Resilience in the Disabling Effect of Gait Speed Among Older Turkish and Moroccan Immigrants and Native Dutch

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the factors that inhibit the disabling effect of impairments among citizens who have migrated from Turkey and Morocco and native Dutch according to a resilience perspective.

METHOD: Using data from the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam with 928 native Dutch, 255 Turks, and 199 Moroccans aged 55 to 65, linear regression analysis assessed whether country of origin, mastery, income, and contact frequency modified the relationship between gait speed and activity limitations.

RESULTS: Turks, but not Moroccans, demonstrated stronger associations between gait speed and activity limitations than the Dutch. Mastery modified the association among the Dutch and the Turks. Income modified the association only among the Dutch. Effect modification by contact frequency was not observed.

DISCUSSION: Moroccans and Dutch appeared to be more resilient against impairments than Turks. As none of the resilience factors buffered in all three populations, we conclude that resilience mechanisms are not universal across populations.