Health status, life satisfaction and health practices: a study of Pacific Asian and Native Hawaiian elderly cohorts

This article describes the sociodemographic characteristics, self-ratings of health status, life satisfaction and health practices of Pacific Asian and Native Hawaiian elderly groups. The data were gathered from two separate, non-equivalent elderly cohorts enrolled in an elderly self-care education program in Hawaii during the period 1989-1992. The findings generally reflected favorable self-ratings of health status, high life satisfaction levels, and positive health practices for both of these minority elderly groups. The exceptions regarding several health practices relate to snacking between meals, overweight problems and insufficient sleep for a sizable proportion of both groups. Slight to moderate differences between the two groups were also evident in 1) eating habits; 2) snacking; 3) types of physical activities; 4) weight control; 5) sleep patterns; 6) alcohol use; and 7) smoking. Despite the article's exploratory nature and limitation in the generalizability of its findings, the data offer a beginning database for Asian and Pacific Island elderly which is sorely lacking.