Publicação

‘Being old and ill’ across different countries: social status, age identification and older people’s subjective health

Detalhes bibliográficos
Resumo:	Objective: It has been suggested that the extent to which older adults identify with ‘old-age’ is associated with greater subjective ill-health. Based on social identity theory, we hypothesise that the societal social status of older people should moderate this relationship, such that the effect of age-identification on subjective health should be stronger in countries in which older people have lower social status. Design and main outcome measures: Subjective health, age identification and the perceived status of people over 70 were assessed in a subsample of older respondents (N?=?6185) of the 2008/2009 European Social Survey. We examined whether country-level differences in the perceived status of older adults moderated the effect of age identification on subjective ill-health. Results: 20% of the total variance in older people’s subjective ill-health was due to country differences. The hypothesised cross-level interaction was significant in that the negative association between old age identification and subjective health was stronger in countries where the social status of older people is perceived to be lower. Conclusion: The results provide an important insight into being ascribed a higher social status is likely to have a protective function for older people.
Autores principais:	Marques, S.
Outros Autores:	Swift, H. J.; Vauclair, C.-M.; Lima, M. L.; Bratt, C.; Abrams, D.
Assunto:	Status Age identification Health Ageing Older people
Ano:	2015
País:	Portugal
Tipo de documento:	artigo
Tipo de acesso:	acesso aberto
Instituição associada:	ISCTE
Idioma:	inglês
Origem:	Repositório ISCTE

Descrição
Resumo:	Objective: It has been suggested that the extent to which older adults identify with ‘old-age’ is associated with greater subjective ill-health. Based on social identity theory, we hypothesise that the societal social status of older people should moderate this relationship, such that the effect of age-identification on subjective health should be stronger in countries in which older people have lower social status. Design and main outcome measures: Subjective health, age identification and the perceived status of people over 70 were assessed in a subsample of older respondents (N?=?6185) of the 2008/2009 European Social Survey. We examined whether country-level differences in the perceived status of older adults moderated the effect of age identification on subjective ill-health. Results: 20% of the total variance in older people’s subjective ill-health was due to country differences. The hypothesised cross-level interaction was significant in that the negative association between old age identification and subjective health was stronger in countries where the social status of older people is perceived to be lower. Conclusion: The results provide an important insight into being ascribed a higher social status is likely to have a protective function for older people.