A Comparative Analysis of Socioeconomic Position, Social Relationships, and Functional Health Among Jamaican Males

Background: Functional limitation is an increasingly important public-health concern as population ageing, chronic non-communicable diseases, and social inequalities reshape the ability of individuals to function independently. Yet contemporary male-specific evidence from Jamaica remains limited despite extensive research from Europe, Asia, Africa, and other parts of Latin America and the Caribbean. Objective: This study examined whether area of residence, union status, educational attainment, household headship, age, and socioeconomic status independently predicted functional-health limitation among Jamaican males, while explicitly comparing the Jamaican findings with evidence from other world regions. Methods: A secondary quantitative analysis of the 2023 Jamaica Survey of Living Conditions was conducted using binary logistic regression, with 1,299 complete cases drawn from an initially selected sample of 1,770 males and adjusted odds ratios (AORs), 95% confidence intervals (CIs), model-fit indices, and classification statistics examined [3]. Results: The overall model was statistically significant, χ²(10)=220.788, P<.001, with Cox and Snell R²=.156 and Nagelkerke R²=.257; age independently increased the odds of functional limitation by 6.3% per year (AOR=1.063, 95% CI=1.050-1.075, P<.001), while single males had 55.1% greater adjusted odds than the omitted union-status reference group (AOR=1.551, 95% CI=1.065-2.260, P=.022). Comparative findings: Wealth, education, household headship, and geographical residence did not independently predict functional limitation, contrasting with many studies from Britain, Southern Europe, India, and Ghana that report socioeconomic gradients but resembling some Asian evidence in which socioeconomic gradients attenuate or become unclear after multivariable consideration of related factors. Conclusion: The current findings close part of an important Caribbean research gap by demonstrating that functional limitation among Jamaican males cannot simply be interpreted through socioeconomic disadvantage, because age emerged as the dominant independent correlate and socioeconomic position did not retain an independent association after adjustment, thereby underscoring the need for Jamaican-specific, longitudinal, male-centred models of functional ageing.