Pathways to Well-Being in Later Life: Socioeconomic and Health Determinants Across the Life Course of Australian Baby Boomers.

Hal Kendig,Julie Byles,Vanessa Loh,Kate O’Loughlin,James Y Nazroo

doi:10.1007/s12062-015-9132-0

Abstract

In many countries like Australia and the United States, baby boomers are referred to as the ‘lucky cohort’, yet there has been little research on the origins and extent of inequalities within this cohort. This study uses path analysis to investigate direct and indirect effects of childhood and adult socioeconomic status and health on two subjective well-being measures: quality of life and life satisfaction. Retrospective life course data were obtained for 1,261 people aged 60 to 64 in the 2011–12 Life Histories and Health survey, a sub-study of the Australian 45 and Up Study. Supporting an accumulation model, the number of negative childhood and adult exposures were inversely related to both types of well-being. Consistent with a critical period model, childhood exposures had small but significant effects on subjective well-being and were relatively more important for quality of life than for life satisfaction. However, these childhood effects were largely indirect and significantly mediated by more proximal adult exposures, providing support for a pathway model. A key implication of this research is that the critical period for later life well-being is significant in adulthood rather than childhood, suggesting that there may be key opportunities for improving individuals’ later life well-being far beyond the early, formative years. This research highlights the importance of understanding how earlier life exposures impact experiences in later life, and investing in health and socioeconomic opportunities to reduce inequalities across all stages of life.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s12062-015-9132-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Highlights

Promoting health and well-being across the life course are policy priorities for governments in countries experiencing structural ageing and ongoing social change
Current indicators suggest that the life histories and health outlooks of the baby boom cohorts entering later life are likely to be very different from earlier cohorts who were born during the Great Depression and World War II (WWII)
This study examined pathways through which earlier childhood and adult socioeconomic and health circumstances impact on the subjective well-being of Australia’s large baby boom cohort entering later life

Summary

Introduction

Promoting health and well-being across the life course are policy priorities for governments in countries experiencing structural ageing and ongoing social change. In many countries like Australia, they have been at the vanguard of much social change, experienced a number of social, political, cultural, and economic milestones, and are reaching the ages at which they are most likely to be experiencing a number of important work and health changes as they transition from middle to later life and pass traditional retirement ages (Kendig et al 2013; O’Loughlin et al 2010) These boomer cohorts have had full exposure to the post-WWII era inclusive of the education and fertility revolutions of the 1960s, and their experiences will likely shape the future of ageing populations

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Conclusion