ArticlePublisher preview available

Inequalities in Longevity by Education Level in Spain: A Life Satisfaction Approach

July 2019
Social Indicators Research 144(1)

DOI:10.1007/s11205-018-02057-w

Authors:

University Pompeu Fabra

This paper computes satisfied life expectancy at age 30 (LE30) and at age 65 (LE65) in order to assess inequality in longevity by gender and education level in Spain. We calculate abridged life tables and satisfied LE using conventional life tables and Sullivan’s method. Population and mortality records for 2012 from the Spanish National Institute of Statistics’ (INE) are combined with prevalences of life satisfaction using the 2013 European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions. Satisfaction was defined through a single question about life satisfaction on a scale of 0–10. Results show that the smoothed age-specific prevalences of satisfaction increased with higher education level for both genders. Generally, women tended to report higher levels of satisfaction than men. Spanish women also have a higher LE, regardless of education, but the gender gap is larger among the highest educated. Highly educated women are expected to live 7.3 years more than men at the age of 30. Differences in satisfied LE favor women over men at both ages. The higher the education level is, the largest the satisfied LE. Among the highly educated, women at 30 will live happily 7.5 years more than men. To our knowledge, this is the first study that estimates subjective LE according to education level in Spain. We conclude that even though people in Spain are living longer and healthier than ever before, health inequalities still persist as only those with high education attainments will spend more years feeling satisfied with their lives than unsatisfied.

Smoothed age-specific prevalence of high life satisfaction by gender and education level. Note: “Low Ed” is low education, “Mid Ed” is medium education, “High Ed” is high education. Source: EU-SILC 2013

…

Life expectancy, satisfied life expectancy, and unsatisfied life expectancy at age 30 and 65 by gender and level of education. Source: INE, 2012. EU-SILC, 2013. Note: “Low Ed” is low education, “Mid Ed” is medium education, “High Ed” is high education. The % shows the proportion of years lived in a satisfied state

…

Figures - available from: Social Indicators Research

This content is subject to copyright. Terms and conditions apply.

A preview of this full-text is provided by Springer Nature.

Learn more

Content available from Social Indicators Research

This content is subject to copyright. Terms and conditions apply.

Vol.:(0123456789)

Social Indicators Research (2019) 144:729–744

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-018-02057-w

1 3

Inequalities inLongevity byEducation Level inSpain: ALife

Satisfaction Approach

AïdaSolé‑Auró1 · MarionaLozano1,2

Accepted: 21 December 2018 / Published online: 9 January 2019

Abstract

This paper computes satisﬁed life expectancy at age 30 (LE30) and at age 65 (LE65) in

order to assess inequality in longevity by gender and education level in Spain. We cal-

culate abridged life tables and satisﬁed LE using conventional life tables and Sullivan’s

method. Population and mortality records for 2012 from the Spanish National Institute of

Statistics’ (INE) are combined with prevalences of life satisfaction using the 2013 Euro-

pean Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions. Satisfaction was deﬁned through

a single question about life satisfaction on a scale of 0–10. Results show that the smoothed

age-speciﬁc prevalences of satisfaction increased with higher education level for both gen-

ders. Generally, women tended to report higher levels of satisfaction than men. Spanish

women also have a higher LE, regardless of education, but the gender gap is larger among

the highest educated. Highly educated women are expected to live 7.3years more than men

at the age of 30. Diﬀerences in satisﬁed LE favor women over men at both ages. The higher

the education level is, the largest the satisﬁed LE. Among the highly educated, women

at 30 will live happily 7.5years more than men. To our knowledge, this is the ﬁrst study

that estimates subjective LE according to education level in Spain. We conclude that even

though people in Spain are living longer and healthier than ever before, health inequalities

still persist as only those with high education attainments will spend more years feeling

satisﬁed with their lives than unsatisﬁed.

Keywords Satisﬁed life expectancy· Unsatisﬁed life years· Gender diﬀerences· Education

diﬀerences· Inequality· Spain

* Aïda Solé-Auró

aida.sole@upf.edu

1 DemoSoc Research Group, Department ofPolitical andSocial Sciences, Universitat Pompeu

Fabra, C/ Ramon Trias Fargas, 25-27, 08005Barcelona, Spain

2 Centre d’Estudis Demogràﬁcs, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, C/ ca n’Altayó, E2,

08193Bellaterra, Spain

Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.

Socioeconomic Differences in Happy Life Expectancy among Older Adults in China

Article

Full-text available

Aug 2024

Socioeconomic inequalities in longevity are well-documented. However, less is known about whether these inequalities extend to happiness. Happy life expectancy is an important and practical indicator for examining socioeconomic differences in both longevity and happiness. It remains unclear whether socioeconomic differences in happy life expectancy exist in developing countries and among older adults. This study used data from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS) 2008-2018 and employed multistate life table method to examine socioeconomic differences in happy life expectancy among older adults in China, using education as the key socioeconomic status indicator. Our findings reveal significant socioeconomic differences in the happy life expectancy among older adults in China, with those with higher socioeconomic status enjoying advantages in both longevity and happiness. Specifically, literate older adults not only lived longer but also lived longer happy lives and shorter unhappy lives, and they were expected to spend a higher proportion of their remaining lives in a happy state. Despite the socioeconomic gaps in happy life expectancy gradually narrowing with age, they existed even at the oldest ages. Our study contributes new evidence to the generalizability of the socioeconomic status patterns in longevity and happiness, underscoring the need for targeted interventions to improve both longevity and happiness of older adults in disadvantaged socioeconomic groups.

Well-Being in Old and Very Old Age

Chapter

Mar 2023

Petrol Prices and Subjective Wellbeing

Article

Full-text available

Jul 2020
ENERG ECON

We examine the effect of petrol prices on subjective wellbeing (SWB) using household panel data. To do so, we use 17 waves of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey. Based on our preferred instrumental variable estimates, we find that a standard deviation increase in petrol prices leads to a decline of 0.0157–0.0245 standard deviations in SWB. The finding that increases in petrol prices significantly lower SWB is robust to alternative measures of wellbeing and alternative ways of addressing endogeneity, as well as employing different sources of fuel price data measured at a range of frequencies. We also examine the channels through which petrol prices influence SWB and find that maintaining social networks is an important way through which petrol prices influence SWB.

How and when perceived COVID-19 crisis strength impacts individuals' life satisfaction and sleep quality: A moderated mediation model

Article

Full-text available

Aug 2022

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused millions of deaths, seriously hampering people's lives and their productivity. Drawing on social information processing theory, this research developed a moderated mediation model to investigate the influence of perceived COVID-19 crisis strength on individuals' well-being. The results from a sample of 441 suggest that individuals' perceived COVID-19 crisis strength indirectly affects their life satisfaction and sleep quality via their perceived risk of being infected. Moreover, both individuals' trust in local government and mindfulness trait can buffer the positive effect of perceived COVID-19 crisis strength on their perceived risk of being infected. At the same time, they also buffer the indirect impact of individuals' perceived COVID-19 crisis strength on life satisfaction and sleep quality through perceived risk of being infected. This research provides several practical implications for governments and individuals to mitigate the negative influences of the COVID-19 pandemic and help individuals boost life satisfaction and sleep quality.

Loneliness at Older Ages in the United States: Lonely Life Expectancy and the Role of Loneliness in Health Disparities

Article

May 2022

We provide an empirical foundation for research on the demography of loneliness at older ages. First, we use published life tables and data from the U.S.-based Health and Retirement Study for the period 2008–2016 to calculate lonely life expectancy for Americans aged 55 or older. Using Sullivan's method, we demonstrate pronounced differences in lonely life expectancy by sex, race/ethnicity, and educational attainment that correspond to well-established patterns of stratification in other dimensions of well-being. Next, we estimate models that decompose observed sex, racial/ethnic, and educational differences in three key health outcomes into the part explained (in a statistical accounting sense) by loneliness and the part accounted for by other factors. We find little evidence of an important role for loneliness in understanding disparities in mortality and the onset of physical disability and cognitive impairment among Americans aged 55 or older, net of several established correlates of health disparities. These descriptive findings provide an empirical foundation for continued development of a demography of loneliness at older ages in response to the anticipated growth in scientific and policy emphasis on loneliness and the fundamental life changes that have accompanied the COVID-19 pandemic.

Estimating life expectancy free of anxiety/depression in Argentina: trends and decomposition of demographic change, 2005-2018

Article

Full-text available

Apr 2022

Octavio Bramajo

This study presents estimates of life expectancy free of anxiety/depression (a health expectancy) for the adult population in Argentina and observes its evolution during the 2005-2018 period. Given that life expectancy and health expectancy are strongly correlated indicators, we decomposed the change of the latter over time to establish not only which component causes its variation, but also which age groups contributed the most to this change. We analyzed cross-sectional data of the presence of anxiety/depression symptoms using multiple waves (2005, 2009, 2013 and 2018) of the Argentine National Risk Factor Survey (ENFR) and computed a series of anxiety/depression free life expectancies (conditional on those who reached age 20), by using the Sullivan method. Later we applied a stepwise algorithm decomposition technique to determine if the change in the health expectancy was due to a mortality change or a morbidity change. We obtained that the health expectancies increased between 2005 and 2013, and decreased for 2013-2018. This variation was larger for females, where a change in morbidity was responsible for almost all improvements before 2013. The decomposition also suggested that the net impact on morbidity would be larger if not for an increase in overall life expectancy between 2013-2018, with a one-year decline in health expectancy for males and 1.7 years for females, driven mainly by the younger age groups. It is not clear yet if such negative change is transitory or the beginning of a new trend in mental health for the Argentinian population.

A Quantitative Approach and an Open-Source Tool for Social Impacts Assessment

Conference Paper

Apr 2022

Social impact analysis urgently needs attention in various sectors due to the critical roles in enhancing sustainability benefits. Properly assessing social impacts requires a consistent set of guidelines and requirements to reduce the practitioners' bias. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a widely recognized method that can be utilized to quantitatively assess three dimensions of sustainable development in an integrated manner. This study proposes an open-source tool for social impact analysis, that particularly evaluates work environment health impacts, following the LCA-defined principles, framework, requirements, and guidelines for sustainability assessment. The proposed tool in this study can quantify the social impacts and determine the categories that are being affected either negatively or positively. In addition, this study provides an overview of the existing social impact assessment approaches, identifies the critical challenges of the current techniques, and highlights opportunities for continued research to achieve more effective solutions. As of yet, a reliable and open-source tool has not been achieved to help decision-makers in both academia and industry. Thus, we developed a web-based tool for assessing social impacts in eight domains by allowing the use of multiple metrics and comparing two processes.

Happiness and life expectancy by main occupational position among older workers: Who will live longer and happy?

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2021

Current concerns about aging populations are being translated into legislations to postpone the statutory age at retirement. However, if this is done without considering inequalities in longevity across occupational groups, some may face higher vulnerabilities than others. We examine differences in life expectancy and happiness by occupational position for the Spanish population aged 50 and over. We use happiness as a measure of subjective wellbeing, and compute life expectancy and happy life expectancy by sex and main occupation. Age-specific death rates are calculated using administrative data, and happiness prevalence comes from the European Social Survey. We show that both men and women in managerial positions were advantaged in terms of life expectancy, but only men record more years with happiness. In addition, women in routine jobs were the ones who could expect to live shorter and unhappier. Postponing the statutory age at retirement without considering these differences could be detrimental to women’s wellbeing and health.

Exploring the role of family ties on life satisfaction in later life in Europe

Article

Full-text available

Sep 2019

We analyzed the relationship between family ties and the life satisfaction of people between the ages of 50 and 85 years in 13 European countries. We aim at determining the effects of partnership (being currently in a partnership) and parenthood (having remained childless). We use individual-level data from the sixth wave of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). The analyses are restricted to respondents who are partnered or who have ever been married. We apply a multivariate analysis to examine the association of life satisfaction with family ties for men and for women. We add controls for age groups and education level, and we pay special attention to the role of individuals’ network size. Our findings indicate that in all countries, having no partner has the strongest and most negative association with life satisfaction. However, there was no clear association between not having children and life satisfaction across countries. We also find an important role of some protector variables, such as having a strong network which, in most countries, significantly increase one’s life satisfaction. We find that there is a relationship between individuals’ family situation and life satisfaction, but it is restricted to being in a partnership. The protection factor of having a partner improves one’s life satisfaction at older ages much more than protection by having children. This finding can reduce the concern about the long run implications of increasing childlessness among younger cohorts as it is not necessarily associated to a higher risk of low life satisfaction. Zusammenfassung Wir analysieren den Zusammenhang von familiären Bindungen und der Lebenszufriedenheit von Menschen im Alter von 50 bis 85 Jahren in 13 europäischen Ländern. Ziel ist die Erforschung der Auswirkung von Partnerschaft (derzeit in einer Partnerschaft) und Elternschaft (kinderlos geblieben). Wir verwenden Daten auf individueller Ebene aus der sechsten Welle des Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). Die Analysen sind auf Befragte beschränkt, die in einer Partnerschaft leben oder schon einmal verheiratet waren. Wir verwenden eine multivariate Analyse, um den Zusammenhang zwischen Lebenszufriedenheit und familiären Bindungen für Männer und Frauen zu untersuchen. Wir fügen Kontrollvariablen für Altersgruppen und Bildungsgrad hinzu, und wir sind besonders an der Rolle, die die Größe des Netzwerkes spielt, interessiert. Unsere Ergebnisse zeigen, dass Partnerlosigkeit in allen Ländern einen starken negativen Zusammenhang zur Lebenszufriedenheit aufweist. Zwischen Kinderlosigkeit und Lebenszufriedenheit gibt es dagegen im Ländervergleich keinen eindeutigen Zusammenhang. Man kann erkennen, dass auch einige protektive Merkmale, wie z.B. ein starkes Netzwerk, in den meisten Ländern eine wichtige Rolle für die Erhöhung der Lebenszufriedenheit spielen. Wir stellen fest, dass es einen Zusammenhang gibt zwischen der individuellen familiären Situation und der Lebenszufriedenheit, der sich jedoch weitgehend auf das Leben in einer Partnerschaft beschränkt. Der Schutzfaktor Partnerschaft steigert die Lebenszufriedenheit im hohen Lebensalter deutlich mehr als der Schutz durch das Vorhandensein von Kindern. Diese Erkenntnis kann die Sorge um die langfristigen Auswirkungen der zunehmenden Kinderlosigkeit in jüngeren Kohorten verringern, da diese nicht unbedingt mit einem höheren Risiko einer geringen Lebenszufriedenheit verbunden ist.

Positive Emotions in Early Life and Longevity: Findings from the Nun Study

Article

Full-text available

May 2001

Handwritten autobiographies from 180 Catholic nuns, composed when participants were a mean age of 22 years, were scored for emotional content and related to survival during ages 75 to 95. A strong inverse association was found between positive emotional content in these writings and risk of mortality in late life (p < .001). As the quartile ranking of positive emotion in early life increased, there was a stepwise decrease in risk of mortality resulting in a 2.5-fold difference between the lowest and highest quartiles. Positive emotional content in early-life autobiographies was strongly associated with longevity 6 decades later. Underlying mechanisms of balanced emotional states are discussed.

Does Work Make Mothers Happy?

Article

Full-text available

Feb 2019

Dana Hamplova

The paper explores the link between employment and subjective well-being among mothers with children under 3 years of age. It uses a pooled sample from the ESS 2004–2014 data from 30 European countries. Analyzing multiple measures of subjective well-being, the paper shows that homemakers are generally happier than full-time workers. No significant differences between homemakers and part-time workers were found. Contrary to our expectations, homemaking was positively associated with happiness particularly among mothers who left higher quality employment for childcare. Though some variation across countries exists, it is not linked to the provision of formal childcare, duration of parental leave, or tax system.

Desigualdades sociales en salud en población mayor: una aportación desde la salud pública al debate sobre el retraso de la edad de jubilación en España

Article

Full-text available

Dec 2017

Objective: To analyse the inequalities in life expectancy in the Spanish population over the age of 65 according to educational level. Method: Cross sectional study on the Spanish population aged 65 years and over. Life expectancy and healthy life expectancy were calculated combining mortality, health and population data. Results: People aged 65 and over with a lower educational level had shorter lives, with fewer years of good health and more years of poor health. Women lived longer, but with proportionally more years of poor health. Discussion: Social inequalities in health must be considered in the current debate on delaying the age of retirement.

La desigualdad ante la muerte: educación y esperanza de vida en España

Article

Apr 2017

Miguel Requena

La educación se muestra como uno de los factores discriminantes ante la muerte de la población española. Los nuevos datos del INE sobre mortalidad por edad y nivel de instrucción para hombres y mujeres permiten medir esas diferencias como probabilidades de muerte y esperanzas de vida en la España de 2012. La distancia es más que notable: un hombre de 30 años y nivel de instrucción alto puede esperar vivir de media tres años y ocho meses más que un coetáneo de nivel educativo elemental. Esa desigualdad educativa ante la muerte es mayor entre los hombres que entre las mujeres; además, la tradicional diferencia ante la mortalidad por razón de género tiende a disminuir cuanto mayor es el nivel educativo. Aunque hay que ser prudentes a la hora de establecer causalidades, todo apunta a que la educación, con sus consiguientes diferenciales en condiciones laborales, económicas y culturales, es un elemento determinante de las desigualdades ante la muerte y la longevidad.

The Time Divide: Work, Family, and Gender Inequality

Book

Nov 2005

Health expectancies

Chapter

Dec 2017

In its first section, this chapter describes the ongoing adult longevity revolution, which is now the main reason for assessing the quality of years lived and to complete the calculation of life expectancy by those of health expectancies. Then, it introduces the main health expectancies used in the United States of America (US) to monitor Healthy People 2020 , the national health agenda, in Japan to monitor Health Japan 21 , the health promotion plan, and in Europe to monitor the social and health targets of Europe 2020 , the current strategy of the European Union. Finally, this chapter summarizes recent trends in health expectancies observed in the US, Japan, and Europe, as well as in other parts of the world, and discusses these observations in relation to the theories on population health which have been proposed since the 1980s.

Health expectancies

Book

Jan 2018

The Science of Well-Being: The Collected Works of Ed Diener

Book

Jan 2009

Ed Diener

The Collected Works of Ed Diener, in 3 volumes, present the major works of the leading research scientist studying happiness and well-being. Professor Diener has studied subjective well-being, people’s life satisfaction and positive emotions, for over a quarter of a century, and has published 200 works on the topic, many more than any other scholar. He has studied hundreds of thousands of people in over 140 nations of the world, and the Collected Works present the major findings from those studies. Diener has made many of the major discoveries about well-being, which are outlined in the chapters. The first volume presents the major theory and review papers of Ed Diener. These publications give a broad overview of findings in the field, and the theories of well-being. As such, the first volume is an absolute must for beginning scholars in this area, and offers a clear tutorial to the history of the field and major findings. The second volume focuses on culture. This volume is most unique, and could sell on its own, as it should appeal to cultural psychologists and anthropologists. The findings in the culture area are mostly all derived from the Diener laboratory and his students. Thus, the papers in this volume represent most of the major publications on culture and well-being. Furthermore, this is the area that is least well-known by most scholars. The third volume on measurement is the most applied and practical one because it discusses all the measures used, and presents new measures. Even for those who do not want to study well-being per se, but want to use some well-being measures in their research, this volume will be of enormous help. Volume 1: Gives a broad overview of findings and theories on subjective well-being. Volume 2: Presents most of the major papers on well-being and culture, and the international differences in well-being Volume 3: Presents discussions of measures of well-being and new measures of well-being, and is thus of great value to those who want to select measurement scales for their research Endorsements Over the past several decades Professor Diener has contributed more than any other psychologist to the rigorous research of subjective well-being. The collection of this work in this series is going to be of invaluable help to anyone interested in the study of happiness, life-satisfaction, and the emerging discipline of positive psychology. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Professor of Psychology And Management, Claremont Graduate University Ed Diener, the Jedi Master of the world's happiness researchers, has inspired and informed all of us who have studied and written about happiness. His life's work epitomizes a humanly significant psychological science. How wonderful to have his pioneering writings collected and preserved for future students of human well-being, and for practitioners and social policy makers who are working to promote human flourishing. David G. Myers, Hope College, and author, The Pursuit of Happiness. Ed Diener's work on life satisfaction -- theory and research -- has been ground-breaking. Having his collected works available will be a great boon to psychologists and policy-makers alike. Christopher Peterson, Professor of Psychology, Univ. of Michigan By looking at happiness and well-being in many different cultures and societies, from East to West, from New York City to Calcutta slums, and beyond, Ed Diener has forever transformed the field of culture in psychology. Filled with bold theoretical insights and rigorous and, yet, imaginative empirical studies, this volume will be absolutely indispensable for all social and behavioral scientists interested in transformative power of culture on human psychology. Shinobu Kitayama, Professor and Director of the Culture and Cognition Program, Univ. of Michigan Ed Diener is one of the most productive psychologists in the world working in the field of perceived quality of life or, as he prefers, subjective wellbeing. He has served the profession as a researcher, writer, teacher, officer in professional organizations, editor of leading journals, a member of the editorial board of still more journals as well as a member of the board of the Social Indicators Research Book Series. As an admirer of his work and a good friend, I have learned a lot from him, from his students, his relatives and collaborators. The idea of producing a collection of his works came to me as a result of spending a great deal of time trying to keep up with his work. What a wonderful public and professional service it would be, I thought, as well as a time-saver for me, if we could get a substantial number of his works assembled in one collection. In these three volumes we have not only a fine selection of past works but a good number of new ones as well. So, it is with considerable delight that I write these lines to thank Ed and to lend my support to this important publication. Alex C. Michalos, Ph.D., F.R.S.C., Chancellor, Director, Institute for Social Research and Evaluation, Professor Emeritus, Political Science, Univ. of Northern British Columbia

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

Article

Jul 2017
J AGING HEALTH

Abstract Objectives: 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 KHB decomposition method using the 2010 and 2012 waves of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe on individuals aged 50-plus (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 was 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.

Will raising the incomes of all increase the happiness of all?

Article