Bildung Und Gesundheitsungleichheit Im Alter: Divergenz, Konvergenz Oder Kontinuität?
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It is well established that health at an old age is influenced by education acquired earlier in life. Empirical evidence on the extent of health decline across educational levels, however, is heterogeneous. It remains unclear whether the health gap between individuals with high and low levels of education increases in old age (divergence), decreases (convergence), or whether it remains constant (continuity). In the present study, we investigate the effects of education on health changes with data from two waves (2004, 2007) of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) for respondents aged 50–80. We estimate OLS regression models drawing on 12 indicators of physical, mental and cognitive health. Our aim is to obtain more generalizable results about the age trajectories of health inequality. We find that divergence is the main pattern of health decline across educational levels: The health gap between individuals with high and low educational levels increases for the indicators of grip strength, limitations of general and of instrumental activities of daily living, mobility limitations, depressive symptoms, numerical ability, and time orientation. For single indicators, however, we also observe continuous (chronic diseases, subjective health assessment, memory) and convergent (fluency of speaking) patterns.
JOUR
Leopold, Liliya
Engelhardt, Henriette
2011
KZfSS Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie
63
2
207-236
0023-2653
10.1007/s11577-011-0133-6
1114