Older Mexicans and Latinos in the United States (eBook)

This book delves into the consequences of rapid population aging for Mexico and U.S. Latinos, impacting various institutions, including families, the labor force, and healthcare systems. It examines in depth the causes and consequences of the increasing prevalence of cognitive impairment and dementia, especially early-onset decline in the Mexican-origin population.

The book identifies resilience factors as critical to successful aging and health in the Mexican and Mexican-American populations from a transdisciplinary perspective. It also examines the diversity in the experiences of older adults with dementia and related disorders and that of their families in Mexico and the United States. The book also helps to better understand the levels of need and support capacity in both nations and the organizational contexts of long-term care in both countries.

The ultimate goal of this sixth volume in the series on aging in the Americas is to identify critical sources of vulnerability and possible policy options for closing the gap in affordable and sustainable long-term care and financial wellbeing for low-resource populations living with dementia and other medical conditions in both countries.

The volume presents new information, consensus data, potential venues for intervention, and action frameworks to advance current knowledge grounded in global aging health systems research of closing disparities in vulnerable populations at high risk of declining cognitive and physical health in two different political contexts. As such, the book provides a wealth of information for researchers, policy makers and professionals in the field of population aging.

Jacqueline L. Angel, Ph.D. is the Wilbur J. Cohen Professor of Health and Social Policy and Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin and a faculty affiliate at the PRC/Center on Aging and Population Sciences and Texas Aging and Longevity Center, USA. Dr. Angel's research examines health and retirement issues, with a focus on Latino and Mexican aging, family, immigration processes, and community-based long-term care systems. She is a Principal Investigator (PI, UT Austin) of the NIH/NIA with collaborators on the H-EPESE (UTMB, UTHSCSA), the first large-scale investigation of the longitudinal health and well being of older Mexican Americans in the Southwestern United States; Bi-national study of living arrangement trajectories and dementia care, Texas Resource Center for Minority Aging Research, and since 2005 Principal Investigator of the Conference Series on Aging in the Americas (CAA). Dr. Angel is author/coauthor/co-editor of 80 journal articles, 30 book chapters, and 12 books. Dr. Angel is a Fellow of the Behavioral and Social Sciences section of The Gerontological Society of America (GSA) and a Senior Fellow at the Sealy Center on Aging, University of Texas Medical School Galveston.

Flavia Andrade, PhD is an Associate Professor at the School of Social Work at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA. She also holds appointments in the departments of Sociology and Kinesiology and Community Health. She is also affiliated with the Center for Latin America and Caribbean Studies, The Lemann Center for Brazilian Studies and Center for Global Studies, and Women and Gender in Global Perspectives Program. She is a fellow of the Gerontological Society of America serves on the CAA Advisory Group. Dr. Andrade research focuses on health inequalities in the context of global demographic, social, and epidemiological changes. Her work investigates social and economic factors that contribute to differences in health across individuals within and across societies. Many of her studies have targeted populations in countries with high levels of inequalities in income, education, and wealth (e.g., Brazil and Mexico) and high-risk populations in the United States (i.e., the Latinx population). Dr. Andrade is the author/coauthor/co-editor of 91 journal articles and 12 book chapters.

Fernando Riosmena, PhD is a Professor of Demography and Sociology at the University of Texas at San Antonio, USA, and Director of the Institute for Health Disparities Research. His research aims at improving understanding of the theories, drivers, empirical measurement, and analytical strategies to analyze spatial mobility, with a particular focus on the social, economic, policy, and environmental factors likely influencing international migration between Mexico and the United States. In addition, Dr. Riosmena also does research assessing the patterns and explanations of the chronic health status Latin American immigrants arrive with, how this health status changes over time, and how and why it differs between immigrants and their U.S.-born descendants.

Silvia Mejía-Arango, PhD is a research professor of the Department of Population Studies at El Colegio de la Frontera Norte, Mexico. She has a PhD in psychology from the National Autonomous University of Mexico and is a member of the national research system, level II. Her research area is on population and health with special interest on the study of cognitive aging and its social determinants. Some of her studies and recent publications comparing Mexican and Mexican-American populations are: 'Cognitive Decline among the Elderly: A Comparative Analysis of Mexicans in Mexico and in the United States', 'Behavioral and Psychosocial Treatments of Dementia in Mexico', 'The effect of diabetes on the cognitive trajectory of older adults in societies of different aging contexts- A Study of Mexico and the U.S', 'Health and social origin populations.'