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10 Demography of American Indian Elders: Social, Economic, and Health Status
Pages 218-232

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From page 218...
... There is no dispute, however, that both the overall American Indian and American Indian elderly populations have grown substantially during the last decade. In 1980, American Indians aged 60 and over comprised approximately 8 percent of the total Indian population, compared with a figure of 16 percent for the general U.S.
From page 219...
... American Indian elders may be particularly vulnerable to a number of conditions experienced by elderly populations generally, including social isolation, economic hardship, and health problems. Yet for various reasons, accurate demographic information has been difficult to obtain for American Indians in general and for American Indian elders in particular.
From page 220...
... Two income measures are used to assess the economic status of American Indian elders: personal income or the individual income from all sources received by a particular American Indian elder, and family income, the sum of the incomes of all members of a family who are at least 15 years old.
From page 221...
... If near poverty is used as the standard for judging economic deprivation, then 39 percent of American Indian elders over age 60 experienced this hardship in 1989. If the official poverty line is used, then 29 percent of all American Indians aged 60 and older lived in poverty in 1989 (U.S.
From page 222...
... Sources of Income Figure 10-1 contrasts the sources of personal income among American Indian and non-Hispanic white elders. It shows that American Indian elders receive substantially more of their income from Social Security; public assistance, including Supplemental Security Income; and other sources (which include all forms of native craft production)
From page 223...
... Indeed, unrelated individual American Indian elders with income below the poverty line received 89 percent of their income from Social Security and public assistance, compared with only 48 percent among unrelated Indian elders with income above the poverty line.
From page 224...
... Moveover, Social Security constitutes the only source of income for 30 percent of American Indian elders. What is surprising about this situation is the marginal difference among groups on this important measure of well-being.
From page 225...
... It is possible that urban-to-rural migration occurs for reasons other than retirement. For example, one factor that could contribute to this pattern is the migration of aging urban American Indians back to rural or reservation environments because of worsening health, based on the assumption that their healthcare needs will be addressed through access to free Indian Health Service (IHS)
From page 226...
... In addition to the differences in overall mortality, there are substantial differences in cause-specific mortality rates among American Indian elders and the general elderly population. American Indian elders had lower mortality rates than the general elderly population for the four leading causes of death heart disease, cancer, cerebrovascular diseases, and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseasebut higher mortality for all other causes (John, 1995~.
From page 227...
... SOURCE: Indian Health Service, Division of Program Statistics.
From page 228...
... Nevertheless, despite continued improvement in mortality, accidents remain the seventh leading cause of death among American Indian elders, according to the most recent figures (Indian Health Service, 1995b)
From page 229...
... Persistent questions about data quality, gaps in the types of information collected, lack of funding to sustain special demographic studies or publications, delayed or exceptionally cumbersome access to data on American Indians, and other fundamental problems hamper our ability to construct a basic description of the American Indian elderly population so necessary for effective social planning. The lack of comprehensive data and reliable research knowledge on the American Indian elderly population has obvious policy and program
From page 230...
... If the well-being of American Indian elders is to be improved, a sustained effort to determine the basic socioeconomic and health characteristics of rural and urban American Indian elders is imperative. REFERENCES Broudy, D.W., and P.A.
From page 231...
... Government Printing Office. 1993 Social and Economic Characteristics: United States.


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