Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T05:51:27.491Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Ill, worried or worried sick? Inter-relationships among indicators of wellbeing among older people in Sweden

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 April 2009

BJÖRN HALLERÖD
BJÖRN HALLERÖD*
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
*
Address for correspondence: Björn Halleröd, Department of Sociology, University of Gothenburg, Box 720, Y05 30 Gothenburg, Sweden. E-mail: bjorn.hallerod@sociology.gu.se
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This study examined the associations between a large set of health indicators and wellbeing among older people (aged 66 or more years) in Sweden. The data were drawn from the Swedish Panel Survey of Ageing and the Elderly (PSAE), with variables covering information about health, daily activities, social interaction, anxieties and worries, and economic hardship. A series of confirmative factor analyses were used to reveal if and how indicators of living conditions could be subdivided into latent factors, and several socio-economic and socio-demographic variables were used as their predictors. Differences between men and women and between a number of age groups of old people were systematically scrutinised. The preferred representation of the data was a nested model that identified one global factor, which related to all manifest indicators, and three residual factors that measured the specific experiences of physical impairment, psychosocial distress and economic difficulties. The findings improve our understanding of the relationships between indicators of health and wellbeing and the various latent dimensions that simultaneously affect response patterns. More importantly, they also facilitate our understanding of older people's wellbeing and assists the interpretation of single, commonly used indicators such as subjective health.

Keywords

wellbeinglatent factorsageingquality of life
Type
Research Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 29 , Issue 4 , May 2009 , pp. 563 - 584
Copyright
Copyright © 2009 Cambridge University Press

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

Åberg Yngwe, M. 2005. Resources and Relative Deprivation. Health Equity Studies 5, Stockholm University/Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm.Google Scholar
Bask, M. 2005. Welfare problems and social exclusion among immigrants in Sweden. European Sociological Review, 21, 1, 73–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beauducel, A. and Herzberg, P. Y. 2006. On the performance of maximum likelihood versus means and variance adjusted weighted least squares estimation in CFA. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 13, 2, 186–203.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bihagen, E. 2000. The Significance of Class. Department of Sociology, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.Google Scholar
Blane, D., Netuveli, G. and Bartley, M. 2007. Does quality of life at older ages vary with socio-economic position? Sociology, 41, 4, 717–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Borg, V. and Kristensen, T. S. 2000. Social class and self-rated health: can the gradient be explained by differences in life style or work environment? Social Science and Medicine, 51, 7, 1019–30.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bourdieu, P. 1984. Distinction. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Bowling, A. and Gabriel, Z. 2004. Integrational model of quality of life in older age: results from the ESRC/MRC HSRC quality of life survey in Britain. Social Indicators Research, 69, 1, 1–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bradshaw, J. and Finch, N. 2003. Overlaps in dimensions of poverty. Journal of Social Policy, 32, 4, 513–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brayne, C., Matthews, F. E., McGee, M. A. and Jagger, C. 2001. Health and ill-health in the older population in England and Wales. Age and Ageing, 30, 1, 53–62.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carlstedt, B. and Gustafsson, J. E. 2005. Construct validation of the Swedish Scholastic Aptitude Test by means of the Swedish Enlistment Battery. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 46, 1, 31–42.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Coons, S. J., Rao, S., Keininger, D. L. and Hays, R. D. 2000. A comparative review of generic quality-of-life instruments. Pharmacoeconomics, 17, 1, 13–35.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Erikson, R. and Goldthorpe, J. H. 1993. The Constant Flux: A Study of Class Mobility in Industrial Societies. Clarendon, Oxford.Google Scholar
Erikson, R. and Tåhlin, M. (eds) 1987. Coexistence of Welfare Problems. Clarendon, Oxford.Google Scholar
Flora, D. B. and Curran, P. J. 2004. An empirical evaluation of alternative methods of estimation for confirmatory factor analysis with ordinal data. Psychological Methods, 9, 4, 466–91.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fryback, D. G., Dunham, N. C., Palta, M., Hanmer, J., Buechner, J., Cherepanov, D., Herrington, S. A., Hays, R. D., Kaplan, R. M., Ganiats, T. G., Feeny, D. and Kind, P. 2007. US norms for six generic health-related quality-of-life indexes from the national health measurement study. Medical Care, 45, 12, 1162–70.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gignac, G. E. 2007. Multi-factor modeling in individual differences research: some recommendations and suggestions. Personality and Individual Differences, 42, 1, 37–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gustafsson, J.-E. and Stahl, P. A. 2004. STREAMS 3.0 User's Guide. Multivariate Ware, Mölndal, Sweden.Google Scholar
Gustafsson, J. E. and Balke, G. 1993. General and specific abilities as predictors of school-achievement. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 28, 4, 407–34.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Halleröd, B. 1991. Den svenska fattigdomen [Poverty in Sweden]. Arkiv, Lund, Sweden.Google Scholar
Halleröd, B. 1999. Economic standard of living: a longitudinal analysis of the economic standard among Swedes 1979–1995. European Societies, 1, 3, 391–418.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Halleröd, B. and Bask, M. 2008. Accumulation of welfare problems in a longitudinal perspective. Social Indicators Research, 88, 2, 311–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Halleröd, B. and Stern, P. 1991. Comparing apples and pears with bananas: comments concerning the use of standardized regression coefficients. Sociologisk Forskning, 28, 1, 75–86.Google Scholar
Halleröd, B. and Heikkilä, M. 1999. Poverty and social exclusion in the Nordic countries. In Kautto, M., Heikkilä, M., Hvinden, B., Marklund, S and Ploug, N. (eds), Nordic Social Policy. Routledge, London, 185–214.Google Scholar
Halleröd, B. and Larsson, D. 2008. Poverty, welfare problems and social exclusion. International Journal of Social Welfare, 17, 1, 15–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoyle, R. H. 1995. Structural Equation Modeling. Sage, London.Google Scholar
Huisman, M., Kunst, A. E. and Mackenbach, J. P. 2003. Socioeconomic inequalities in morbidity among the elderly: a European overview. Social Science and Medicine, 57, 5, 861–73.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Idler, E., Leventhal, H., McLaughlin, J. and Leventhal, E. 2004. In sickness but not in health: self-ratings, identity, and mortality. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 45, 3, 336–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Idler, E. L. and Benyamini, Y. 1997. Self-rated health and mortality: a review of twenty-seven community studies. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 38, 1, 21–37.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Knesebeck, O. V., Wahrendorf, M., Hyde, M. and Siegrist, J. 2007. Socio-economic position and quality of life among older people in to European countries: results of the SHARE study. Ageing & Society, 27, 2, 269–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lunney, J. R., Lynn, J. and Hogan, C. 2002. Profiles of older Medicare descendents. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 50, 6, 1108–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marmot, M. 2004. Status Syndrome: How Your Social Standing Directly Affects Your Health and Life Expectancy. Bloomsbury, London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Matthews, R. J., Jagger, C. and Hancock, R. M. 2006. Does socio-economic advantage lead to a longer, healthier old age? Social Science and Medicine, 62, 10, 2489–99.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Meinow, B., Parker, M. G., Kåreholt, I. and Thorslund, M. 2006. Complex health problems among the oldest old. European Journal of Ageing, 3, 1, 98–106.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Moor, C., Zimprich, D., Schmitt, M. and Kliegel, M. 2006. Personality, aging self-perceptions, and subjective health: a mediation model. International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 63, 3, 241–57.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Parker, M. G., Thorslund, M. and Lundberg, O. 1994. Physical function and social-class among Swedish oldest old. Journals of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 49, 4, S196–201.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Parker, M. G., Thorslund, M., Lundberg, O. and Kåreholt, I. 1996. Predictors of physical function among the oldest old. Journal of Aging and Health, 8, 3, 444–60.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pinquart, M. 2001. Correlates of subjective health in older adults: a meta-analysis. Psychology and Aging, 16, 3, 414–26.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Romoren, T. I. and Blekeseaune, M. 2003. Trajectories of disability among the oldest old. Journal of Aging and Health, 15, 3, 548–66.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Russell, C. 2007. What do older women and men want? Gender differences in the ‘lived experience’ of ageing. Current Sociology, 55, 2, 173–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schneider, G., Driesch, G., Kruse, A., Wachter, M., Nehen, H. G. and Heuft, G. 2004. What influences self-perception of health in the elderly? The role of objective health condition, subjective well-being and sense of coherence. Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics, 39, 3, 227–37.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Seitsamo, J., Tuomi, K. and Martikainen, R. 2007. Activity, functional capacity and well-being in ageing Finnish workers. Occupational Medicine (Oxford), 57, 2, 85–91.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stålbrand, I. S., Svensson, T., Elmstahl, S., Horstmann, V., Hagberg, B., Dehlin, O. and Samuelsson, G. 2007. Subjective health and illness, coping and life satisfaction in an 80-year-old Swedish population: implications for mortality. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 14, 3, 173–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tesch-Römer, C., Motel-Klingebiel, A. and Tomaski, M. J. 2008. Gender differences in subjective well-being: comparing societies with respect to gender equality. Social Indicator Research, 85, 4, 329–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tham, H. 1994. Ökar marginaliseringen i Sverige? [Is marginalisation increasing in Sweden?]. In Fritzell, J. and Lundberg, O. (eds), Vardagens villkor [Everyday Lives]. Brombergs, Stockholm, 215–34.Google Scholar
Thorslund, M. and Lundberg, O. 1994. Health and inequalities among the oldest old. Journal of Aging and Health, 6, 1, 51–69.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vogel, J. and Häll, L. (eds) 2006. Äldres levnadsförhållanden: arbete, ekonomi, hälsa och sociala nätverk 1980–2003 [Living Conditions of Older People: Work, Economy and Social Networks 1980–2003]. Umeå universitet and Statistiska centralbyrån, Stockholm.Google Scholar
Wu, C. H. and Yao, G. 2007. Examining the relationship between global and domain measures of quality of life by three factor structure models. Social Indicators Research, 84, 2, 189–202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yabroff, K. R., McNeel, T. S., Waldron, W. R., Davis, W. W., Brown, M. L., Clauser, S. and Lawrence, W. F. 2007. Health limitations and quality of life associated with cancer and other chronic diseases by phase of care. Medical Care, 45, 7, 629–37.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed