Abstract
The influence of early life, accumulation and social mobility on wellbeing in later life in the U.S. and England is investigated. Using cross-sectional data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA), we estimate multivariate regressions of hedonic and eudemonic measures of wellbeing on these life course mechanisms, controlling for age, gender, ethnic background, partnership status, health and wealth. On the level of the life course mechanisms, there is mixed evidence regarding the critical impact of early life, strong evidence for an association between accumulation and eudemonic wellbeing and a moderate negative effect of downward social mobility. While the relation between hedonic wellbeing and life course mechanisms is unclear or in a different direction than anticipated, eudemonic wellbeing is clearly related to accumulation and mobility in both countries and to early life in the U.S. On the societal level, the major observation is that the life course has a larger influence in the U.S. than in England.
Highlights
How do socio-economic trajectories relate to wellbeing in later life in the U.S and England? A life course view on social background allows us to uncover to what extent appreciations of life quality are shaped by one’s previous experiences
Nazroo position over the life course, as a sum of previous experiences? Does rising or falling in the social hierarchy make a person respectively happier or unhappier? We aim at answering some of these fundamental questions on the relation between wellbeing and life course, by using data from two leading longitudinal surveys of later life, the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), and the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA)
We report the results of a regression investigating the relation between parental position and current level of hedonic and eudemonic wellbeing in England and the U.S in Table 5 below
Summary
How do socio-economic trajectories relate to wellbeing in later life in the U.S and England? A life course view on social background allows us to uncover to what extent appreciations of life quality are shaped by one’s previous experiences. The decline of physical health and social support that often accompany ageing, have strong and detrimental effects on these feelings of control and self-actualisation in later life and are hardly affected by adaptation As such we can expect stronger associations with life course measures for eudemonic than for hedonic wellbeing. Hypothesis 3 Life course measures have a larger influence in the U.S compared to England We will use both the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA). In line with the current understanding of the conceptual nature of wellbeing, both hedonic and eudemonic wellbeing are investigated, measured by the Satisfaction with life scale (SWLS) (Diener et al 1985) and CASP (Hyde et al 2003) respectively (Ryan and Deci 2001) Both scales have good psychometric properties (Vanhoutte and Nazroo 2014), and they are strongly correlated, reflect different aspects of wellbeing in later life (Vanhoutte 2014). Since we are interested in the influence of the life course trajectory, rather than current social position, controlling for wealth quintiles allows us to avoid confounding current status with life
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