Despite considerable research examining the influence of socioeconomic status on health, few studies have considered this relationship as it pertains to older adults in non-Western societies. We attempt to ascertain the influence of education on changes in physical functioning in a rapidly developing country. Data come from the 1989 Survey of Health and Living Status of the Elderly in Taiwan and a follow-up interview in 1993 (N = 4,049, age = 60+). Individuals are conceptualized to be in a state of functional independence or functional limitation at the time of origin, based on their ability to perform three physical functioning tasks. The outcome at the follow-up interview is categorized as functionally independent, limited, or dead, allowing for six probabilities, one from each state of origin to each outcome. These are calculated using a multinomial logit model, controlling for other factors often thought to be associated with health transitions. High levels of educational attainment result in a decreased incidence of functional limitation for those originating in a state of independence. Contrary to expectations, however, education has little influence on those who originate functionally limited. Thus, higher education plays a substantial role in primary prevention of morbidity, delaying the onset of disability, but other factors are more important once limitations begin. We speculate on the reasons behind these findings, including that the results may be culturally dependent.

The present research examines the impact of education on the mortality of older Taiwanese during a 4-year interval from April 1989 to April 1993. Data used for this study come from the Taiwan Survey of Health & Living Status of the Elderly (1989). The research decomposes the effect of education into the direct effect and the indirect effects by means of health status, health behaviors, and social relationships. We have shown that, of the total effect of educational attainment on the mortality of older Taiwanese, about 83% represents indirect influences by means of the 3 mediating factors, particularly health status. On the other hand, the magnitude of the direct effect, which might reflect influences of additional intervening variables on old-age mortality, is low and not statistically significant. The results demonstrate that the apparent strong effect of education on mortality among older Taiwanese can be accounted for parsimoniously through 3 major pathways.

Objectives. Research has implicated education as an important predictor of physical functioning in old age. Older adults in Taiwan tend to experience tight familial integration and high rates of adult-child coresidency-much more so than is typical in Western cultures-which might imply additional influences stemming from the education of children. This could arise in a number of ways; for instance, through the sharing of health-related information between child and parent, the quality of caregiving efforts, monetary assistance for medical and other services, or other psychosocial avenues. Despite this probable association, such hypotheses have rarely been tested. In this study, a nationally representative survey of older Taiwanese was used to examine these concurrent effects.Methods. Outcome variables include the existence of any functional limitations (dichotomously measured) and the severity of functional disorders (ordinally measured). Dichotomous and ordinal logistic models were used. Results.Results suggest that, after adjusting for age, sex, and other factors, both child and respondent education associate with the existence of limitations, but the child's education is more important than the parent's when predicting severity of limitations.

The objective of this paper is to examine short-term trends in the prevalence of limitation in Activities of Daily Living (ADL), Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) and Nagi physical functioning tasks among persons age 60 years or older in five Asian settings: Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and the Beijing Municipality. The data come from recent panel surveys of older adults that span a period of 3-4 years during the mid to late 1990s. Results suggest a general trend toward an increase in functional limitation in four of the five settings, with the most pronounced increases occurring for the Nagi functioning tasks. Compositional differences in the population accounted for little of the increase. The paper discusses the potential implications of these results and places them in the context of past and current trends in functional limitation observed in the United States.