Education Inequalities in Health Among Older European Men and Women: The Role of Active Aging

Objective: We assessed whether education inequalities in health among older people can be partially explained by different levels of active aging among educational groups. Method: We applied logistic regression and the Karlson, Holm, & Breen (KHB) decomposition method using the 2010 and 2012 waves of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe on individuals aged 50+ years (N = 27,579). Active aging included social participation, paid work, and provision of grandchild care. Health was measured by good self-perceived health, low number of depressive symptoms, and absence of limitations because of health in activities people usually do. Results: We found a positive educational gradient for each of the three health measures. Up to a third of the health gaps between high and low educated were associated with differences in engagement in active aging activities. Discussion: Policies devoted at stimulating an active participation in society among older people should be particularly focused on lower educated groups

Social determinants of health at distinct levels by gender: education and household in Spain

Objective: To explore from a gender perspective the association with subjective health of the interaction between education and household arrangements within the framework of social determinants of health placed at the micro and mezzo levels. Methods: The data comes from the Spanish sample of the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions for 2014. Independent logistic regression models for men and women were run to analyze the association with subjective health of the interaction between education and household arrangements. An additive model was run to assess possible advantages over the interaction approach. Results: The interaction models show a lower or even no significant effect on health of household arrangements usually negatively associated with health among individuals with high education, displaying specific patterns according to sex. Conclusions: Health profiles of women and men are more precisely drawn if both social determinants of health are combined. Among the women, the important role was confirmed of both social determinants of health in understanding their health inequalities. Among the men, mainly those with low educational achievement, the interaction revealed that the household was a more meaningful social determinant of health. This could enable the definition of more efficient public policies to reduce health and gender inequalities

Examining social determinants of health: The role of education, household arrangements and country groups by gender

Background: The majority of empirical studies focus on a single Social Determinant of Health (SDH) when analysing health inequalities. We go beyond this by exploring how the combination of education (micro level) and household arrangements (mezzo level) is associated with self-perceived health. Methods: Our data source is the 2014 cross-sectional data from the European Survey of Living Conditions (EU-SILC). We calculate the predicted probabilities of poor self-perceived health for the middle-aged European population (30-59 years) as a function of the combination of the two SDHs. This is done separately for five European country groups (dual-earner; liberal; general family support; familistic; and post-socialist transition) and gender. Results: We observe a double health gradient in all the country groups: first, there is a common health gradient by education (the higher the education, the lower the probability of poor health); second, household arrangements define a health gradient within each educational level according to whether or not the individual lives with a partner (living with a partner is associated with a lower probability of poor health). We observe some specificity in this general pattern. Familistic and post-socialist transition countries display large differences in the predicted probabilities according to education and household arrangements when compared with the other three country groups. Familistic and post-socialist transition countries also show the largest gender differences. Conclusions: Health differences in European populations seem to be defined, first, by education and, second, by living or not living with a partner. Additionally, different social contexts (gender inequalities, educational profile, etc.) in European countries change the influences on health of both the SDHs for both women and men

Corrigendum to: Older People's Nonphysical Contacts and Depression During the COVID-19 Lockdown

In “Older People’s Nonphysical Contacts and Depression During the COVID-19 Lockdown,” DOI: 10.1093/geront/gnaa144, several errors were noted and listed in this corrigendum