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HEALTH OF THE ELDERLY POPULATION IN RACIALLY DIVERSE CITIES AND COUNTIES OF XINJIANG, CHINA1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 April 2011

Yuhui Li  and
Linda Dorsten
Yuhui Li*
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, Rowan University
Linda Dorsten
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, SUNY Fredonia
*
Yuhui Li, Department of Sociology, Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ 08028. E-mail: li@rowan.edu
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Abstract

This research examines the impact of ethnic concentration and community socioeconomic status (SES) on elderly health in ethnically diverse communities in Xinjiang in northwest China. Effects of the concentration of two major ethnic populations are compared: the Han, which is the dominant ethnic group in China, and the Uyghur, the largest Muslim group in Xinjiang. Net of socioeconomic status, we find that population densities of the ethnic groups have a significant impact on our aggregate-level indicators of elderly health. Han density predicts good health, while Uyghur density predicts poor health. However, we do not find that SES indicators are independent predictors of community elder health. These findings suggest that rapidly developing economies, like those in China, do not necessarily provide the attention to health care that would result in improved quality of life and health status for the population.

Keywords

EthnicityEthnic CompositionChinaXinjiangElderly HealthSocioeconomic Status
Type
Current Status and Priorities
Information
Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race , Volume 8 , Issue 1: Special Issue: Racial Inequality and Health , Spring 2011 , pp. 53 - 61
Copyright
Copyright © W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research 2011

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Footnotes

1

We thank Dr. Lawrence Hotchkiss for his helpful comments and suggestions about some aspects of the data analysis. We also thank the three anonymous reviewers for their extremely helpful comments and suggestions on an earlier version of this paper.

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