Table 2

Sample characteristics (mean/%) by gender-specific categories of lifetime employment histories*

Measure	Females (N=2765)							Males (N=1621)
Measure	FTT	NET	WA	LCB	SCB	FC→FT	FT→PT	p Value	FTT	NET	FTE49	FTE60	LSE60	p Value
Age
Mean	70.76	73.04	69.03	72.00	69.29	69.74	69.07	0.001	72.45	70.51	68.89	70.02	69.77	<0.001
Education
No qualification	21.92	26.72	5.79	13.70	13.27	13.39	5.22	0.048	51.04	3.88	11.67	32.71	0.70	<0.001
Further qualification	43.71	13.55	5.18	9.01	5.37	21.44	1.74	0.048	29.34	3.48	4.97	21.35	40.86	<0.001
Father's social class
Non-manual	26.89	27.80	5.31	12.02	8.68	16.77	2.52	0.031	45.90	3.71	7.38	25.66	17.34	0.001
Manual	24.65	23.38	6.12	13.51	12.89	15.45	4.00		50.73	4.50	9.84	31.36	3.57
Unemployment	27.37	22.40	4.18	15.40	10.02	16.11	4.52		41.49	4.03	15.51	33.09	5.89
Social class
Professional	50.96	12.31	2.42	10.88	8.42	11.81	3.20	0.117	40.17	4.17	6.15	20.77	28.73	<0.001
Unskilled manual	12.92	32.22	7.54	15.87	16.22	5.98	9.24	0.117	52.38	1.96	18.87	26.79	0.00	<0.001
Marital history
Never married	66.82	18.00	2.09	3.30	2.57	5.54	1.66	<0.001	43.63	7.02	18.56	28.84	6.95	0.998
Long-term married	20.36	25.98	6.18	14.76	12.94	16.10	3.68		49.76	3.78	7.55	31.09	7.83
Marriage ends early	31.42	19.35	6.05	9.06	5.30	24.62	4.19		41.29	6.83	25.69	19.47	6.72
Marriage ends late	23.68	28.50	3.96	10.16	7.69	22.57	3.44		-	-	-	-	-
Fertility history
No children	69.75	17.98	1.73	2.29	4.63	1.60	2.03	<0.001	50.51	6.19	12.69	23.22	7.39	0.370
One child early	29.63	20.19	7.24	8.51	12.82	17.45	4.16		44.59	2.66	9.63	41.72	1.40
One child later	26.70	29.64	2.19	26.32	7.52	6.59	1.04		50.67	3.72	8.09	29.41	8.11
Children early	14.52	23.26	7.79	12.09	14.11	23.06	5.17		48.39	4.85	6.40	33.49	6.86
Children later	15.19	37.50	3.87	24.34	6.58	10.56	2.95		45.85	3.95	7.10	26.08	17.02
Early large family	16.25	27.26	6.95	12.01	13.53	20.50	3.51		48.96	2.97	15.48	27.01	5.57
Smoking status
Non-smoker	25.31	24.55	5.43	14.00	11.08	16.37	3.26	0.31	49.68	3.85	8.01	30.16	8.31	0.942
Smoker	27.89	27.06	7.88	6.35	12.51	12.77	5.53	0.31	41.96	7.10	20.36	27.39	3.19	0.942
Drinking
Mean	98.34	86.10	100.16	99.58	96.87	107.57	87.01	0.06	131.67	127.91	133.61	149.98	232.75	<0.001
IMD
0	26.43	22.26	5.67	13.32	11.88	16.31	4.13	0.60	48.73	4.48	7.95	30.70	8.14	0.657
9	40.23	28.99	1.76	13.02	0.59	14.20	1.18	0.60	4.35	0.00	95.65	0.00	0.00	0.657
Non-pension wealth
Highest	22.76	26.34	6.21	13.04	10.60	17.62	3.44	0.006	40.92	3.88	6.27	28.53	20.40	0.034
Lowest	27.32	29.35	6.42	12.63	8.93	11.81	3.54	0.006	48.60	3.98	21.64	25.31	0.48	0.034
Partnership
Not alone	20.91	23.33	6.30	14.18	14.19	17.79	3.29	<0.001	49.90	4.00	8.20	29.25	8.66	0.753
Alone	30.99	26.58	5.03	11.90	7.86	13.84	3.79	<0.001	45.35	4.96	13.33	31.53	4.82	0.753
Self-rated health during childhood
Poor	23.83	28.76	9.08	14.91	11.25	7.96	4.21	0.709	58.86	4.43	7.28	23.71	5.73	0.258
Fair	28.35	27.17	5.26	11.88	11.09	13.41	2.84		41.95	3.05	12.51	35.11	7.37
Good	24.47	26.19	5.61	10.67	10.68	18.10	4.28		47.39	4.36	9.00	32.24	7.00
Very good	24.52	25.57	6.11	13.52	10.82	15.82	3.64		51.85	4.51	8.91	28.87	5.85
Excellent	27.31	21.48	4.89	14.68	12.28	16.49	2.87		47.45	4.19	9.80	28.26	10.31
Frailty Index
Mean	0.16	0.18	0.17	0.16	0.14	0.15	0.17	0.008	0.11	0.12	0.17	0.13	0.10	0.002

*Women's employment histories: FTT; NET; WA; LCB; SCB; FC→; FT→. Men's employment histories: FTT; NET; FTE49; FTE60; LSE60.
FC→FT family care to full-time work; FT→PT Full-time to part-time work; FTT full-time throughout; IMD, index of multiple deprivation; LCB long career break; NET not-employed throughout; SCB short career break; WA weak attachment.
Men's employment histories:
FTE49 full-time, exit at 49; FTE60 full-time, exit at 60; FTT full-time throughout; LSE60 late start, exit at 60; NET not-employed throughout.