Age Takes Hold of Us by Surprise: Conceptualising Vulnerabilities as Timing of Adverse Events

• In Event: 4465 - Contextual Influences on Life Course Transitions and Trajectories

Abstract

Ageing in the public eye can be distilled to a limited number of adverse events, such as loss of health, partnership and wealth. This study investigates to what extent bereavement, functional health loss and onset of poverty are adequate markers of ageing, as well as examining inequalities in their timing according to cohort, gender, class and ethnicity. Data of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA), collected over 7 waves (2002-2016) (n=7913) are examined using survival analysis. Persistent associations of manual or routine occupational class and belonging to an ethnic minorities are found with increased hazards of health loss, bereavement and wealth loss. Later born cohorts have higher health loss hazards as well as lower hazards for wealth loss, while earlier born cohorts have lower hazards for bereavement. Gender effects are pronounced in terms of bereavement, limited in terms of health loss and absent in terms of wealth loss.

Author

• Bram Vanhoutte, University of Manchester