Intergenerational social mobility and subjective wellbeing in later life

Abstract Wealth, an important financial cushion for older adults to buffer economic stress, requires a longer time to accumulate and develop in one’s course of life. However, little is known about the trajectories of wealth in later life, and how the life course socioeconomic status (SES) may contribute to the development of wealth at old-age. This study investigated longitudinal patterns of wealth trajectory and whether SES across the life course affects these trajectories using critical period, accumulation, and social mobility models. Using data from 16,189 adults aged 51 and older from the 2004-2014 Health and Retirement Study, a growth mixture model was used to explore distinct wealth trajectories. Impacts of life course models were studied using multinomial logistic regression. Results showed that four heterogeneous latent classes of wealth were identified: Stable high (reference group), Low and increasing, Stable low, and High but decline. Disadvantaged adulthood SES, accumulated exposure to socioeconomic risks, and downward or persistent socioeconomic disadvantage over the life course were associated with Stable low, Low and increasing, and High but decline, supporting all three life course mechanisms on wealth development in later life. Evidence suggests that wealth development is heterogeneous across individuals, and a strong gradient effect of life-course SES on wealth trajectories are clearly observed. Programs and policies should address the effects of life course on wealth development to strengthen the economic well-being in later life.

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Personality and Other Lifelong Influences on Older–Age Health and Wellbeing: Preliminary Findings in Two Scottish Samples

European Journal of Personality ◽

10.1002/per.2068 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 30 (5) ◽

pp. 438-455 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Mathew A. Harris ◽

Caroline E. Brett ◽

John M. Starr ◽

Ian J. Deary ◽

Wendy Johnson

Keyword(s):

Social Class ◽

Personality Traits ◽

Cognitive Ability ◽

Early Life ◽

Structural Equation ◽

Subjective Wellbeing ◽

Later Life ◽

Older Age ◽

Health And Wellbeing ◽

Early Life Factors

Recent observations that personality traits are related to later–life health and wellbeing have inspired considerable interest in exploring the mechanisms involved. Other factors, such as cognitive ability and education, also show longitudinal influences on health and wellbeing, but it is not yet clear how all these early–life factors together contribute to later–life health and wellbeing. In this preliminary study, we assessed hypothesised relations among these variables across the life course, using structural equation modelling in a sample assessed on dependability (a personality trait related to conscientiousness) in childhood, cognitive ability and social class in childhood and older age, education, and health and subjective wellbeing in older age. Our models indicated that both health and subjective wellbeing in older age were influenced by childhood IQ and social class, via education. Some older–age personality traits mediated the effects of early–life variables, on subjective wellbeing in particular, but childhood dependability did not show significant associations. Our results therefore did not provide evidence that childhood dependability promotes older–age health and wellbeing, but did highlight the importance of other early–life factors, particularly characteristics that contribute to educational attainment. Further, personality in later life may mediate the effects of early–life factors on health and subjective wellbeing. © 2016 The Authors. European Journal of Personality published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of European Association of Personality Psychology

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Childlessness, parenthood and subjective wellbeing: The relevance of conceptualizing parenthood and childlessness as a continuum.

10.31235/osf.io/xtfq6 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Marco Albertini ◽

Bruno Arpino

Keyword(s):

Life Satisfaction ◽

Regression Models ◽

Subjective Wellbeing ◽

Later Life ◽

Standard Errors ◽

Intergenerational Solidarity ◽

Older Individuals ◽

Linear Regression Models ◽

Number Of Children ◽

The Continuum

The objective of the paper is to show the theoretical and practical relevance of conceptualizing and operationalizing parenthood and childlessness as a continuum – instead of a dichotomy - when evaluating the consequences of kinless-ness in later life. It is suggested that information on the number of children, structural and associational intergenerational solidarity can be utilized to operationalize the continuum. Subjective wellbeing is utilized as outcome of interest. Data from waves 2, 4, 5 and 6 of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe are used. The sample includes 183,545 respondents from 21 countries. Linear regression models with clustered standard errors are used. Childless older individuals report lower levels of life satisfaction than parents. However, the largest difference is observed between those with one and two children. Using a measure of associational intergenerational solidarity to weight the degree of parenthood it is shown that parents who have infrequent contact with children report significantly lower levels of life satisfaction than childless individuals.Kinless-ness is not only a demographic but also a social condition. When studying the consequences of ageing alone it is essential to consider not only the presence and “quantity” of kin, but also its “quality”.

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Life skills, wealth, health, and wellbeing in later life

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ◽

10.1073/pnas.1616011114 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 114 (17) ◽

pp. 4354-4359 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Andrew Steptoe ◽

Jane Wardle

Keyword(s):

Daily Living ◽

Life Skills ◽

Subjective Wellbeing ◽

Density Lipoprotein ◽

Later Life ◽

Socioeconomic Background ◽

C Reactive Protein ◽

Occupational Success ◽

Reactive Protein ◽

Health And Wellbeing

Life skills play a key role in promoting educational and occupational success in early life, but their relevance at older ages is uncertain. Here we measured five life skills—conscientiousness, emotional stability, determination, control, and optimism—in 8,119 men and women aged 52 and older (mean 66.7 y). We show that the number of skills is associated with wealth, income, subjective wellbeing, less depression, low social isolation and loneliness, more close relationships, better self-rated health, fewer chronic diseases and impaired activities of daily living, faster walking speed, and favorable objective biomarkers (concentration of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, vitamin D and C-reactive protein, and less central obesity). Life skills also predicted sustained psychological wellbeing, less loneliness, and a lower incidence of new chronic disease and physical impairment over a 4-y period. These analyses took account of age, sex, parental socioeconomic background, education, and cognitive function. No single life skill was responsible for the associations we observed, nor were they driven by factors such as socioeconomic status or health. Despite the vicissitudes of later life, life skills impact a range of outcomes, and the maintenance of these attributes may benefit the older population.

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Climbing up ladders and sliding down snakes: an empirical assessment of the effect of social mobility on subjective wellbeing

Review of Economics of the Household ◽

10.1007/s11150-020-09487-x ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Paul Dolan ◽

Grace Lordan

Keyword(s):

Social Mobility ◽

Subjective Wellbeing ◽

Empirical Assessment

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Ageing creatively

Metaphor and the Social World ◽

10.1075/msw.4.2.04tho ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 4 (2) ◽

pp. 225-244 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Helen Thomas ◽

Viccy Adams

Keyword(s):

Subjective Wellbeing ◽

Later Life ◽

Creative Arts ◽

Metaphor Analysis ◽

Double Blind ◽

Creative Processes ◽

Beneficial Effects ◽

Image Schema ◽

Relationship Of ◽

The Relationship

The beneficial effect of creative activities on individuals’ subjective wellbeing has become a popular and academic given in recent years. Yet the creative processes occurring in a complex, non-drug intervention and their relationship with perceived beneficial effects on wellbeing are difficult to define. Health professionals, arts practitioners and commentators alike identify the need for the development of a multi-disciplinary vocabulary that reflects the interests and values inherent in this rapidly developing discipline. Newcastle University’s “Ageing Creatively” project was an 18-month pilot study to explore the relationship of creative arts interventions to wellbeing in later life (Adams, Thomas & Thomson, 2014). This paper presents the results of metaphor analysis in a series of exit interviews with 31 participants. One-to-one interviews were administered by telephone or in person by specialist, creative arts researchers and each interview was semi-structured using the CASP-12 questionnaire, which aims to measure quality of life in the third age (Sim et al., 2011). The Metaphor Identification Procedure was applied (double-blind) by hand to the transcribed corpus of c.93,000 words, inputted into MS Excel and then discursively coded with vehicles by the researchers. Two dominant vehicle groupings emerged that suggest subjective wellbeing amongst the participant group is conceptualized using the container image schema and the source-path-goal image schema. We therefore propose two systematic, novel metaphors — wellbeing is a container and wellbeing is a journey — as meaningful alternatives to Lakoff and Johnson’s conceptual metaphor wellbeing is wealth, especially in the search to better understand the relationship between creative activities and subjective wellbeing. Our findings suggest that systematic metaphor analysis may be usefully incorporated into the range of social science methodologies available for the measurement of subjective wellbeing.

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Social and spatial mobility and self-reported heath in older-age: linkage of the Scottish Longitudinal Study to the Scottish Mental Survey 1947

International Journal for Population Data Science ◽

10.23889/ijpds.v3i2.559 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 3 (2) ◽

Author(s):

Lynne Forrest ◽

Chris Dibben ◽

Zhiqiang Feng ◽

Ian Deary ◽

Frank Popham

Keyword(s):

Longitudinal Study ◽

Social Class ◽

Cognitive Ability ◽

Social Mobility ◽

Geographical Location ◽

Later Life ◽

Older Age ◽

Geographic Mobility ◽

Spatial Mobility ◽

Ability Test

BackgroundThere is debate within the literature as to whether social mobility inflates or constrains health inequalities. The role of geographical mobility is unknown. ObjectivesWe were interested in exploring how spatial and social mobility might impact on health in older age using linked administrative and cohort data. MethodsThe Scottish Mental Survey 1947 (a 1936 birth cohort of 70,805 individuals with age 11 cognitive ability test scores) was linked to the Scottish Longitudinal Study (a semi-random sample of 5.3% of the Scottish population), and the 1939 register to obtain measures of occupation and geographical location in 1939 and 1991. We examined the movement between three geographical areas (Edinburgh, Glasgow, Other) in Scotland. Four social mobility trajectories were derived. We modelled the relationship between social and geographic mobility and likelihood of having self-reported limiting long term illness (LLTI) at age 65. FindingsThose who were geographically mobile to Edinburgh had the lowest rates of self-reported LLTI and those who remained resident in the Glasgow area had the highest rates. The lowest and highest rates of LLTI were found in the socially-static at the top and bottom of the social scale respectively, with intermediate rates seen in the upwardly and downwardly mobile. However neither social nor spatial mobility were significantly associated with health in later life in the fully adjusted model when highest educational qualifications and cognitive ability were included. Being female, having higher education qualifications and being in a higher social class in childhood and adulthood reduced the likelihood of poor health at age 65. ConclusionsAlthough both social class and geographical location were associated with the likelihood of LLTI in later life, social and spatial mobility were not, when factors such as education and cognitive ability were controlled for.

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Early life characteristics, social mobility during childhood and risk of stroke in later life: findings from a Swedish cohort

Scandinavian Journal of Public Health ◽

10.1177/1403494817696600 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 45 (4) ◽

pp. 419-427 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Amy Heshmati ◽

M. Pia Chaparro ◽

Anna Goodman ◽

Ilona Koupil

Keyword(s):

Social Mobility ◽

Gestational Age ◽

Early Life ◽

Cox Regression ◽

Later Life ◽

Haemorrhagic Stroke ◽

University Hospital ◽

Increased Risk ◽

National Patient ◽

Study Population

Aims: To investigate if early life characteristics and social mobility during childhood are associated with incident thrombotic stroke (TS), haemorrhagic stroke (HS) and other stroke (OS). Methods: Our study population consists of all live births at Uppsala University Hospital in 1915–1929 (Uppsala Birth Cohort; n = 14,192), of whom 5532 males and 5061 females were singleton births and lived in Sweden in 1964. We followed them from 1 January 1964 until first diagnosis of stroke (in the National Patient Register or Causes of Death Register), emigration, death, or until 31 December 2008. Data were analysed using Cox regression, stratifying by gender. Results: Gestational age was negatively associated with TS and OS in women only. Women had increased risk of TS if they were born early preterm (<35 weeks) (HR 1.54 (95% CI 1.02–2.31)) or preterm (35–36 weeks) (HR 1.37 (95% CI 1.03–1.83)) compared to women born at term. By contrast, only women who were early preterm (HR 1.98 (95% CI 1.27–3.10) had an increased risk of OS. Men who were born post-term (⩾42 weeks) had increased risk of HS (HR 1.45 (95% CI 1.04–2.01)) compared with men born at term, with no association for women. TS was associated with social mobility during childhood in women: women whose families were upwardly or downwardly mobile had increased risk of TS compared to women who were always advantaged during childhood. Conclusions: Gestational age and social mobility during childhood were associated with increased risk of stroke later in life, particularly among women, but there was some heterogeneity between stroke subtypes.

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Heterogeneous Trajectories of Depressive Symptoms in Late Middle Age: Critical Period, Accumulation, and Social Mobility Life Course Perspectives

Journal of Aging and Health ◽

10.1177/0898264317704540 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 30 (7) ◽

pp. 1011-1041 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Eunsun Kwon ◽

BoRin Kim ◽

Hyunjoo Lee ◽

Sojung Park

Keyword(s):

Depressive Symptoms ◽

Life Course ◽

Social Mobility ◽

Critical Period ◽

Latent Class ◽

Middle Age ◽

Multinomial Logistic Regression ◽

Later Life ◽

Symptom Trajectories ◽

The Life Course

Objective: This study investigated patterns of depressive symptoms and whether socioeconomic status (SES) across the life course affects these trajectories using the critical period, accumulation, and social mobility models. Method: This study uses data from 8,532 adults, age 51 to 64, collected over 12 years from the Health and Retirement Study (observations = 25,887). A latent class analysis was performed to examine distinct depressive symptom trajectories; life course models were studied with multinomial logistic regression. Results: Four heterogeneous latent classes were identified for depression: Declining, Low, Increasing, and High and Increasing. The High and Increasing group was associated with a disadvantaged childhood SES, accumulated exposure to socioeconomic risks, and persistent SES disadvantage supporting the three life course models. Discussion: There was evidence of distinct profiles of depressive symptoms in late middle age and of interrelated life course mechanisms underlying the influences of childhood SES on later life depression.

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