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Objectives: The Latino population is one of the largest, most diverse, and fastest-growing demographic groups in the United States. Although Latinos enjoy longer life spans and reduced mortality risk relative to non-Hispanic Whites, they have higher rates of chronic health conditions such as diabetes and dementia and live more of their older years with poor health and disability. Such inequities point to the need for this research focused on examining resiliency strategies and barriers to successful aging among various U.S. Latino subgroups., Methods: This qualitative study used thematic content analysis to examine resiliency strategies and barriers to successful aging among Mexican immigrant women (n = 40) residing in an underserved agricultural community and entering mid-life (mean = 49 years old)., Results: With regards to barriers to successful aging, 3 themes emerged: (1) stressful lifestyle in the United States compared to the participants' home countries; (2) stress from expectations at home; and (3) stress due to work and the various components around work. The following 4 resiliency strategies emerged: (1) family as a motivation for moving forward in life and focusing on the success of children; (2) having a positive mindset; (3) praying to God for strength to overcome obstacles; and (4) self-care., Discussion: Despite experiencing barriers to successful aging, participants practice various resiliency strategies to age successfully. Because many of the barriers identified are related to poverty-related stressors, systemic solutions addressing the social determinants of health are needed., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For commercial re-use, please contact reprints@oup.com for reprints and translation rights for reprints. All other permissions can be obtained through our RightsLink service via the Permissions link on the article page on our site—for further information please contact journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Introduction: Latinos are the fastest growing aging population in the U.S. However, there has been limited attention to conceptualizing successful aging among Latinos, especially those residing in rural communities. Latinos are the largest racial or ethnic group residing in rural underserved communities and rural Latinos experience significant structural barriers to access the conditions they need to age well. The goal of this study is to make unique contributions to the successful aging literature by describing what successful aging means for middle-aged Latinas residing in a rural community., Methods: This qualitative paper used inductive thematic content analysis to examine definitions of successful aging among Latina women (n = 40) residing in an underserved agricultural community and entering mid-life (mean = 49 years old; age range 40-64)., Results: With regards to definitions of successful aging, four themes emerged: 1) Having good health; 2) maintaining an active lifestyle; 3) the wellbeing of one's children; and 4) being independent., Discussion: Participants' definitions of successful aging aligned to some extent with existing frameworks, specifically related to health and independence. However, middle-aged Latina participants' unique definitions of successful aging also diverged from existing frameworks, especially around the wellbeing of their children and the importance of work as a way of maintaining an active lifestyle. More research is needed to understand the unique social context and circumstances of middle-aged Latinos residing in rural communities and how they influence their aging journeys. This can provide important information for the development of culturally sensitive services, interventions, and policies to help Latinos age well., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 Ambriz et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Background: Personal care products may contain many chemicals, some of which are suspected endocrine disrupters. This is an important source of chemical exposure for women, but little is known about how chemical exposure differs among different races/ethnicities., Objective: This study examines differences in personal care product use among Black, Latina, Vietnamese, Mixed Race, and White women in California., Methods: We used a community-based participatory process to create and administer a personal care product usage survey to 321 Black, Latina, Vietnamese, Mixed Race, and White women. We used multivariate regression models with pairwise comparisons to examine the frequency of product use by race/ethnicity., Results: We found distinct trends of personal care product use by race/ethnicity: Latina women typically used makeup most frequently; Black women used certain hair products or styles most frequently; and Vietnamese women were most likely to use facial cleansing products compared to other races/ethnicities. Latina and Vietnamese women were less likely to try to avoid certain ingredients in their products., Significance: These findings can help estimate disparities in chemical exposure from personal care product use and complement future research on health inequities due to chemical exposures in the larger environmental and social context., (© 2021. The Author(s).)