Ethnicity does not account for differences in the health-related quality of life of Turkish, Moroccan, and Moluccan elderly in the Netherlands

Table 1 Socio-demographic and health characteristics of the study sample

	Moroccan	Turkish	Moluccan	p-value
	N = 98	N = 69	N = 34	p-value
Age (mean, SD)	67.1 (7.3)¹	63.3 (5.0)²	69.7 (8.6)³	<0.001
Age (%)				0.001
55-59 years	18.4	27.5	14.7
60-69 years	41.8	60.9	38.2
70 years	39.8	11.6	47.1
Gender (%)				0.724
Male	56.1	50.7	50.0
Years of residence in the Netherlands^a (mean, SD)	34.7 (10.6)⁴	34.2 (8.1)³	59.4 (4.8)²	<0.001
Years of education (mean, SD)	1.1 (3.0)²	3.7 (3.2)²	10.4 (4.3)²	<0.001
SES below Dutch average^b (%)	100	89.9	55.9	<0.001
Marital status (%)				0.529
Married	82.3	88.4	82.4
Divorced/widowed	17.7	11.6	17.6
Acculturation (PAS)
D-PAS^c (mean, SD)	19.3 (4.6)	18.8 (5.4)³	21.9 (6.2)³	0.048
C-PAS^d (mean, SD)	23.1 (5.1)²	26.9 (3.8)¹	26.2 (3.8)⁴	<0.001
Language proficiency (mean, SD)^e	2.7 (0.8)²	2.3 (0.5)²	3.6 (0.6)²	<0.001
Multimorbidity (%)				0.004
0 chronic conditions	20.4	10.1	38.2
1 chronic condition	22.4	13.0	17.6
≥ 2 chronic conditions	57.1	76.8	44.1
Loneliness (De Jong Gierveld	7.3 (4.2)²	5.4 (3.8)²	1.6 (2.0)²	<0.001
loneliness scale)^f (mean, SD)
HRQOL (SF-12)
PCS^g (mean, SD)	34.3 (31.4)²	45.7 (27.0)²	71.7 (21.2)²	<0.001
MCS^h (mean, SD)	42.1 (27.0)²	54.7 (22.2)²	74.4 (22.1)²	<0.001

^aMoluccans born in the Netherlands were not asked.
^bStatus scores were classified into SES above the Dutch average and below the Dutch average. The average status score in the Netherlands was used as cut-off point.
^cRanged from 6 to 30. A higher score means a greater sense of emotional attachment and belonging within the Dutch culture.
^dRanged from 6 to 30. A higher score means greater sense of emotional attachment and belonging within the culture of origin.
^eRanged from 1 to 4. A higher score means a better command of the Dutch language.
^fRanged from 0 to 11. A higher score indicates a greater experience of feelings of loneliness.
^gRanged from 0 to 100. A higher score indicates better physical health.
^hRanged from 0 to 100. A higher score indicates better mental health.
¹Means of Moroccans and Turks differ significantly (p< 0.05).
²Means of Moroccans, Turks, and Moluccans differ significantly (p < 0.05).
³Means of Moluccans and Turks differ significantly (p< 0.05).
⁴Means of Moluccans and Moroccans differ significantly (p< 0.05).

ISSN: 1477-7525