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Original research
Trajectories of material living standards, physical health and mental health under a universal pension
  1. Joanne Allen,
  2. Fiona M Alpass
  1. School of Psychology, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
  1. Correspondence to Dr Joanne Allen, School of Psychology, Massey University, Palmerston North 4442, New Zealand; j.allen{at}massey.ac.nz

Abstract

Objective Aged pension schemes aim to support material and non-material well-being of older populations. The current work aimed to describe dominant trajectories of material living standards in the decades prior to and following eligibility for an aged pension, and describe associated trajectories of physical and mental health.

Methods Longitudinal data on living standards and indices of health Short Form 12 were collected over 2–12 years follow-up from 4811 New Zealand adults aged 55–76. Growth mixture models were used to identify dominant trajectories of living standards with age. Latent growth curve models were used to describe trajectories of physical and mental health associated with each living standards trajectory class.

Results A group characterised by good living standards with age (81.5%) displayed physical and mental health scores comparable to those of the general adult population. Smaller groups experienced hardship but increasing living standards (11.8%) and hardship and declining living standards (6.8%). While both groups in hardship experienced poor health in the decade prior pension eligibility, mental health improved among those with increasing living standards, while physical and mental health declined among those with declining living standards.

Conclusion Under the current policy settings, a majority of older adults in New Zealand maintain a good level of living standards and health in later life. However, significant proportions experience material hardship and poor health in the decade prior to pension eligibility. Alleviation of material hardship may reduce health inequalities in later life.

  • ageing
  • mental health
  • social epidemiology
  • social inequalities
  • policy
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.

https://doi.org/10.1136/jech-2019-213199

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    Footnotes

    • Twitter @joallenNZ

    • Contributors JA designed and conducted the empirical analysis and drafted the manuscript. FMA co-designed the longitudinal study, provided the data, contributed to data interpretation and revisions of the manuscript. All authors approved the final version.

    • Funding This research was prepared in response to a request for a background paper supporting the Commission For Financial Capability’s 2019 Review of Retirement Income Policies. Health, Work and Retirement surveys 2006–2018 have been supported by the Health Research Council of New Zealand (grant number 05/311); the New Zealand Foundation for Research, Science and Technology (grant number MAUX0401); the New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (grant numbers MAUX1205, MAUX1403, MAUX1705) and the EQC Biennial Grants Programme.

    • Disclaimer The views expressed in this paper do not necessarily represent those of the funders. Financial sponsors played no role in the design, execution, analysis and interpretation of data or writing of the study.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Patient consent for publication Not required.

    • Ethics approval Data collection was approved by the Massey University Human Research Ethics Committee (SOA05/90, SOA09/17, SOB15/72, SOB09/70, SOB13/30, SOA15/72). Data linkage to National Mortality Records held by the Ministry of Health was approved by the Central Health and Disability Ethics Committee (18/CEN/69).

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Data availability statement Data are available on reasonable request. Statistical output supporting this research have been archived to the Open Science Framework (https://osf.io/xjcb2/?view_only=51f964e9795c4bc29a3b21c61f3f6364). De-identified data from the Health, Work and Retirement study are available for purposes of health research by contacting the corresponding author or the Health and Ageing Research Team at hart@massey.ac.nz. Please contact the corresponding author for protocols regarding analyses that involve the use or interpretation of information related to Māori ethnicity.