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Impact of Ethnic Enclaves on Life-Space Mobility for the Oldest Mexican-Americans

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Older Mexicans and Latinos in the United States

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Abstract

Objective: Life-space assessment (LSA) is an important tool used to assess mobility in older adults. A high concentration of poverty is negatively associated with life-space mobility (LSM), but little is known about the role of ethnic enclaves in LSM. This study examines the role of ethnic enclaves in the relationship between poverty and LSM, defined as the capacity and patterns of functional mobility, among older Mexican Americans aged 79 years and older.

Methods: The data come from wave 7 (2010–2011) of the Hispanic Established Populations for the Epidemiologic Study of the Elderly (H-EPESE) (n = 1078) linked with 2010 census tract characteristics. LSM is measured using the LSA score, and ethnic enclaves are determined using the tract percentage of Mexican Americans. We use ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analysis to assess the relationship between poverty and LSA score, controlling for the tract percentage of Mexican American, sociodemographic, and health characteristics.

Results: The mean age of participants was 85.8 years (SD = 4.0), 65% were female, and the mean score of LSA was 38.3 (SD = 23.0). The average percentage of poverty for the census tract was 28.8% (SD = 11.8%), and the average percentage of the Mexican American population for the census tract was 64.3% (SD = 18.3%). Poverty was negatively associated with LSA, and this relationship maintained statistical significance when controlling for sociodemographic characteristics. Adding the tract percentage of Mexican Americans as a control reduced the level of association between poverty and LSA, and the relationship between poverty and LSA became non significant.

Conclusion: Higher poverty levels are associated with lower LSA scores, but the relationship between LSA and poverty is mitigated by the presence of ethnic enclaves. Future research should examine environmental and financial influences on LSM that may improve resilience with reference to physical decline and social isolation.

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Acknowledgments

Authors’ affiliation: Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas (Felipe Antequera and Dr. Jacqueline Angel); Sealy Center on Aging, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas (Dr. Phillip Cantu); Department of Population Health and Health Disparities, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas (Dr. Soham Al Snih).

F. Antequera conducted the statistical analysis and writing. P. Cantu and J. Angel supervised the analyses and contributed to the writing and revision of the paper. S. Al Snih provided valuable feedback regarding the computation of the LSA score using the H-EPESE and contributed to the revision of the paper.

This work was supported by the National Institute on Aging Project Grants #1 R03AG063183-01 and #5 R01 AG010939-25. We also thank the organization of the 2022 International Conference on Aging in the Americas, University of Illinois, Chicago, for the travel support to present this work.

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. LBJ School of Public Affairs, The University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA

    Felipe Antequera

  2. Department of Internal Medicine, The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, USA

    Phillip Cantu

  3. Department of Population Health and Health Disparities, The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, USA

    Soham Al Snih

  4. LBJ School and Center on Aging and Population Sciences, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA

    Jacqueline L. Angel

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  1. Felipe Antequera
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  2. Phillip Cantu
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  3. Soham Al Snih
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  4. Jacqueline L. Angel
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Felipe Antequera or Phillip Cantu .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. LBJ School and Center on Aging and Population Sciences, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA

    Jacqueline L. Angel

  2. School of Social Work, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA

    Flavia C. Drumond Andrade

  3. Department of Sociology and Demography, Institute for Health Disparities Research, San Antonio, TX, USA

    Fernando Riosmena

  4. Institute of Neuroscience, Schoolof Medicine, UT Rio Grande Valley, Harlingen, TX, USA

    Silvia Mejia-Arango

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Antequera, F., Cantu, P., Al Snih, S., Angel, J.L. (2023). Impact of Ethnic Enclaves on Life-Space Mobility for the Oldest Mexican-Americans. In: Angel, J.L., Drumond Andrade, F.C., Riosmena, F., Mejia-Arango, S. (eds) Older Mexicans and Latinos in the United States. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-48809-2_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-48809-2_11

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