Abstract
In Romania, inequalities in health and wellbeing between younger and older Romanians are substantial, and an important reason for inequalities may be the higher risk of social exclusion among older adults. After the fall of Communism in 1989, the many transformations in economic structures and welfare regimes contributed to enhanced levels of social exclusion, in particular among the older generations. Social exclusion is a multidimensional problem with substantial effects on the mental wellbeing of people. The present study examines age differences in mental wellbeing and evaluates to what extent differences can be explained by age and social exclusion, while controlling for a number of potential confounders. Data are from the fourth wave (2016) of the European Quality of Life Survey. Data for Romania include 1004 people aged between 18 and 85 years old, of which 726 are included in the analyses (only complete cases). In the study sample, 259 were 55 years or older. Mental wellbeing was measured with The World Health Organization Wellbeing Index (WHO-5 scale), and social exclusion was measured in four domains: social relations, material resources, services and the neighbourhood. The results show that older Romanians have a statistically significant lower mental wellbeing than younger generations in Romania. All domains of social exclusion were associated with lower levels of mental wellbeing. These effects remained statistically significant after controlling for partner status, chronic diseases, having children, and level of education. Improving mental wellbeing of older Romanians would greatly benefit from increasing social inclusion by means of social transfers provided by the government, improving the neighbourhood and access to services, and providing facilities to enhance the social network.
Highlights
In Romania, there are large inequalities in health and wellbeing between younger and older generations
Older people have lower mental wellbeing than younger individuals have, and they have higher levels of social exclusion in three dimensions: material and financial resources, social relations, and neighbourhood and community (p < 0.05)
Based on a sample of 726 Romanians aged between 18 and 85, of which one-third was 55 years or older, we firstly confirmed that older Romanians have lower levels of mental wellbeing than younger Romanians
Summary
In Romania, there are large inequalities in health and wellbeing between younger and older generations. The poor Communist institutional legacies, coupled with a hesitant approach to economic and social reforms, led to an important economic decline and a large increase in poverty in the first phase of transition (Hellman, 1998; World Bank, 2008). This has affected the oldest cohorts in particular. The GINI coefficient1—reflecting income inequality— increased from 22.2 in 1990 to 33.7 in 2007 This placed Romania at the top of the EU countries with the highest levels of inequality (United Nations University, 2018). Even though income inequality lessened in the past decade to a certain extent, with a Gini value of 33.1, the country still ranks among the highest in the EU with regards to income inequality (Eurostat, 2017), and a wide range of deeply entrenched social disparities persist between young and old people (Precupetu & Precupetu, 2014)
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