Native American elders' health congruence: the role of gender and corresponding functional well-being, hospital admissions, and social engagement.

Addressing the need to explore how Native American (NA) elders' subjective health (SH) compares to their objective health (OH; chronic disease conditions), we examined whether: congruence between 8191 NA elders' SH and OH parallels that of non-NA elders; health optimism (SH > OH) is protective and health pessimism (SH < OH), is detrimental; and whether gender moderates links between health congruence and health-related outcomes. Results comparing health optimists and pessimists to realists in functioning, hospitalizations, and social engagement showed optimists experienced better outcomes; pessimists had poorer outcomes; the role of health congruence differed by gender. Findings suggest implications for improving health-related outcomes among NA elders.