Late-Life Decline in Well-Being Across Adulthood in Germany, the UK, and the US: Something is Seriously Wrong at the End of Life

Gerstorf, Denis; Ram, Nilam; Mayraz, Guy; Hidajat, Mira; Lindenberger, Ulman; Wagner, Gert G.; Schupp, Jürgen

doi:10.2139/ssrn.1588723

Cited by 13 publications

(14 citation statements)

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“…There is abundant evidence that individuals with richer social networks or more social capital enjoy great life satisfaction (Bradburn, 1969;Putnam, 2000;Diener and Diener, 2008 known that life satisfaction declines in the last few years of life as health declines (Gerstorf et al, 2010). …”

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confidence: 99%

Choices Which Change Life Satisfaction: Similar Results for Australia, Britain and Germany

2011

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Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. This series presents research findings based either directly on data from the German SocioEconomic Panel Study (SOEP) or using SOEP data as part of an internationally comparable data set (e.g. CNEF, ECHP, LIS, LWS, CHER/PACO). SOEP is a truly multidisciplinary household panel study covering a wide range of social and behavioral sciences: economics, sociology, psychology, survey methodology, econometrics and applied statistics, educational science, political science, public health, behavioral genetics, demography, geography, and sport science. Terms of use: Documents in EconStor mayThe decision to publish a submission in SOEPpapers is made by a board of editors chosen by the DIW Berlin to represent the wide range of disciplines covered by SOEP. There is no external referee process and papers are either accepted or rejected without revision. Papers appear in this series as works in progress and may also appear elsewhere. They often represent preliminary studies and are circulated to encourage discussion. Citation of such a paper should account for its provisional character. A revised version may be requested from the author directly. Similar Results For Australia, Britain And GermanyThe focus of this article is on individual preferences and choices -relatively unconstrained choices -which make a substantial difference to life satisfaction. These choices relate to (1) life goals/values (2) the personality of the partner one lives with (3) hours of work and leisure (4) social participation and (5) healthy lifestyle. If it can be shown that these personal and work choices are consequential, the results will have major implications for the still dominant theory of subjective well-being (SWB), set-point theory. Set-point theory holds that adults have stable levels of SWB, which depend on genetic factors, including personality traits (Brickman and Campbell, 1971;Headey and Wearing, 1989;Lykken and Tellegen, 1996). It is accepted that major life events (viewed as exogenous shocks) can produce temporary fluctuations in SWB, but the theory predicts, and it has been convincingly demonstrated, that following most events most individuals revert within a year or two to their previous set-point (for an up-to-date review see Clark, Diener and Lucas, 2008). Clearly, a major implication of set-point theory is that individual choices could not make much difference to SWB.In analyzing data from Australian, British and German panel surveys, our strategy will be to show that i...

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Choices Which Change Life Satisfaction: Similar Results for Australia, Britain and Germany

2011

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“…In recent years, however, evidence has accumulated that toward the very end of life well-being declines considerably (Gerstorf, Ram et al, 2008a,b; Mrozcek & Spiro, 2005; Palgi et al, 2010). For example, Gerstorf, Ram and colleagues (in press) reported from national samples of decedents in Germany, the UK, and the US that, on average, well-being was relatively stable over age, but declined rapidly with impending death. These national-level replications are in line with long-standing conceptual notions that the end of life is typically foreshadowed by a phase of precipitous decline (Kleemeier, 1962; Riegel & Riegel, 1972).…”

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Where people live and die makes a difference: Individual and geographic disparities in well-being progression at the end of life.

Gerstorf

Ram

Goebel

et al. 2010

Psychology and Aging

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Life-span psychological research has long been interested in the contextual embeddedness of individual development. To examine whether and how regional variables relate to between-person disparities in the progression of late-life well-being, we applied three-level growth curve models to 24-year longitudinal data from deceased participants of the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (N ϭ 3,427; age at death ϭ 18 to 101 years). Results indicated steep declines in well-being with impending death, with some 8% of the between-person differences in both level and decline of well-being reflecting between-county differences. Exploratory analyses revealed that individuals living and dying in less affluent counties reported lower late-life well-being, controlling for key individual predictors, including age at death, gender, education, and household income. The regional variables examined did not directly relate to well-being change but were found to moderate (e.g., amplify) the disparities in change attributed to individual variables. Our results suggest that resource-poor counties provide relatively less fertile grounds for successful aging until the end of life and may serve to exacerbate disparities. We conclude that examinations of how individual and residential characteristics interact can further our understanding of individual psychological outcomes and suggest routes for future inquiry.Keywords: neighborhoods, selective mortality, successful aging, well-being, longitudinal methods Life-span psychological and life course sociological perspectives have long proposed that individual development both actively influences and is influenced by contextual factors (Baltes, 1987;Bronfenbrenner, 1979;Lawton, 1982;Lerner, 1991;Magnusson & Cairns, 1996;Verbrugge & Jette, 1994). Consistent with these proposals, empirical research has produced a substantial body of evidence that, net of individual factors, community-level characteristics such as socioeconomic disadvantage or violence are indeed linked with individuals' functional health, well-being, and mortality (Argyle, 1999;Balfour & Kaplan, 2002;Kawachi & Berkman, 2003;Krause, 2003;Marmot & Wilkinson, 1999;Ross & Mirowsky, 2001;Sampson, Morenoff, & Gannon-Rowley, 2002;Silver, Mulvey, & Swanson, 2002). It is an open question, however, whether and how community and geographic factors relate to between-person differences in the progression of wellbeing, particularly at the end of life. In the current study, we applied three-level growth curve models to 24-year longitudinal data on life satisfaction, a key component of well-being, obtained

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“…INSERT (Gerstorf et al, 2010). 11 The trends are much the same for men and women, and increases in LS around age 60 occur both among those who are retired and those who continue in paid work.…”

Section: Propositions Accounting For Medium and Long Term Change In Lsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards a Theory of Life Satisfaction: Accounting for Stability, Change and Volatility in 25-Year Life Trajectories in Germany

Headey

Muffels

2016

SSRN Journal

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SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research at DIW Berlin This series presents research findings based either directly on data from the German SocioEconomic Panel study (SOEP) or using SOEP data as part of an internationally comparable data set (e.g. CNEF, ECHP, LIS, LWS, CHER/PACO). SOEP is a truly multidisciplinary household panel study covering a wide range of social and behavioral sciences:

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Late-Life Decline in Well-Being Across Adulthood in Germany, the UK, and the US: Something is Seriously Wrong at the End of Life

Cited by 13 publications

References 53 publications

Choices Which Change Life Satisfaction: Similar Results for Australia, Britain and Germany

Choices Which Change Life Satisfaction: Similar Results for Australia, Britain and Germany

Where people live and die makes a difference: Individual and geographic disparities in well-being progression at the end of life.

Towards a Theory of Life Satisfaction: Accounting for Stability, Change and Volatility in 25-Year Life Trajectories in Germany

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