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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| The impact of differential item functioning on age and gender differences in functional disability | | Author(s) | John A Fleishman, William D Spector, Barbara M Altman |
| Journal title | Journals of Gerontology: Series B, Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, vol 57B, no 5, September 2002 |
| Pages | pp S275-S284 |
| Keywords | Physical disabilities ; Age groups [elderly] ; Older men ; Older women ; United States of America. |
| Annotation | Estimates of group differences in functional disability may be biased if items exhibit differential item functioning (DIF). For a given item, DIF exists if people in different groups do not have the same probability of responding, given their level of disability. Men and women from age groups 18-49, 50-69, and 70 and over are compared, to assess the extent to which DIF affects estimates of age and gender group differences in disability severity in adults with some functional disability. Data are from the 1994/1995 US National Health Interview Survey Disability Supplement. Analyses focused on 5,570 adult respondents who received help or supervision with at least one of 11 activities of daily living (ADLs) or instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs) tasks. 9 items manifested significant DIF by age or gender. DIF was especially large for "shopping" and "money management". Without adjusting for DIF, middle-aged people were less disabled than older men, and women were less disabled than men among non-older people. Comparisons of disability across socioeconomic groups need to take DIF into account. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-021107213 A |
| Classmark | BN: BB: BC: BD: 7T |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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