Per cent (and N) distribution of baseline and life history health, demographic, and socioeconomic characteristics, by gender and paid work post state pension age
| Men | Women | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Not in paid work at wave 3 | In paid work at wave 3 | p Value | Not in paid work at wave 3 | In paid work at wave 3 | p Value | |
| Baseline (wave 2) characteristics | ||||||
| Depression | 15.1 (111) | 10.3 (13) | NS | 25.1 (216) | 17.0 (49) | *** |
| Sleep disturbance* | 28.7 (187) | 20.0 (24) | ** | 32.0 (252) | 26.9 (71) | NS |
| Somatic health (mean)† | −0.026 | 0.345 | *** | −0.180 | 0.182 | *** |
| Not smoking | 84.6 (620) | 90.5 (114) | NS | 84.4 (724) | 84.7 (243) | NS |
| Vigorous physical activity 1+/week | 22.7 (197) | 21.1 (30) | NS | 16.6 (167) | 24.7 (83) | *** |
| Age (mean) | 69.7 | 68.5 | *** | 64.7 | 62.7 | *** |
| Never married | 5.3 (39) | 1.6 (2) | NS | 3.4 (29) | 3.1 (9) | *** |
| Married/cohabiting | 77.9 (572) | 84.9 (107) | 69.3 (597) | 68.5 (198) | ||
| Divorced/separated | 8.6 (63) | 10.3 (13) | 12.4 (107) | 19.4 (56) | ||
| Widowed | 8.2 (60) | 3.2 (4) | 14.9 (128) | 9.0 (26) | ||
| No education | 33.7 (246) | 23.8 (30) | ** | 38.6 (331) | 25.0 (72) | *** |
| Some education | 39.0 (270) | 35.7 (45) | 40.9 (351) | 41.7 (120) | ||
| High education | 29.3 (214) | 40.5 (51) | 20.5 (176) | 33.3 (96) | ||
| Highest wealth quintile | 18.9 (137) | 27.9 (34) | ** | 19.6 (167) | 23.9 (67) | NS |
| Own outright | 75.4 (553) | 71.4 (90) | NS | 72.2 (621) | 59.9 (173) | *** |
| Mortgage | 10.1 (74) | 15.1 (19) | 14.1 (121) | 32.5 (94) | ||
| Rent | 14.5 (106) | 13.5 (17) | 13.7 (118) | 7.6 (22) | ||
| No care provided | 90.7 (666) | 94.4 (119) | NS | 83.9 (722) | 87.9 (254) | ** |
| Cared <15 hours/week | 5.3 (39) | 4.0 (5) | 7.2 (62) | 8.0 (23) | ||
| Cared 15+ hours/week | 4.0 (29) | 1.6 (2) | 8.9 (77) | 4.1 (12) | ||
| Life course | ||||||
| Ever left employer because of ill health | 22.2 (163) | 8.7 (11) | *** | 25.6 (220) | 9.7 (28) | *** |
| 2 or more periods of ill health in adulthood | 15.7 (115) | 6.4 (8) | *** | 20.2 (174) | 6.9 (20) | *** |
| SRH as good, very good or excellent in childhood | 88.3 (648) | 92.0 (115) | NS | 83.4 (717) | 90.0 (260) | *** |
| Total respondents (N) | 85.4% (734) | 14.6% (126) | 74.9% (861) | 25.1% (289) | ||
Source: ELSA 2004/2005, 2006/2007, 2008/2009, ELSA life history, nurse visit at wave 2. Own calculations; unweighted data.
p Values refer to the relevant statistical tests (ie, Student's t-test, ANOVA or χ2 tests); **, ***: significant at the 0.05 and 0.0l levels, respectively.
*Sleep disturbance was only collected at wave 4; therefore the associations displayed in this table are based on those respondents who provided answers about their quality of sleep at follow-up.
†Somatic health was calculated only for respondents who had a nurse visit at wave 2.
ANOVA, analysis of variance; ELSA, English Longitudinal Study of Ageing; NS, not significant.