Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T09:34:44.818Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

COUNTRY-LEVEL SOCIOECONOMIC INDICATORS ASSOCIATED WITH SURVIVAL PROBABILITY OF BECOMING A CENTENARIAN AMONG OLDER EUROPEAN ADULTS: GENDER INEQUALITY, MALE LABOUR FORCE PARTICIPATION AND PROPORTIONS OF WOMEN IN PARLIAMENTS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 April 2016

Jong In Kim  and
Gukbin Kim
Jong In Kim*
Affiliation:
Division of Health Administration and Social Welfare, Wonkwang University, Republic of Korea Institute for Longevity Sciences, Wonkwang University, Republic of Korea
Gukbin Kim
Affiliation:
Management with International Business, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK
*
1 Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

This study confirms an association between survival probability of becoming a centenarian (SPBC) for those aged 65 to 69 and country-level socioeconomic indicators in Europe: the gender inequality index (GII), male labour force participation (MLP) rates and proportions of seats held by women in national parliaments (PWP). The analysis was based on SPBC data from 34 countries obtained from the United Nations (UN). Country-level socioeconomic indicator data were obtained from the UN and World Bank databases. The associations between socioeconomic indicators and SPBC were assessed using correlation coefficients and multivariate regression models. The findings show significant correlations between the SPBC for women and men aged 65 to 69 and country-level socioeconomic indicators: GII (r=−0.674, p=0.001), MLP (r=0.514, p=0.002) and PWP (r=0.498, p=0.003). The SPBC predictors for women and men were lower GIIs and higher MLP and PWP (R 2=0.508, p=0.001). Country-level socioeconomic indicators appear to have an important effect on the probability of becoming a centenarian in European adults aged 65 to 69. Country-level gender equality policies in European counties may decrease the risk of unhealthy old age and increase longevity in elders through greater national gender equality; disparities in GII and other country-level socioeconomic indicators impact longevity probability. National longevity strategies should target country-level gender inequality.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 49 , Issue 2 , March 2017 , pp. 239 - 250
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press, 2016 

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

Ailshire, J. A., Beltrán-Sánchez, H. & Crimmins, E. M. (2015) Becoming centenarians: disease and functioning trajectories of older US adults as they survive to 100. Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences 70(2), 193–201.Google Scholar
Aksan, H. A., Ergin, I. & Ocek, Z. (2010) The change in capacity and service delivery at public and private hospitals in Turkey: a closer look at regional differences. BMC Health Services Research 10(1), 300.Google Scholar
Backhans, M. C., Lundberg, M. & Månsdotter, A. (2007) Does increased gender equality lead to a convergence of health outcomes for men and women? A study of Swedish municipalities. Social Science & Medicine 64(9), 1892–1903.Google Scholar
Baker, J., Meisner, B. A., Logan, A. J., Kungl, A. M. & Weir, P. (2009) Physical activity and successful aging in Canadian older adults. Journal of Aging and Physical Activity 17(2), 223–235.Google Scholar
Barrientos, A., Gorman, M. & Heslop, A. (2003) Old age poverty in developing countries: contributions and dependence in later life. World Development 31(3), 555–570.Google Scholar
Berr, C., Balard, F., Blain, H. & Robine, J. M. (2012) How to define old age: successful aging and/or longevity [in French]. Médecine/Sciences 28(3), 281–287.Google Scholar
Bowling, A., Hankins, M., Windle, G., Bilotta, C. & Grant, R. (2013) A short measure of quality of life in older age: the performance of the brief older people’s quality of life questionnaire (OPQOL-brief). Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics 56(1), 181–187.Google Scholar
Candore, G., Balistreri, C. R., Listi, F., Grimaldi, M. P., Vasto, S. & Colonna-Romano, G. (2006) Immunogenetics, gender, and longevity. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1089, 516–537.Google Scholar
Costa, D. L. (1996) Health and labor force participation of older men, 1900–1991. Journal of Economic History 56(1), 62–89.Google Scholar
Duflo, E. (2012) Women’s empowerment and economic development. Journal of Economic Literature 50(4), 1051–1079.Google Scholar
Fenge, L. A., Hean, S., Worswick, L., Wilkinson, C., Fearnley, S. & Ersser, S. (2012) The impact of the economic recession on well‐being and quality of life of older people. Health & Social Care in the Community 20(6), 617–624.Google Scholar
Fernández-Sáez, J., Ruiz-Cantero, M. T., Guijarro-Garví, M., Carrasco-Portiño, M., Roca-Pérez, V., Chilet-Rosell, E. & Álvarez-Dardet, C. (2013) Looking twice at the gender equity index for public health impact. BMC Public Health 13(1), 659.Google Scholar
Gavrilov, L. A. & Gavrilova, N. S. (2010) Demographic consequences of defeating aging. Rejuvenation Research 13(2–3), 329–334.Google Scholar
Hájek, O., Grebeníček, P., Popesko, B. & Hrabinová, Š. (2012) Czech Republic vs. EU-27: economic level, health care and population health. Central European Journal of Public Health 20(3), 167.Google Scholar
Hall, A. K., Bernhardt, J. M., Dodd, V. & Vollrath, M. W. (2015) The digital health divide: evaluating online health information access and use among older adults. Health Education & Behavior 42(2), 202–209.Google Scholar
Inglehart, R., Norris, P. & Welzel, C. (2002) Gender equality and democracy. Comparative Sociology 1(3), 321–345.Google Scholar
Johnson, T. E., de Castro, E., de Castro, S. H., Cypser, J., Henderson, S. & Tedesco, P. (2001) Relationship between increased longevity and stress resistance as assessed through gerontogene mutations in Caenorhabditis elegans. Experimental Gerontology 36(10), 1609–1617.Google Scholar
Kabeer, N. (2005) Gender equality and women’s empowerment: a critical analysis of the third millennium development goal 1. Gender & Development 13(1), 13–24.Google Scholar
Kim, J. I. (2013) Social factors associated with centenarian rate (CR) in 32 OECD countries. BMC International Health and Human Rights 13(1), 16.Google Scholar
Kim, J. I. (2014) Association between social factors of health ageing and longevity: determinants of the longevity index (LI) in OECD countries. Ageing International 39(2), 97–105.Google Scholar
Kim, J. I. & Kim, G. (2014a) Factors affecting the survival probability of becoming a centenarian for those aged 70, based on the human mortality database: income, health expenditure, telephone, and sanitation. BMC Geriatrics 14(1), 113.Google Scholar
Kim, J. I. & Kim, G. (2014b) Labor force participation and secondary education of gender inequality index (GII) associated with healthy life expectancy (HLE) at birth. International Journal for Equity in Health 13(1), 1–8.Google Scholar
Kim, J. I. & Kim, G. (2015a) Country-level socioeconomic indicators associated with healthy life expectancy: income, urbanization, schooling, and internet users: 2000–2012. Social Indicators Research doi: 10.1007/s11205-015-1107-2.Google Scholar
Kim, J. I. & Kim, G. (2015b) Social structural influences on healthy aging: community-level socioeconomic conditions and survival probability of becoming a centenarian for those aged 65 to 69 in South Korea. International Journal of Aging and Human Development 81(4), 241–259.Google Scholar
Krook, M. L. (2010) Women’s representation in parliament: a qualitative comparative analysis. Political Studies 58(5), 886–908.Google Scholar
Lenzen, M. (2006) Decomposition analysis and the mean-rate-of-change index. Applied Energy 83(3), 185–198.Google Scholar
Mackenbach, J. P. & Looman, C. W. (2013) Life expectancy and national income in Europe, 1900–2008: an update of Preston’s analysis. International Journal of Epidemiology 42(4), 1100–1110.Google Scholar
Mackenbach, J. P., Stirbu, I., Roskam, A. J. R., Schaap, M. M., Menvielle, G., Leinsalu, M. & Kunst, A. E. (2008) Socioeconomic inequalities in health in 22 European countries. New England Journal of Medicine 358(23), 2468–2481.Google Scholar
Magnolfi, S. U., Petruzzi, E., Pinzani, P., Malentacchi, F., Pazzagli, M. & Antonini, F. M. (2007) Longevity index (LI%) and centenarity index (CI%): new indicators to evaluate the characteristics of aging process in the Italian population. Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics 44(3), 271–276.Google Scholar
Mao, Z., Zhao, L., Pu, L., Wang, M., Zhang, Q. & He, D. Z. (2013) How well can centenarians hear? PLoS One 8(6), e65565.Google Scholar
Mossakowska, M., Barcikowska, M., Broczek, K., Grodzicki, T., Klich-Raczka, A., Kupisz-Urbanska, M. & Zyczkowska, J. (2008) Polish Centenarians Programme – multidisciplinary studies of successful ageing: aims, methods, and preliminary results. Experimental Gerontology 43(3), 238–244.Google Scholar
Mossakowska, M., Broczek, K., Wieczorowska-Tobis, K., Klich-Rączka, A., Jonas, M., Pawlik-Pachucka, E. & Puzianowska-Kuznicka, M. (2014) Cognitive performance and functional status are the major factors predicting survival of centenarians in Poland. Journals of Gerontology A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences 69(10), 1269–1275.Google Scholar
Rahi, M. (2011) Human Development Report 2010. Changes in parameters and perspectives. Indian Journal of Public Health 55(4), 272–275.Google Scholar
Ringard, Å., Sagan, A., Sperre Saunes, I. & Lindahl, A. K. (2013) Norway: health system review. Health Systems in Transition 15(8), 1–162.Google Scholar
Robine, J. M. & Paccaud, F. (2005) Nonagenarians and centenarians in Switzerland, 1860–2001: a demographic analysis. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 59(1), 31–37.Google Scholar
Robine, J. M., Herrmann, F. R., Arai, Y., Willcox, D. C., Gondo, Y., Hirose, N. & Saito, Y. (2012) Exploring the impact of climate on human longevity. Experimental Gerontology 47(9), 660–671.Google Scholar
Rodriguez-Laso, A., Zunzunegui, M. V. & Otero, A. (2007) The effect of social relationships on survival in elderly residents of a Southern European community: a cohort study. BMC Geriatrics 7(1), 19.Google Scholar
Rowe, J. W. & Kahn, R. L. (1987) Human aging: usual and successful. Science 237(4811), 143–149.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ruedin, D. (2012) The representation of women in national parliaments: a cross-national comparison. European Sociological Review 28(1), 96–109.Google Scholar
Sachuk, N. N. (1970) Population longevity study: sources and indices. Journal of Gerontology 25(3), 262–264.Google Scholar
Schirle, T. (2008) Why have the labor force participation rates of older men increased since the mid‐1990s? Journal of Labor Economics 26(4), 549–594.Google Scholar
Simmons, B. E. (2014) Average Rate of Change. Mathwords: Terms and Formulas. URL: http://www.mathwords.com/a/average_rate_change.htm (accessed 14th August 2014).Google Scholar
Steptoe, A., O’Donnell, K., Marmot, M. & Wardle, J. (2008) Positive affect and psychosocial processes related to health. British Journal of Psychology 99(2), 211–227.Google Scholar
Theou, O., Brothers, T. D., Rockwood, M. R., Haardt, D., Mitnitski, A. & Rockwood, K. (2013) Exploring the relationship between national economic indicators and relative fitness and frailty in middle-aged and older Europeans. Age and Ageing 42(5), 614–619.Google Scholar
United Nations (2014a) World Population Prospects: The 2010 Revision. URL: http://esa.un.org/unpd/wpp/Excel-Data/population.htm (accessed 15th August 2014).Google Scholar
United Nations (2014b) Human Development Report. URL: http://hdr.undp.org/en/data (accessed 16th June 2015).Google Scholar
World Bank (2015a) Labor Force Participation Rate, Male. URL: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.TLF.ACTI.MA.ZS (accessed 16th December 2015).Google Scholar
World Bank (2015b) Proportion of Seats Held by Women in National Parliaments. URL: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SG.GEN.PARL.ZS (accessed 16th December 2015).Google Scholar
World Health Organization (2015) Definition of an Older or Elderly Person. URL: http://www.who.int/healthinfo/survey/ageingdefnolder/en/ (accessed 16th December 2015).Google Scholar
Xie, G., Laskowitz, D. T., Turner, E. L., Egger, J. R., Shi, P., Ren, F. & Wu, Y. (2014) Baseline health-related quality of life and 10-year all-cause mortality among 1739 Chinese adults. PLoS One 9(7), e101527.Google Scholar