IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/bak/wpaper/201506.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Is the educational health gap increasing for women? Results from Catalonia(Spain)

Author

Listed:
  • Aïda Solé-Auró

    (Department of Political and Social Sciences, Pompeu Fabra University)

  • Manuela Alcañiz

    (Department of Econometrics, Riskcenter-IREA, Universitat de Barcelona)

Abstract

Background. Health expectancies vary worldwide according to socioeconomic status (SES). The lower SES usually show health disadvantage and the higher SES a health advantage compared to the average. The educational level of individuals is strongly linked to their SES. Objective. We propose to identify the evolution of SES differentials in health by gender, paying special attention to the trends for the least advantaged - low educated females. We focus on the adult Catalan population (Spain) aged 55 or older. Methods. We measured SES through education. We used individual cross-sectional data obtained in 1994 and in 2012 from the Catalan Health Survey. We examined three comprehensive health indicators to disentangle the health and disability statuses in order to document social differences in health. We applied logistic models for each indicator, controlling for socio demographic characteristics, health coverage and lifestyle. Results. Low educated males and females experienced an increase in the prevalence of functional and ADL limitations. We found an increment in the likelihood of bad health and functional limitations for the low educated between 1994 and 2012. The prevalences of smoking increased for low and middle educated females, whereas low educated males suffered a 4.1% increment of sedentarism. Having smoked in the past and leading a sedentary lifestyle increased the likelihood of bad and functional limitations. In general, double health coverage reduced the effect on reporting more health problems. Our predicted probabilities show that low educated women were more likely to self-perceive their health as bad and report functional limitations than any other group in both periods. Conclusions. Lower educated females are the most disfavored group in terms of health and personal autonomy. The gender gap between low educated men and women has reduced for self-perceiving bad health and for functional limitations between 1994 and 2012. Adopting a healthy lifestyle promotes well-being and personal autonomy. Health policies should continue to take into account that the population with lower SES is more likely to suffer from poor health and disability as they age, being the females a particularly fragile group.

Suggested Citation

  • Aïda Solé-Auró & Manuela Alcañiz, 2015. "Is the educational health gap increasing for women? Results from Catalonia(Spain)," Working Papers 2015-06, Universitat de Barcelona, UB Riskcenter.
    • Handle: RePEc:bak:wpaper:201506
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.ub.edu/rfa/research/WP/UBriskcenterWP201506.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2015
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Schrijvers, C.T.M. & Stronks, K. & Van De Mheen, H.D. & Mackenbach, J.P., 1999. "Explaining educational differences in mortality: The role of behavioral and material factors," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 89(4), pages 535-540.
    2. Verbrugge, Lois M. & Jette, Alan M., 1994. "The disablement process," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 1-14, January.
    3. Emmanuelle Cambois & Caroline Laborde & Isabelle Romieu & Jean-Marie Robine, 2011. "Occupational inequalities in health expectancies in France in the early 2000s: Unequal chances of reaching and living retirement in good health," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 25(12), pages 407-436.
    4. Jonas D Finger & Thorkild Tylleskär & Thomas Lampert & Gert B M Mensink, 2013. "Dietary Behaviour and Socioeconomic Position: The Role of Physical Activity Patterns," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(11), pages 1-10, November.
    5. Kathleen A. Lahey & Paloma de Villota, 2013. "Economic Crisis, Gender Equality, and Policy Responses in Spain and Canada," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(3), pages 82-107, July.
    6. repec:dau:papers:123456789/10510 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. James W. Vaupel, 2010. "Biodemography of human ageing," Nature, Nature, vol. 464(7288), pages 536-542, March.
    8. Aïda Solé-Auró & Hiram Beltrán-Sánchez & Eileen Crimmins, 2015. "Are Differences in Disability-Free Life Expectancy by Gender, Race, and Education Widening at Older Ages?," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 34(1), pages 1-18, February.
    9. Mäki, Netta & Martikainen, Pekka & Eikemo, Terje & Menvielle, Gwenn & Lundberg, Olle & Östergren, Olof & Jasilionis, Domantas & Mackenbach, Johan P., 2013. "Educational differences in disability-free life expectancy: a comparative study of long-standing activity limitation in eight European countries," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 1-8.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Benedetta Pongiglione & Bianca L De Stavola & George B Ploubidis, 2015. "A Systematic Literature Review of Studies Analyzing Inequalities in Health Expectancy among the Older Population," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(6), pages 1-21, June.
    2. Donata Stonkute & Angelo Lorenti & Jeroen J. A. Spijker, 2023. "Educational disparities in disability-free life expectancy across Europe: a focus on the East-West gaps from a gender perspective," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2023-028, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    3. Ang, Shannon, 2019. "Intersectional cohort change: Disparities in mobility limitations among older Singaporeans," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 228(C), pages 223-231.
    4. Edouard Debonneuil & Anne Eyraud-Loisel & Frédéric Planchet, 2017. "Conditions Of Interest Of A Longevity Megafund For Pension Funds," Working Papers hal-01571937, HAL.
    5. van Zon, Sander K.R. & Bültmann, Ute & Reijneveld, Sijmen A. & de Leon, Carlos F. Mendes, 2016. "Functional health decline before and after retirement: A longitudinal analysis of the Health and Retirement Study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 170(C), pages 26-34.
    6. D. Dragone & H. Strulik, 2017. "Human Health and Aging over an Infinite Time Horizon," Working Papers wp1104, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    7. Nicole L. Van Der Gaag & Govert Bijwaard & Joop de Beer & Luc Bonneux, 2015. "A multistate model to project elderly disability in case of limited data," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 32(3), pages 75-106.
    8. Melinda Heinz & Nicholas Cone & Grace Da Rosa & Alex J. Bishop & Tanya Finchum, 2017. "Examining Supportive Evidence for Psychosocial Theories of Aging within the Oral History Narratives of Centenarians," Societies, MDPI, vol. 7(2), pages 1-21, April.
    9. Badley, Elizabeth M., 2008. "Enhancing the conceptual clarity of the activity and participation components of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(11), pages 2335-2345, June.
    10. Newton, Nicky J. & Ryan, Lindsay H. & King, Rachel T. & Smith, Jacqui, 2014. "Cohort differences in the marriage–health relationship for midlife women," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 64-72.
    11. Duncan Gillespie & Meredith Trotter & Shripad Tuljapurkar, 2014. "Divergence in Age Patterns of Mortality Change Drives International Divergence in Lifespan Inequality," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 51(3), pages 1003-1017, June.
    12. Plaisier, Inger & Verbeek-Oudijk, Debbie & de Klerk, Mirjam, 2017. "Developments in home-care use. Policy and changing community-based care use by independent community-dwelling adults in the Netherlands," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 121(1), pages 82-89.
    13. Zachary Zimmer & Yasuhiko Saito & Olga Theou & Clove Haviva & Kenneth Rockwood, 2021. "Education, wealth, and duration of life expected in various degrees of frailty," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 393-404, September.
    14. Gregorio Gimenez & Ana Isabel Gil-Lacruz & Marta Gil-Lacruz, 2021. "Is Happiness Linked to Subjective Life Expectancy? A Study of Chilean Senior Citizens," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 9(17), pages 1-12, August.
    15. Kashnitsky, Ilya, 2017. "A cohort is not representative of humanity," OSF Preprints 524kg, Center for Open Science.
    16. Lee, Christopher Thomas & Guzman, David & Ponath, Claudia & Tieu, Lina & Riley, Elise & Kushel, Margot, 2016. "Residential patterns in older homeless adults: Results of a cluster analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 131-140.
    17. Edouard Debonneuil & Anne Eyraud-Loisel & Frédéric Planchet, 2018. "Can Pension Funds Partially Manage Longevity Risk by Investing in a Longevity Megafund?," Risks, MDPI, vol. 6(3), pages 1-27, July.
    18. Levasseur, Mélanie & Richard, Lucie & Gauvin, Lise & Raymond, Émilie, 2010. "Inventory and analysis of definitions of social participation found in the aging literature: Proposed taxonomy of social activities," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(12), pages 2141-2149, December.
    19. Wei Chen & Ya Fang & Fanzhen Mao & Shichao Hao & Junze Chen & Manqiong Yuan & Yaofeng Han & Y Alicia Hong, 2015. "Assessment of Disability among the Elderly in Xiamen of China: A Representative Sample Survey of 14,292 Older Adults," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(6), pages 1-12, June.
    20. Felipe Vásquez & Gibran Vita & Daniel B. Müller, 2018. "Food Security for an Aging and Heavier Population," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-19, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    gender inequalities; socioeconomic disparities; health indicators; educational level; Catalonia.;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bak:wpaper:201506. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Montserrat Guillen (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/rskubes.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.