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Health inequalities in later life in a social democratic welfare state

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  • Dahl, Espen
  • Birkelund, Gunn Elisabeth

Abstract

The paper examines inequalities in mental health and "serious" illness, i.e. illness with significant consequences, among 964 men and women aged 65 and over in Norway. The aim is to analyse the extent to which the assumed class differentials in ill health in later life are accounted for by current socioeconomic circumstances and social and economic conditions during upbringing. Multiple logistic regression analyses suggest that the bivariate relationship between previous class location and present health condition among elderly men remains or may be attributed to current income. For women, their previous class location is not significantly related to either health outcome. However, women's current income and present economic difficulties are significantly related to both health measures in the expected direction. In addition, serious illness is related to long-standing illness in childhood, and poorer mental health is associated with economic hardship in childhood and dissension in the family of upbringing. For neither sex was father's social class during upbringing an important predictor of ill health. It is concluded that health inequalities in later life may, at least to some extent, be attributed to the "legacy of the past", and that the social democratic welfare state has not succeeded in eradicating health inequalities despite its egalitarian age pension policy.

Suggested Citation

  • Dahl, Espen & Birkelund, Gunn Elisabeth, 1997. "Health inequalities in later life in a social democratic welfare state," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 44(6), pages 871-881, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:44:y:1997:i:6:p:871-881
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    Cited by:

    1. Dalstra, J.A.A. & Kunst, A.E. & Mackenbach, J.P., 2006. "A comparative appraisal of the relationship of education, income and housing tenure with less than good health among the elderly in Europe," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(8), pages 2046-2060, April.
    2. Laudicella, Mauro & Cookson, Richard & Jones, Andrew M. & Rice, Nigel, 2009. "Health care deprivation profiles in the measurement of inequality and inequity: An application to GP fundholding in the English NHS," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(6), pages 1048-1061, December.
    3. Juan Manuel Pérez-Salamero González & Marta Regúlez-Castillo & Carlos Vidal-Meliá, 2021. "Differences in Life Expectancy Between Self-Employed Workers and Paid Employees when Retirement Pensioners: Evidence from Spanish Social Security Records," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 37(3), pages 697-725, July.
    4. Chen, Xi & Yan, Binjian & Gill, Thomas M., 2020. "Childhood Circumstances and Health Inequality in Old Age: Comparative Evidence from China and the United States," GLO Discussion Paper Series 594, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    5. Xi Chen & Binjian Yan & Thomas M. Gill, 2022. "Childhood Circumstances and Health Inequality in Old Age: Comparative Evidence from China and the USA," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 160(2), pages 689-716, April.
    6. Adena, Maja & Myck, Michal, 2014. "Poverty and transitions in health in later life," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 202-210.
    7. Yan, Binjian & Chen, Xi & Gill, Thomas M., 2020. "Health inequality among Chinese older adults: The role of childhood circumstances," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 17(C).
    8. Guallar-Castillón, Pilar & Redondo Sendino, Áurea & Banegas, José R. & López-García, Esther & Rodríguez-Artalejo, Fernando, 2005. "Differences in quality of life between women and men in the older population of Spain," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 60(6), pages 1229-1240, March.
    9. Rautio, Nina & Heikkinen, Eino & Ebrahim, Shah, 2005. "Socio-economic position and its relationship to physical capacity among elderly people living in Jyväskylä, Finland: five- and ten-year follow-up studies," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 60(11), pages 2405-2416, June.
    10. Salmasi, Luca & Celidoni, Martina, 2017. "Investigating the poverty-obesity paradox in Europe," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 70-85.
    11. Nicholas Kofi Adjei & Tilman Brand & Hajo Zeeb, 2017. "Gender inequality in self-reported health among the elderly in contemporary welfare countries: A cross-country analysis of time use activities, socioeconomic positions and family characteristics," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(9), pages 1-24, September.
    12. Mads Meier Jæger & Anders Holm, "undated". "How Stressful is Retirement? New Evidence from a Longitudinal, Fixed-effects Analysis," CAM Working Papers 2004-19, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics. Centre for Applied Microeconometrics, revised Sep 2004.

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