Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T00:27:49.031Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Measuring living standards of older people using Sen's Capability Approach: development and validation of the LSCAPE-24 (Living Standards Capabilities for Elders) and LSCAPE-6

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 October 2014

MARY BREHENY ,
CHRISTINE STEPHENS ,
ANNETTE HENRICKSEN ,
BRENDAN STEVENSON ,
KRISTIE CARTER  and
FIONA ALPASS
MARY BREHENY*
Affiliation:
School of Health and Social Services, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand.
CHRISTINE STEPHENS
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand.
ANNETTE HENRICKSEN
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand.
BRENDAN STEVENSON
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand.
KRISTIE CARTER
Affiliation:
School of Medicine and Health Science, University of Otago, Wellington, New Zealand.
FIONA ALPASS
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand.
*
Address for correspondence: Mary Breheny, School of Health and Social Services, Massey University, Private Bag 11 222, Palmerston North, New Zealand E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The impact of disparities in socio-economic status on the health of older people is an important issue for policy makers in the context of population ageing. As older people live in different types of economic circumstances and because, as people age, their desires and needs are different to those of younger generations, measures of living standards need to be appropriate for older people. This paper reports on the validation of a measure of living standards for older people based on Sen's Capability Approach. Using this approach, living standards are conceptualised as varying from constraint to freedom rather than from hardship to comfort. Using the New Zealand Longitudinal Study of Ageing omnibus survey of 3,923 adults aged 50–87 years, the validity of the measure was assessed. The results indicate that this measure assesses what older people are able to achieve. In addition, this measure discriminates better at the higher end of the living standards spectrum than an existing measure that assesses living standards from hardship to comfort in terms of what people possess. From this, a short form of the measure has been developed which offers a conceptually based and valid measure useful for survey research with older people. This measure of living standards provides future avenues for improved understandings of socio-economic position in later life.

Keywords

living standardssocio-economic statuswellbeingCapability Approach
Type
Articles
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 36 , Issue 2 , February 2016 , pp. 307 - 332
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anand, P. and van Hees, M. 2006. Capabilities and achievements: an empirical study. Journal of Socio-economics, 35, 2, 268–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arbuckle, J. L. 2010. Amos 19.0. Amos Development Corporation, Meadville, Pennsylvania.Google Scholar
Bentler, P. M. 1990. Comparative fit indexes in structural models. Psychological Bulletin, 107, 2, 238–46.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Berthoud, R., Blekesaune, M. and Hancock, R. 2006. Are ‘poor’ pensioners ‘deprived’? Research Report 364, Department for Work and Pensions, Corporate Document Services, Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK.Google Scholar
Berthoud, R. and Bryan, M. 2011. Income, deprivation and poverty: a longitudinal analysis. Journal of Social Policy, 40, 1, 135–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blakely, T., Fawcett, J., Hunt, D. and Wilson, N. 2006. What is the contribution of smoking and socioeconomic position to ethnic inequalities in mortality in New Zealand? Lancet, 368, 9529, 44–52.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bradshaw, J. and Finch, N. 2003. Overlaps in dimensions of poverty. Journal of Social Policy, 32, 4, 513–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Breheny, M., Stephens, C., Alpass, F., Stevenson, B., Carter, K. and Yeung, P. 2013. Development and validation of a measure of living standards for older people. Social Indicators Research, 114, 3, 1035–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Byrne, B. 2010. Structural Equation Modeling with AMOS. Second edition, Routledge, Ottawa.Google Scholar
Carter, K. and Imlach Gunasekara, F. 2012. Dynamics of income and deprivation in New Zealand, 2002–2009. A descriptive analysis of the Survey of Family, Income and Employment (SoFIE). Public Health Monograph Series No. 24, Department of Public Health, University of Otago, Wellington.Google Scholar
Chandola, T., Ferrie, J., Sacker, A. and Marmot, M. 2007. Social inequalities in self reported health in early old age: follow up of prospective cohort study. British Medical Journal, 334, 7601, 990–3.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Comim, F. 2001. Operationising Sen's Capability Approach. Paper prepared for the conference Justice and Poverty: Examining Sen's Capability Approach, 5–7 June, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Commission for Financial Literacy and Retirement Income 2012. Sorted. Your Independent Money Guide. Available online at https://www.sorted.org.nz/a-z-guides/nz-super#s3 [Accessed 31 October 2012].Google Scholar
Cunningham, C., Durie, M., Fergusson, D., Fitzgerald, E., Hong, B., Horwood, J. and Stevenson, B. 2002. Ngā Āhuatanga Noho o te Hunga Pakeke Māori: Living Standards of Older Māori. New Zealand Ministry of Social Development, Wellington.Google Scholar
Diehr, P. H., Thielke, S. M., Newman, A. B., Hirshe, C. and Tracy, R. 2013. Decline in health for older adults: five-year change in 13 key measures of standardized health. Journals of Gerontology, 68A, 9, 1059–67.Google Scholar
Dillman, D. A. 2000. Mail and Internet Surveys: The Tailored Design Method. Second edition, John Wiley & Sons, New York.Google Scholar
Dominy, N. and Kempson, E. 2006. Understanding older people's experiences of poverty and material deprivation. Research Report 363, Department for Work and Pensions, Corporate Document Services, Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK.Google Scholar
Dulin, P. L., Stephens, C., Alpass, F., Hill, R. D. and Stevenson, B. 2011. The impact of socio-contextual, physical and lifestyle variables on measures of physical and psychological wellbeing among Māori and non-Māori: the New Zealand Health, Work and Retirement Study. Ageing & Society, 31, 8, 1406–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fergusson, D., Hong, B., Horwood, J., Jensen, J. and Travers, P. 2001. Living Standards of Older New Zealanders: A Technical Account. Ministry of Social Policy, Wellington.Google Scholar
Fordyce, M. W. 1988. Review of research on the happiness measures: a sixty second index of happiness and mental health. Social Indicators Research, 20, 4, 355–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grewal, I., Lewis, J., Flynn, T., Brown, J., Bond, J. and Coast, J. 2006. Developing attributes for a generic quality of life measure for older people: preferences or capabilities? Social Science & Medicine, 62, 8, 1891–901.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Groffen, D. A. I., Bosma, H., van den Akker, M., Kempen, G. I. J. M. and van Eijk, J. T. M. 2008. Lack of basic and luxury goods and health-related dysfunction in older persons: findings from the longitudinal SMILE study. BMC Public Health, 8, 242.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Grundy, E. and Holt, G. 2001. The socioeconomic status of older adults: how should we measure it in studies of health inequalities? Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 55, 12, 895–904.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Grundy, E. and Sloggett, A. 2003. Health inequalities in the older population: the role of personal capital, social resources and socio-economic circumstances. Social Science & Medicine, 56, 5, 935–47.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hair, J. F., Black, W. C., Babin, B. J., Anderson, R. E. and Tatham, R. L. 2006. Multivariate Data Analysis. Sixth edition, Pearson Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.Google Scholar
Halleröd, B. 2006. Sour grapes: relative deprivation, adaptive preferences and the measurement of poverty. Journal of Social Policy, 35, 3, 371–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hick, R. 2013. Poverty, preference or pensioners? Measuring material deprivation in the UK. Fiscal Studies, 34, 1, 31–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Howden-Chapman, P., Blakely, T., Blaiklock, A. and Kiro, C. 2000. Closing the health gap. New Zealand Medical Journal, 113, 1114, 301–2.Google ScholarPubMed
Hurley, K., Breheny, M. and Tuffin, K. 2014. New Zealanders Discuss State-funded Income Support in Retirement. Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand. Available online at http://www.massey.ac.nz/massey/learning/departments/school-of-psychology/research/hart/publications/project-reports_lse.cfm [Accessed 1 August 2014].Google Scholar
Inglehart, R., Basañez, M., Diez-Medrano, J., Halman, L. and Luijkx, R. 2004. Human Beliefs and Values: A Cross-cultural Sourcebook Based on the 1999–2002 Values Surveys. Siglo Vientiuno, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Jatrana, S. and Blakely, T. 2014. Socioeconomic inequalities in mortality persist into old age in New Zealand: study of all 65 years plus, 2001–04. Ageing & Society, 34, 6, 911–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jensen, J., Krishnan, V., Spittal, M. and Sathiyandra, S. 2003. New Zealand living standards: their measurement and variation, with an application to policy. Social Policy Journal of New Zealand, 20, 72–97.Google Scholar
Jensen, J., Spittal, M., Crichton, S., Sathiyandra, S. and Krishnan, V. 2002. Direct Measurement of Living Standards: The New Zealand ELSI Scale. Ministry of Social Development, Te Manatū Whakahiato Ora, Wellington.Google Scholar
Joreskog, K. G. and Sorbom, D. 1989. LISREL 7: A Guide to the Program and Applications. Second edition, SPSS Inc., Chicago.Google Scholar
Kline, P. 1986. A Handbook of Test Construction: Introduction to Psychometric Design. Methuen, London.Google Scholar
Macintyre, S., McKay, L., Der, G. and Hiscock, R. 2003. Socio-economic position and health: what you observe depends on how you measure it. Journal of Public Health Medicine, 25, 4, 288–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mansvelt, J., Breheny, M. and Stephens, C. 2014. Pursuing security: economic resources and the ontological security of older New Zealanders. Ageing & Society, 34, 10, 1666–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McKay, S. 2004. Poverty or preference: what do ‘consensual deprivation indicators’ really measure? Fiscal Studies, 25, 2, 201–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Sullivan, J. and Ashton, T. 2012. A minimum income for healthy living (MIHL) – older New Zealanders. Ageing & Society, 32, 5, 747–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Perry, B. 2009. Non-income Measures of Material Wellbeing and Hardship: First Results from the 2008 New Zealand Living Standards Survey, with International Comparisons. Ministry of Social Development, Wellington.Google Scholar
Pfoertner, T. K., Andress, H. J. and Janssen, C. 2011. Income or living standard and health in Germany: different ways of measurement of relative poverty with regard to self-rated health. International Journal of Public Health, 56, 4, 373–84.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Piachaud, D. 1981. Peter Townsend and the Holy Grail. New Society, 57, 10 September, 419–21.Google Scholar
Pinquart, M. and Sorensen, S. 2000. Influences of socioeconomic status, social network, and competence on subjective well-being in later life: a meta-analysis. Psychology and Aging, 15, 2, 187–224.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Renahy, E., Alvarado-Llano, B., Koh, M. and Quesnel-Vallee, A. 2012. Income and economic exclusion: do they measure the same concept? International Journal for Equity in Health, 11, 4, 1–11.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Robeyns, I. 2005. The capability approach: a theoretical survey. Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, 6, 1, 93–117.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salmond, C. and Crampton, P. 2012. Measuring socioeconomic position in New Zealand. Journal of Primary Health Care, 4, 4, 271–80.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Salmond, C., King, P., Crampton, P. and Waldegrave, C. 2006. NZiDep: a New Zealand index of socioeconomic deprivation for individuals. Social Science & Medicine, 62, 6, 1474–85.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Saunders, P., Naidoo, Y. and Griffiths, M. 2008. Towards new indicators of disadvantage: deprivation and social exclusion in Australia. Australian Journal of Social Issues, 43, 2, 175–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schmidt, S., Muhlan, H. and Power, M. 2006. The EUROHIS-QOL 8-item index: psychometric results of a cross-cultural field study. European Journal of Public Health, 16, 4, 420–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Segerstrom, S. C. 2014. Affect and self-rated health: a dynamic approach with older adults. Health Psychology, 33, 7, 720–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sen, A. 1982. Choice, Welfare and Measurement. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Sen, A. 1987. The Standard of Living. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sen, A. 1993. Capability and well-being. In Nussbaum, M. C. and Sen, A. K. (eds), The Quality of Life. Clarendon Press, Oxford, 30–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sen, A. 2002. Rationality and Freedom. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Sen, A. 2004. Dialogue capabilities, lists, and public reason: continuing the conversation. Feminist Economics, 10, 77–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SPSS Inc. 2010. SPSS Statistics 19 for Windows. SPSS Inc., Chicago.Google Scholar
Statistics New Zealand 2009. 2006 Census Data: QuickStats About Culture and Identity (datafile). Available online at http://www.stats.govt.nz/Census/2006CensusHomePage/QuickStats/quickstats-about-a-subject/culture-and-identity.aspx [Accessed 1 February 2014].Google Scholar
Steiger, J. H. 1990. Structural model evaluation and modification: an interval estimation approach. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 25, 2, 173–80.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stephens, C., Alpass, F., Towers, A. and Stevenson, B. 2011. The effects of types of social networks, percieved social support, and loneliness on the health of older people: accounting for the social context. Journal of Aging & Health, 23, 6, 887–911.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stephens, C., Breheny, M. and Mansvelt, J. in press. Healthy ageing from the perspective of older people: a capability approach to resilience. Psychology and Health, DOI:10.1080/08870446.2014.904862.Google Scholar
Towers, A. 2007. Health, Work and Retirement Survey: Methodology. Available online at http://hwr.massey.ac.nz/resources/methodology_towers.pdf [Accessed 26 September 2011].Google Scholar
Townsend, P. 1979. Poverty in the United Kingdom: A Survey of Household Resources and Standards of Living. Penguin, Harmondsworth, UK.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ware, J. E. Jr, Kosinski, M. and Keller, S. D. 1996. A 12-item short-form health survey: construction of scales and preliminary tests of reliability and validity. Medical Care, 34, 3, 220–33.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed