equally or more available for Black and Latinx older adults than their White counterparts. These insights hold significant implications for developing interventions and programs to promote healthy mental and cognitive aging while effectively reducing health disparities in the diverse older American population.
Committee:
Dr. Ning Hsieh (Chair)
Dr. Hui Liu
Dr. Zhenmei Zhang
Dr. Isabel Ayala
Dr. Richard Lucas (Psychology Department)
