A Life-Course View on Ageing Consumers: Old-Age Trajectories and Gender Differences

Matthias Pannhorst,Florian Dost

doi:10.1007/s11482-021-09934-6

Abstract

This study presents a dynamic, model-based view of consumers’ ageing developments, focused on gender differences, to uncover the pathways and socioeconomic transitions that female and male consumers take through old age. The analysis of longitudinal survey data spanning 15 years uses a latent Markov dynamic cluster model with transitions over time. The resulting life courses allow an exploration of lifestyle-related changes in multiple consumer well-being variables beyond age 50. Substantial well-being differences appear in the ageing paths of men and women. In both cases, a dominant chronological sequence through old age is complemented by less common transitions, rarely associated with advanced age. Although the model does not use chronological age as an independent variable, it outperforms purely agebased, or age- cohort-, and period-based models in predicting old-age consumer wellbeing. These results highlight the importance of considering within-cohort diversity when modelling the accompaniments of old age: while some older consumers enjoy active lifestyles, others of similar age succumb to depression and loneliness, rendering age an insufficient predictor of well-being states. In the future, the presented model could be matched with other, even cross-sectional, consumer survey data to help predict various dynamics in the ageing consumer population.

Highlights

In many developed societies, demographic changes have led to an increased share of people beyond retirement age (Bloom, 2011)
Acknowledging the complexity of our approach, we prefer the Bayesian information criterion (BIC) selection, assuming there is a meaningful way to interpret the results from a qualitative standpoint
In terms of gender differences, we note that the two models, each containing eight latent states, produce high-resolution views on different aspects of the life course

Summary

Introduction

Demographic changes have led to an increased share of people beyond retirement age (Bloom, 2011). At the same time, sustained peaceful economic growth has shifted spending power to consumers aged 50 years and older (Pak & Kambil, 2006). These joint trends will reach unprecedented heights as the ‘baby boomer generation’, the biggest and richest post-war age cohort, reaches retirement age. Members of this cohort will enjoy longer life expectancies, higher accumulated wealth, and greater social benefits than previous (and perhaps subsequent) generations. While some countries have given the issue a prominent place in their policy agendas, the UK government, for example, appointed a minister for the well-being consequences of advancing age (Walker, 2018), research on older consumers is surprisingly scarce (Kohlbacher & Hang, 2011; Pak & Kambil, 2006)

Methods

Results

Conclusion