1. Department of Sociology Population Studies Center
Cause-Specific Contributions to Sex Differences in Adult Mortality among Whites and African Americans from 1960 to 1995
Irma T. Elo
Greg L. Drevenstedt
Department of Sociology
Population Studies Center
University of Pennsylvania

3. Age Group Contributions to Sex Difference in Life Expectancy at Birth, African Americans and Whites, 1960 and 1995
African Americans
Whites

4. Preston et al. (1998) for African Americans
Purpose: To investigate cause-specific contributions to sex differences in African American and white mortality at ages and from 1960 to 1995
Data Sources
Deaths:
: Centers for Disease Control
: National Center for Health Statistics
Population:
U.S. Bureau of the Census
Census Undercount:
Preston et al. (1998) for African Americans
Census Bureau estimates for whites

5. Causes of Death 3 time periods: 1960-1972, 1973-1983, 1984-1995
12 cause groups at ages 40-64:
HIV
infections, pneumonia, and influenza
lung cancer
breast cancer
all other cancers
diabetes
stroke
circulatory disease, excl. stroke
homicide
accidents and injuries
symptoms and ill-defined conditions
all other causes of death
11 cause groups at ages 15-39:
HIV
infections, pneumonia, and influenza
maternal causes
cancer
diabetes
stroke
circulatory disease, excl. stroke
homicide
accidents and injuries
symptoms and ill-defined conditions
all other causes of death
3 time periods:
, ,

6. Methods 1. Calculate age-standardized death rates at ages 15-39
2. Estimate cause-specific contributions to
the sex difference in all-cause mortality
pi = (ASDRMi-ASDRWi)/(ASDRM-ASDRW)
i indexes cause group: pi = 1.
3. Estimate cause-specific contributions to
change in the sex difference in all-cause
mortality
(ASDRMi,t -ASDRWi,t)= ai+bi (ASDRM-ASDRW)
i indexes cause group; t indexes year: bi = 1.
See Preston (1976) and Gragnolati et al. (1999) for earlier applications.

17. Conclusions
Sex mortality differences are larger for African Americans than whites due to more adverse mortality trends for African American males than for African American females or whites males or white females.
The search for explanations must focus not only on differences in health behaviors by race and sex, but on the broader social context in which these behaviors are embedded.