Conference Series on Aging in the America: United States and Mexico

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The proposed series of Conference workshops aims at increasing the visibility of research on aging Mexican- origin people and comes at a time when the topic is emerging as a crucial national budget and policy issue. The strength of the proposal is that the Conference Series and accompanying set of workshops bring together, for the first time, emerging research that demonstrates how social, psychological, and biological factors profoundly impact the health and long-term care of Mexican-origin people in late life. An important objective of the Conference Series is to identify disparities in Hispanic health, disability, and illness behavior. It is a relatively well-accepted tenet that health disparities are complex and multifaceted, and to understand them means grasping the intersection between biology and behavior. Thus, we hope to begin an interdisciplinary discussion of the unique situational factors and cultural behaviors that interact to impact the health and functioning of aging Mexican Americans. Research along these interdisciplinary lines will inform specific public health interventions related to disease prevention and identify improvements to public health systems that will protect the health of aging Hispanics. The ultimate objective of the Conference Series is to develop a consensus on the best means of insuring healthful aging of individuals of Mexican ancestry in the United States. Hispanics, especially those of Mexican ancestry, are re-shaping the demographic composition of the U.S. Hispanics are the fastest growing demographic group in the country, due to high immigration from Mexico and other Latin American countries, as well as higher fertility rates compared with non-Hispanic Whites and African-Americans (Tienda and Mitchell, 2006). In 2000, Hispanics became the nation's largest minority category. The Hispanic population has reached 36 million people, representing nearly 13 percent of the U.S. population. Mexican-origin Hispanics represent over half of that 36 million (U.S. Census Bureau, 2003). Moreover, the Hispanic population is aging, and as a result of their health issues and long-term medical needs, the health and wellbeing of this group is fast becoming a critical public policy concern (Angel and Hogan, 2004). A Conference Series focused specifically on increasing scholarly research into the aging process of the Mexican-origin population is vital. We believe this Conference Series will make a substantive contribution to the knowledge base, filling a significant vacuum of information on an understudied group of aging Americans. The consensus objective of the Series will inform the NIH Healthy People 2010 initiative to create national health objectives designed to identify the most significant preventable threats to health and to establish national goals to reduce these threats.