Disability and Healthy Time Use Among Asian Americans in Middle and Later Life

Abstract Disability is not uncommon among older Asian Americans and varies across subgroups, yet little is known about how functional limitation status is associated with healthy time use. Drawing on the disablement process and the disability‐as‐inequality framework, this study examines how healthy time use varies by functional limitation status and ethnicity among six subgroups of midlife and older Asian Americans. Pooled cross‐sectional data from the 2013–2023 American Time Use Survey were analyzed for six groups of Asian Americans aged 45 and older ( N = 2515). Measures of healthy time use were constructed from health‐promoting activities, time spent with social ties, and activity locations. Ordinary least squares models were estimated with heteroskedasticity‐robust standard errors, adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics. When Asian Americans were analyzed as a single group, functional limitations were associated only with more sleep. However, disaggregated analyses of Asian Americans with functional limitations found subgroup heterogeneity, most clearly in time spent alone and place‐based time use. Filipino and Vietnamese individuals spent more time alone than Asian Indian and Japanese individuals. Place‐based differences were especially pronounced: Korean, Filipino, and Vietnamese individuals generally spent more time at home than Chinese and Asian Indian individuals, whereas Vietnamese and, to a lesser extent, Filipino individuals spent less time in public places than several other groups. Heterogeneity in time with kin was more limited, with only Korean and Japanese individuals spending more time with kin than Vietnamese individuals. Activity‐based heterogeneity was also selective: Vietnamese individuals spent less social and leisure time than Japanese, Filipino, and Asian Indian individuals, while Koreans spent more time exercising than Japanese and Vietnamese individuals. For routine time use and sleep time, there were no clear subgroup differences. Thus, functional limitations were associated with time use differently across Asian American subgroups, and among those with functional limitations, subgroup differences in time use were more visible in some domains. The findings highlight the need for group‐specific aging and disability supports that consider how daily time use varies by functional limitation status across activities, relationships, and locations.