ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses one aspect of longevity—selective survival to advanced ages—and suggests ways in which it influences old age. It proposes that selective survival helps explain the mortality “crossover” phenomenon. The crossover refers to the situation wherein mortality rates of one population become lower than those of another at advanced ages despite clearly higher rates at younger ages. Black Americans, for example, experience higher mortality rates than whites at every age up to approximately age seventy-five, after which point they are expected to live longer than whites. The chapter explores the implications of this phenomenon for comparative studies of aging within as well as across societies. It focuses more specifically on selective mortality and selective survival in order to explain differences between the aged in advantaged and disadvantaged populations. The chapter aims to compare such populations with regard to their health, rates of nursing home institutionalization, suicide rates, and status in the family and community.
