Race and independent living among elderly Brazilians since 1980

This paper examines independent living among elderly Brazilians age 65+ of different racial groups using 1980 and 2000 census microsamples. Although there was an overall increase in independent living among Brazilian elders, that increase mainly reflects change among Whites whereas there was little change among Browns or Blacks. Since Whites tend to have higher socioeconomic status than Browns or Blacks in Brazil, one might suppose that a racial disparity merely reflects socioeconomic differences. That is a common argument anyway. But if that were so, then after controlling for socioeconomic factors there should be 1) no racial difference in the likelihood of independent living, and 2) no racial difference hi the change in that likelihood. However, we find 1) net racial differences in independent living in both 1980 and 2000, and 2) a net racial difference in change among unmarried men. Our findings suggest that social, cultural or minority status factors not captured in our statistical models may explain these differences. Additional study is needed to confirm or negate this that will ideally include information about non-coresident as well as coresident kin.