In this article, we address the long-run associations between childhood shocks and health in late adulthood. Applying a life-course approach and data from SHARE, we estimate direct and indirect relations of shocks like relocation, dispossession, or hunger and health outcomes after 50 years of age. Having lived in a children’s home, in a foster family, or having suffered a period of hunger turn out to be the most detrimental. Using a finite mixture model, which allows to classify the correlations between shocks and later health into a priori unknown groups, we show that some adverse shocks show opposite relations for specific groups. (JEL codes: J1, I12, J13)

We use data from SHARE (The Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe) in Austria to investigate attitudes towards new technologies in information and communication technology. The technologies can significantly facilitate the daily lives of an ageing population. In Austria, in wave 6 in 2015, an additional paper-and-pencil questionnaire was implemented which asked details about attitudes towards different technological innovations. From these questions, we develop a binary attitude score which indicates positive attitudes towards new technologies. In probit estimations, the attitude score is related to different demographic and health variables. Our main results indicate that strong gender differences in attitudes towards new technologies exist: men value communication and entertainment devices more, whereas women’s attitudes are more positive towards devices that include a specific health or support value. Furthermore, while older cohorts value entertainment devices less than younger ones, no such pattern exists for health and support systems.

We examine the personal health situation and how the complexities thereof affect the elderly Austrians’ willingness to accept electronic health records (EHR). Using data from the sixth wave of the SHARE survey in Austria, we find the complexity of individual health problems and the social integration of individuals influencing the acceptance of EHR. The higher the degree of multimorbidity, the more medication is prescribed, and the higher the number of hospital admissions, the higher is the acceptance of EHR. Having a chronical illness has a positive effect on EHR acceptance, whereas a pessimistic attitude and lack of joy in life, as indicators of depressive mood, have a negative impact. The results are mainly driven by women and younger patients aged between 50 and 70. People with poor social connection express lower acceptance of EHR.

Austria has been a member country of SHARE since its inception in 2004. In this paper, we address quality management in surveys and highlight three components-contract, sampling, and fieldwork management-that are fundamental for high data-quality. We provide an overview of a SHARE wave and discuss our approach to data-quality management based on the example of SHARE management in Austria. Results confirm that focusing on fieldwork quality management has the potential to improve overall data quality.

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