Journal of Aging and Health · Aug 30, 2016

Associations of Successful Aging With Socioeconomic Position Across the Life-Course: The West of Scotland Twenty-07 Prospective Cohort Study

By Whitley E, Benzeval M, Popham F

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to investigate how socioeconomic position (SEP) is associated with multidimensional measures of successful aging (SA), and how this varies and accumulates across the life-course. METHOD: Using data from 1,733 Scottish men and women from two cohorts aged around 57 and 76, respectively, we explored associations of SA, based on the Rowe-Kahn model, with 10 measures of SEP measured in childhood and, distally and proximally, in adulthood. RESULTS: Individual SEP associations with SA score were generally consistent across different indicators and life stages: Respondents with the most versus least favorable SEP had two additional positive SA dimensions. There was also a strong association between SA and cumulative SEP based on all 10 measures combined; respondents with the most versus least favorable lifelong SEP had four additional positive SA dimensions. CONCLUSION: SEP advantages/disadvantages act and accumulate across the life-course, resulting in widening socioeconomic inequalities in SA in later life.

doi.org/10.1177/0898264316665208Open accessPubMed 27581420Populations