Do people's health, financial and social resources contribute to subjective wellbeing differently at the age of fifty than later in life?
Population aging calls for a thorough understanding of how age impacts subjective wellbeing. Resource theories posit that people need resources, such as health and social relations, to produce subjective wellbeing. Since losing resources is more likely at older age, we examined whether the availabil...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2024-12-01
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| Series: | Wellbeing, Space and Society |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S266655812400037X |
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| author | Terhi Auvinen Ismo Linnosmaa Mieke Rijken |
| author_facet | Terhi Auvinen Ismo Linnosmaa Mieke Rijken |
| author_sort | Terhi Auvinen |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Population aging calls for a thorough understanding of how age impacts subjective wellbeing. Resource theories posit that people need resources, such as health and social relations, to produce subjective wellbeing. Since losing resources is more likely at older age, we examined whether the availability of resources indeed changes with age, and how this affects subjective wellbeing.We analysed data from 75,895 individuals aged 50 and older participating in two or more waves of the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe. We analysed, separately for women and men, fixed effect regression models, estimating main and interaction effects of age and indicators of health, financial and social resources on two indicators of subjective wellbeing, i.e., life satisfaction and quality of life.We found that the contribution of health to subjective wellbeing does not diminish in later life, and is not different for women and men. Also, having some close others is important for both women and men to maintain subjective wellbeing at every age. However, having a wider social network contributes more to the subjective wellbeing of women than of men at older age. Furthermore, having limited financial means and being widowed might get a bit easier to endure with advanced age, though there is no threshold of age after which any of these resources becomes irrelevant.Health and social policies are needed to strengthen older people's resources, to help maintain subjective wellbeing up to very old age. Gender differences should be taken into account when developing these policies. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-6b4bd1a0b71a48fd8a8a5dfe43e71ba1 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2666-5581 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-12-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Wellbeing, Space and Society |
| spelling | doaj-art-6b4bd1a0b71a48fd8a8a5dfe43e71ba12024-12-18T08:53:18ZengElsevierWellbeing, Space and Society2666-55812024-12-017100219Do people's health, financial and social resources contribute to subjective wellbeing differently at the age of fifty than later in life?Terhi Auvinen0Ismo Linnosmaa1Mieke Rijken2Department of Health and Social Management, University of Eastern Finland, Yliopistonranta 8, Kuopio FI-70210, Finland; Corresponding author.Department of Health and Social Management, University of Eastern Finland, Yliopistonranta 8, Kuopio FI-70210, Finland; Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Welfare State Research, P.O. Box 30, FI-00271 Helsinki, FinlandDepartment of Health and Social Management, University of Eastern Finland, Yliopistonranta 8, Kuopio FI-70210, Finland; Nivel (Netherlands institute for health services research), Otterstraat 118, 3513 CR Utrecht, The NetherlandsPopulation aging calls for a thorough understanding of how age impacts subjective wellbeing. Resource theories posit that people need resources, such as health and social relations, to produce subjective wellbeing. Since losing resources is more likely at older age, we examined whether the availability of resources indeed changes with age, and how this affects subjective wellbeing.We analysed data from 75,895 individuals aged 50 and older participating in two or more waves of the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe. We analysed, separately for women and men, fixed effect regression models, estimating main and interaction effects of age and indicators of health, financial and social resources on two indicators of subjective wellbeing, i.e., life satisfaction and quality of life.We found that the contribution of health to subjective wellbeing does not diminish in later life, and is not different for women and men. Also, having some close others is important for both women and men to maintain subjective wellbeing at every age. However, having a wider social network contributes more to the subjective wellbeing of women than of men at older age. Furthermore, having limited financial means and being widowed might get a bit easier to endure with advanced age, though there is no threshold of age after which any of these resources becomes irrelevant.Health and social policies are needed to strengthen older people's resources, to help maintain subjective wellbeing up to very old age. Gender differences should be taken into account when developing these policies.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S266655812400037XAgingSubjective wellbeingHealthSocial networksResource theoriesInternational survey |
| spellingShingle | Terhi Auvinen Ismo Linnosmaa Mieke Rijken Do people's health, financial and social resources contribute to subjective wellbeing differently at the age of fifty than later in life? Wellbeing, Space and Society Aging Subjective wellbeing Health Social networks Resource theories International survey |
| title | Do people's health, financial and social resources contribute to subjective wellbeing differently at the age of fifty than later in life? |
| title_full | Do people's health, financial and social resources contribute to subjective wellbeing differently at the age of fifty than later in life? |
| title_fullStr | Do people's health, financial and social resources contribute to subjective wellbeing differently at the age of fifty than later in life? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Do people's health, financial and social resources contribute to subjective wellbeing differently at the age of fifty than later in life? |
| title_short | Do people's health, financial and social resources contribute to subjective wellbeing differently at the age of fifty than later in life? |
| title_sort | do people s health financial and social resources contribute to subjective wellbeing differently at the age of fifty than later in life |
| topic | Aging Subjective wellbeing Health Social networks Resource theories International survey |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S266655812400037X |
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