Full text of DOI:10.1093/geronb/56.2.S119

BRIEF REPORT
Copyright 2001 by The Gerontological Society of America
Journal of Gerontology: SOCIAL SCIENCES
2001, Vol. 56B, No. 2, S119–S124
Exploring Race Variations in Aging
and Personal Control
Benjamin A. Shaw1 and Neal Krause1,2
1School of Public Health and 2Institute of Gerontology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Objectives. The purpose of this study is twofold: (a) to see whether the association between age and perceived con-
trol is the same for Blacks as well as Whites; and (b) to see if education, health, income, social support, cognitive func-
tion, and religion account for the relationship between age and control in the same way for Blacks and Whites.
Methods. Data for this study come from the first wave of the Americans’ Changing Lives panel study. Complete
data are available for 357 Black and 2,792 White individuals. Respondents were asked questions about their feelings of
control, health status, income, social support, cognitive function, religious participation, and demographic information.
Results. The findings suggest that age has an inverse and nonlinear association with feelings of control. Moreover,
this relationship is similar for Blacks and Whites. The data further reveal that, across all age groups, Blacks report a
lower sense of control than Whites. Less education, less income, greater cognitive impairments, and more religiosity are
associated with a lower sense of control. These factors, along with health and social support, account for 69% of the as-
sociation between age and control, with no differences according to race.
Discussion. These results show that lower levels of control are associated with older age in both Blacks and Whites,
and that racial disparities in feelings of control persist across all age groups. This suggests that Blacks may be at a partic-
ular disadvantage in the face of the increasing challenges of aging.
strong sense of personal control is essential for the
maintenance of health and well-being in late life
of key issues remain unexamined. Chief among them is the
influence of race. In existing studies, race has been treated
as a control variable—something to be removed rather than
examined in its own right (Mirowsky, 1995; Wolinsky &
Stump, 1996). This is unfortunate because race differences
in feelings of control appear to exist at all ages (Mirowsky,
Ross, & Van Willigan, 1996). What is less evident, how-
ever, is whether the decline of control in minority group
members across different age groups is similar to what
Mirowsky (1995) and others found, or whether the relation-
ship between age and control follows a different course
among people of color. Race is a master status that affects
virtually all areas of life, including education, health, and
feelings of personal control (Livingston, 1994). Therefore,
if race is related to feelings of personal control and the fac-
tors that erode control with advancing age, then the trajec-
tory reported by Mirowsky (1995) may not be the same for
White and minority group members.
In addition to determining whether a similar association
between age and feelings of control exists for Blacks and
Whites, it is also important to see if the same factors ac-
count for this relationship in both racial groups. We suspect
that relationships among education, health, and control may
differ for Whites and Blacks. For example, education is a
form of human capital that provides people with problem-
solving skills and the resources (e.g., income) necessary for
influencing the environment. However, the benefits of edu-
cation may not be enjoyed equally by Blacks and Whites. In
particular, due to inequitable school funding practices and
discrimination in the workplace, Blacks receive less return
than Whites on their educational investments (Maxwell,
A
(Mendes de Leon, Seeman, Baker, Richardson, & Tinetti,
1996). Individuals with a strong sense of control believe the
changes in their social world are responsive to their choices,
efforts, and actions. In contrast, people with a weak sense of
control believe that events in their lives are shaped by forces
outside their influence, and that they have little ability to in-
fluence the things that happen to them. Unfortunately, re-
cent research by Mirowsky (1995) shows that feelings of
control may decline in an accelerating fashion across pro-
gressively older age groups. If we want to help older adults
age successfully we must, therefore, learn more about the
social and psychological factors driving this process.
Research to this point suggests that two factors are
largely responsible for the observed decline in feelings of
control—education and health (Mirowsky, 1995; Wolinsky
& Stump, 1996). Education is thought to bolster feelings of
control over the life course because people with more
schooling tend to have better problem-solving abilities, as
well as access to more resources. The decline in feelings of
control across older age groups, therefore, may be a mani-
festation of the current cohort of older adults having
less schooling, on average, than today’s younger adults
(Mirowsky & Ross, 1998). Furthermore, diminishing health
and increasing impairments associated with aging may con-
tribute to the decline in feelings of personal control by pro-
gressively reducing the range of activities in which one can
exercise control (Schulz, Heckhausen, & O’Brien, 1994).
Although this research has provided valuable insight into
the relationship between age and personal control, a number
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S120
SHAW AND KRAUSE
1994). This suggests that there may be structurally induced
racial disparities in the skill levels necessary to exercise ef-
fective control. Therefore, the relationship between educa-
tion and control should be consistently weaker across the
life course for Blacks than for Whites.
There may also be race differences in the relationship be-
tween health and feelings of control over the life course. For
instance, lower rates of health care access and utilization
among Blacks are now widely documented (Blustein &
Weitzman, 1995; White-Means, 2000). Because health
problems that are left unattended get worse, the downward
trajectory of control should be more precipitous in Black
than White groups.
Still, other factors may account for race differences in the
relationship between age and control. For instance, income,
social support, and cognitive function may also contribute
to one’s sense of control (Caplan, 1981; Lachman &
Weaver, 1998). However, for many people, these resources
(perhaps with the exception of social support) decline in
later life (George, Landerman, Blazer, & Anthony, 1991;
Holden, Burkhauser, & Myers, 1986; Krause, 1991). De-
clines in income and cognitive function may be especially
devastating to feelings of control among the Black group,
which, because of its low socioeconomic position, may al-
ready be lacking alternative sources of control. In contrast,
the relatively strong social support systems of Blacks may
make them less vulnerable to declines in control with ad-
vancing age (Mutran, 1985).
Finally, religion may play a somewhat different role in
accounting for the association between age and control. Be-
cause religion bolsters feelings of control (Krause & Tran,
1989), it is expected that religiosity may suppress the nega-
tive association between age and control. Given that Blacks
are more involved in religion than Whites (Taylor, 1986),
the “protective” effects of religion may be greater for mem-
bers of this minority group.
interviews were completed successfully, representing a 68%
response rate.
The current study uses only those respondents who self-
identified as Black or White. After using listwise deletion of
missing values to deal with item nonresponse, complete
data were available for 3,149 study participants. Approxi-
mately 11.4% (n ϭ 357) of the sample identified themselves
as Black. The average age of the sample as a whole was
46.7 years (SD ϭ 16.40), with a range of 25 to 96 years.
Fifty-two percent were classified as female, and 68.8%
were married. Study participants reported having completed
an average of 12.47 years of schooling (SD ϭ 3.0 years).
These descriptive statistics, as well as the findings presented
in the Results section, are based on weighted data.
Measures
The measure of control appears in Table 1. A high score
represents a strong sense of personal control. The internal
consistency reliability estimate for this short scale is .718.
Race is represented as a binary variable (1 ϭ Black; 0 ϭ
non-Hispanic White). People who self-identified as Ameri-
can Indian, Hispanic, Asian, or “other” were excluded. Age
was based upon self-reports from respondents and is scored
in a continuous format. Education is scored in a continuous
format reflecting the total number of years of completed
schooling. Physical health was measured as a simple count
of the number of major chronic conditions experienced in
the last year out of a list of 10. This list included arthritis/
rheumatism, lung disease, hypertension, heart attack and
heart trouble, diabetes, cancer/malignant tumor, foot prob-
lems, stroke, fractures or broken bones, and loss of urine be-
yond one’s control. Income was measured as total pre-tax
family income from all sources in the 12 months prior to
the survey. Respondents chose from among 10 ordinal
categories of income ranging from “less than $5,000” to
“$80,000ϩ.” The social support measure also appears in
Table 1. A high score indicates more support. Cognitive im-
pairment was measured as the number of incorrect re-
sponses to eight questions from the Short Portable Mental
Status Questionnaire (Pfeiffer, 1975) covering the date,
mother’s maiden name, day of the week, current president,
former president, serial three test, and self-reported age and
birth date. Table 1 also includes the measure of religiosity.
This measure is coded so that higher scores indicate greater
religious involvement. The internal consistency reliability
estimate for this scale is .753. And finally, the models in this
study were estimated after the effects of sex and marital sta-
tus were controlled statistically. Both are represented by bi-
nary variables (1 ϭ female, 0 ϭ male; 1 ϭ married, 0 ϭ
otherwise).
Taken as a whole, the discussion above leads to the fol-
lowing hypotheses:
1. The inverse relationship between age and control is
stronger for Blacks than Whites;
2. Education and social support account for more of the as-
sociation between age and control among Whites;
3. Health, income, and cognitive function explain more
of the association between age and control among
Blacks; and
4. Religion reduces the association between age and control
to a greater extent for Blacks than Whites.
METHODS
Sample
The data for this study come from the first wave of a lon-
gitudinal panel study, Americans’ Changing Lives (House,
1997). This study used a stratified, multistage, area proba-
bility sample of noninstitutionalized persons 25 years of age
and older living in the coterminous United States. Blacks
and persons 60 years of age and older were oversampled.
Face-to-face interviews for the first wave of data collection
took place between May and October 1986. A total of 3,617
Statistical Issues
The analyses for this study are designed to test for race
differences in the effect of age on feelings of control and the
degree to which several intervening variables account for
this relationship. Because previous work has shown a non-
linear association between age and feelings of control
(Mirowsky, 1995), the key independent variable—age—is
represented as a squared term throughout. Whether the lower

RACE AND FEELINGS OF CONTROL
S121
Table 1. Select Study Measures
Measures
Construct
Controla
When bad things happen, we are not supposed to know why. We are just supposed to accept them.
People die when it is their time to die, and nothing can change that.
If bad things happen, it is because they were meant to be.
Social Supportb
Religiosityf
How much does your husband/wife/partner make you feel loved and cared for?
How much is he/she willing to listen when you need to talk about worries or problems?
In general, how important are religious and spiritual beliefs in your day-to-day life?c
How often do you watch or listen to religious programs on TV or radio or listen to religious tapes?d
When you have problems or difficulties in your work, family, or personal life, how often do you seek spiritual comfort and support?e
aControl items were scored in the following manner (coding in parentheses): strongly agree (1); agree somewhat (2); disagree somewhat (3); strongly disagree (4).
An index was created by summing the responses to the three items.
bSocial support items were scored in the following manner (coding in parentheses): a great deal (1); quite a bit (2); some (3); a little (4); not at all (5). An index was
constructed by taking the mean of the responses. The index is standardized. For those respondents without a spouse, this measure was constructed with “children” as
the referent. For those respondents without a spouse or children, “friends and relatives” was used as the referent for this measure.
cThis item was scored in the following manner (coding in parentheses): not at all important (1); not too important (2); fairly important (3); very important (4).
dThis item was scored in the following manner (coding in parentheses): never (1); less than once a month (2); about once a month (3); 2 or 3 times a month (4);
once a week (5); more than once a week (6).
eThis item was scored in the following manner (coding in parentheses): never (1); rarely (2); sometimes (3); often (4); almost always (5).
fAn index was constructed by standardizing and summing the responses to the three religiosity items.
order term of age should also be included in the equations is
a source of some debate. The prevailing rule of thumb is that
higher order terms should be tested only when the lower or-
der terms are also included in the equation. However, Alli-
son (1977) proposes that if the predictor in question is mea-
sured at the ratio level, inclusion of the higher order term
only is appropriate. In the case of this study, the variable of
interest—age—is a ratio-level measure and, therefore, only
the squared term is included in all models.
accelerated fashion across progressively older age groups
(b ϭ Ϫ1.38 ϫ 10Ϫ3; p Ͻ .001). Also in Model A, it is im-
portant to note that Black race is negatively associated with
feelings of control (b ϭ Ϫ1.07; p Ͻ .001). This suggests
that, regardless of age, Black respondents reported a lower
sense of control than Whites.
Next, racial differences in the association between age
and control were evaluated by entering an interaction be-
tween age-squared and race into the model. The results in
Model B of Table 2 suggest that the nonlinear association
between age and control does not differ significantly by
race (b ϭ .17 ϫ 10Ϫ3; not significant).
The following equations were estimated:
2
Control = a + b Race + b Age + d
(1)
(2)
(3)
1
2
2
Control = a + b Race + b Age +
1
2
Effects of Intervening Variables
2
Results from the analyses testing the effects of various in-
tervening variables on the relationship between age-squared
and control are also presented in Table 2. The findings from
the additive model appear in Model C. These results show
that a greater sense of control is associated with more edu-
cation (b ϭ .17; p Ͻ .001), more income (b ϭ .16; p Ͻ
.001), and fewer cognitive impairments (b ϭ Ϫ.16; p Ͻ
.001). However, in contrast to what was anticipated, a
higher degree of religiosity is associated with a lower sense
of control (b ϭ Ϫ.14; p Ͻ .001). In addition, after account-
ing for the effects of all of the other predictors, health and
social support are not associated with feelings of control.
Taken together, the data in Table 2 reveal that the interven-
ing variables account for 69% of the relationship between
the age-squared term and control.
Next, racial differences in the effects of these predictors
on control were tested with interaction terms. As shown in
Model D of Table 2, race differences appear to exist only
with regard to the impact of education on feelings of control
(b ϭ Ϫ.10; p Ͻ .05). Separate analyses within each racial
subsample (not shown here) show that education is signifi-
cantly associated with feelings of control for Whites (b ϭ
.18; p Ͻ .001), but not Blacks (b ϭ .07; not significant). The
impact of the other predictors on feelings of control, how-
b (Age × Race) + d
3
2
Control = a + b Race + b Age + b Predictors + b
4
1
2
3
(Predictors × Race) + d
where a is the intercept, b are regression coefficients, and d
represents the effects of the demographic control measures,
sex and marital status. Finally, Predictors denotes educa-
tion, health, income, social support, cognitive impairment,
and religiosity.
RESULTS
The findings from this study are presented in two sec-
tions. First, the relationship between age and perceived con-
trol is evaluated for the entire sample and by race. Then,
analyses evaluating race differences in the effects of the
predictors on the relationship between age and control are
presented.
Age and Control
As shown in Model A of Table 2, the findings from esti-
mating Equation 1 replicate the main results of Mirowsky
(1995). More specifically, feelings of control decrease in an

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SHAW AND KRAUSE
Table 2. Regression Models Predicting Effects of Age, Race, and
Several Intervening Variables on Sense of Control (N ϭ 3,149)
DISCUSSION
Although research indicates that feelings of control are
inversely associated with age, little attention has been given
to whether this is true for Blacks as well as Whites. Surpris-
ingly, the data suggest that the relationship between age and
control beliefs is largely the same for people in both racial
groups. Still, even though the relationship between control
and age is the same, different factors may influence this re-
lationship in the two racial groups. We took a modest first
step toward addressing this issue by testing whether six fac-
tors—education, health, income, social support, cognitive
impairments, and religion—exert the same or different ef-
fects on the inverse relationship between age and control
among Blacks and Whites. Our findings suggest that in-
come, cognitive impairments, and religiousness are all sig-
nificantly associated with feelings of control for the sample
as a whole, but no race differences emerge in the relation-
ship between these predictors and control. In contrast, the
effects of education on feelings of control are stronger for
Whites than Blacks. Finally, health and social support ap-
pear to have no effect on feelings of control for either
Blacks or Whites.
Of particular interest are the effects of education and reli-
gion. The data indicate that, regardless of age, less educa-
tion is associated with less perceived control among Whites
only. This would lead us to believe that education should be
more useful for explaining why Whites, but not Blacks, ex-
perience an inverse association between age and control.
However, this was not the case. Instead, the findings indi-
cate that there were no race differences in this relationship.
The complex linkages among age, race, education, and con-
trol represent an important area for further inquiry.
Predictor
Black
Model A
Model B
Model C
Model D
Ϫ1.069*** Ϫ1.110*** Ϫ.345*
.140
Ϫ.134
Ϫ1.380*** Ϫ1.380*** Ϫ.428*** Ϫ.436***
Ͻ.000
Ϫ.164
Ϫ.384*
.183
Ϫ.048
.182
Ϫ.139
.137
Ϫ.043
Age2 (10Ϫ3
)
Ͻ.000
Ϫ.164
.168
Ͻ.000
.008
Ͻ.000
Ϫ.051
Ͻ.000
Ϫ.052
Black ϫ Age2 (10Ϫ3
Education
)
.167***
.016
.198
Ϫ.029
.036
Ϫ.014
.155***
.021
.157
Ϫ.043
.041
Ϫ.017
Ϫ.163*** Ϫ.168***
.044
Ϫ.064
Ϫ.135*** Ϫ.135***
.018
Ϫ.130
.170***
.017
.202
Ϫ.032
.036
Ϫ.016
.155***
.021
.156
Ϫ.045
.041
Ϫ.018
Chronic Conditions
Income
Social Support
Cognitive Impairment
Religiosity
.044
Ϫ.066
.018
Ϫ.131
Ϫ.104*
.049
Ϫ.046
.011
.107
.002
.009
Black ϫ Education
Black ϫ Chronic Conditions
Black ϫ Income
Additionally, for both groups, greater involvement in re-
ligion is associated with a lower sense of control. Moreover,
religion accounts for some of the observed association be-
tween age and control for both groups. The direction of
these findings, however, was not anticipated. Based on pre-
vious research, we expected to see the opposite effect (i.e.,
more religion bolsters control; Krause & Tran, 1989). Per-
haps the explanation for these unexpected findings may be
found by turning to the literature on primary and secondary
control (Rothbaum, Weisz, & Snyder, 1982). Primary con-
trol refers to efforts aimed at changing the external world.
Following Skinner (1996), secondary control involves ef-
forts to change the external world by shifting responsibility
to a benevolent other. Simply put, the negative association
between religion and control may reflect the relinquishing
of control to a powerful but benevolent other (i.e., God).
In the process of exploring these as well as other theoreti-
cal explanations for the differences in control over the life
course, researchers would be well advised to take into ac-
count the limitations in the work we have presented. Three
are identified briefly below.
.060
.003
Ϫ.026
.118
Ϫ.004
.011
.122
.002
Ϫ.037
.070
Ϫ.011
Black ϫ Social Support
Black ϫ Cognitive Impairment
Black ϫ Religiosity
F value
R2
Change in R2
48.780*** 39.038*** 70.229*** 44.340***
.058
.058
.000
.183
.124***
.185
.002
Notes: The relationships presented in this table are estimated after the ef-
fects of sex and marital status were controlled statistically. For each measure,
the first value in each column is the unstandardized regression coefficient, the
second value in each column is the standard error, and the third value in each
column is the standardized regression coefficient.
*p Ͻ .05; **p Ͻ .01; ***p Ͻ .005.
As discussed above, our finding of a negative association
between religion and control may reflect a relinquishing of
primary control in favor of secondary control. However, the
items used to measure control in the current study all refer
to primary control. Much more could be learned by devel-
oping measures of secondary control and testing them
within this framework.
ever, appear not to differ by race. Furthermore, because the
effect of the age-squared term on control does not change
considerably with the inclusion of any of the interaction
terms (Model C vs Model D), no racial differences appear to
exist in the effects of these predictors on the relationship be-
tween age-squared and control.

RACE AND FEELINGS OF CONTROL
S123
Another limitation involves drawing conclusions about
the effects of age on control using cross-sectional data.
Two issues raise concern in this respect. First, the direction
of causality between the predictors and control is unknown.
For example, with only one wave of data, the degree to
which increasing religion affects feelings of control cannot
be distinguished from the degree to which declines in con-
trol may cause changes in religiosity. In addition, with only
one wave of data, we cannot be sure if the observed pat-
terns in control are associated with age, period, or cohort
effects.
perspective. We hope that this research sparks further inter-
est in examining the significance of race, as well as other
social structural factors such as gender and socioeconomic
status, in the relationship between age and control.
Acknowledgments
This research was supported by two grants from the National Institute on
Aging (“Well-Being Among the Aged: Personal Control and Self-Esteem,”
RO1 AG09221, Principal Investigator Neal Krause; and “Public Health and
Aging Training Program,” T32 AG 00134).
Address correspondence to Benjamin Shaw, Department of Health Be-
havior and Health Education, School of Public Health, University of
Michigan, 1420 Washington Heights, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2029. E-mail:
bashaw@umich.edu
Finally, there are limitations in some of the study mea-
sures. For instance, greater insight into the relationship be-
tween age and control may be achieved by using better
measures of religion and health. In addition, the measure
of social support used in this study requires some explana-
tion. As described in Table 1, levels of social support from
various sources (e.g., spouse, child, friends, and relatives)
were assessed separately. Therefore, because not all re-
spondents reported having relationships with people from
each source, we constructed a measure that reflects sup-
port from the person most likely to be closest to the re-
spondent (see Krause, Goldenhar, Liang, Jay, & Maeda,
1993, for a similar approach). Thus, for respondents who
were married or living with a partner, the measure reflects
support from this partner; for those without a significant
other but who had children, the measure reflects support
from their children; and for those who were without both a
significant other and children, the measure reflects support
from friends and relatives. This measure is based on an
implicit hierarchy reflecting the differential importance of
various sources of support. This means that if a significant
other is present, then it is assumed that the assistance he or
she provides matters most. If a respondent does not have a
significant other, but has children, it is assumed that sup-
port from a child is more important than support from the
remaining source assessed in this study (i.e., friends and
relatives). This measurement strategy, which differentially
weights support scores in favor of close family members,
is based on socioemotional selectivity theory (Carstensen,
1992). According to this perspective, as people age, emo-
tional support from family members becomes increasingly
important.
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Received April 3, 2000
Accepted November 7, 2000