Introduction
Predictors of formal learning activities generally and specifically in older age from previous research
Formal learning activities later in life and health
Methods
Sample description
Variables | Categories | Sample N = 57391 | Less than 2 morbidities N = 44122 | 2 morbidities or more N = 13269 | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
N
| % |
N
| % |
N
| % | ||
1 ADL+ | 6663 |
11.62
| 3021 |
6.85
| 3642 |
27.46
| |
Poor mental health | 23,933 |
42.64
| 15,820 |
36.57
| 8113 |
63.06
| |
Dementia | 700 |
1.22
| 367 |
0.83
| 333 |
2.51
| |
Demographics | |||||||
Gender | Male | 24,904 |
43.39
| 19,442 |
44.06
| 5462 |
41.16
|
Female | 32,487 |
56.61
| 24,680 |
55.94
| 7807 |
58.84
| |
Age | 50–64 | 27,241 |
48.48
| 23,308 |
54.21
| 3933 |
29.81
|
65–74 | 16,631 |
29.60
| 12,346 |
28.71
| 4285 |
32.47
| |
75+ | 12,318 |
21.92
| 7341 |
17.07
| 4977 |
37.72
| |
Marital status | Single | 3164 |
5.59
| 2517 |
5.79
| 647 |
4.92
|
Married | 40,390 |
71.38
| 32,020 |
73.70
| 8370 |
63.70
| |
Divorced | 4948 |
8.74
| 3776 |
8.69
| 1172 |
8.92
| |
Widowed | 8082 |
14.28
| 5132 |
11.81
| 2950 |
22.45
| |
Household size | Single | 11,839 |
20.63
| 8164 |
18.50
| 3675 |
27.70
|
2 persons | 31,895 |
55.57
| 24,601 |
55.76
| 7294 |
54.97
| |
3 persons+ | 13,657 |
23.80
| 11,357 |
25.74
| 2300 |
17.33
| |
Human capital | |||||||
Education | Primary | 21,314 |
39.04
| 15,233 |
36.17
| 6081 |
48.75
|
Secondary | 21,794 |
39.92
| 17,291 |
41.05
| 4503 |
36.10
| |
Higher | 11,486 |
21.04
| 9596 |
22.78
| 1890 |
15.15
| |
Socio-economic | |||||||
Labour market | Retired | 32,331 |
56.35
| 22,840 |
51.78
| 9491 |
71.55
|
Employed or self-employed | 15,726 |
27.41
| 14,348 |
32.53
| 1378 |
10.39
| |
Unemployed | 1923 |
3.35
| 1621 |
3.68
| 302 |
2.28
| |
Sick or disabled | 2091 |
3.64
| 1223 |
2.77
| 868 |
6.54
| |
Other | 5301 |
9.24
| 4076 |
9.24
| 1225 |
9.24
| |
Income quartilea
| 1st | 14,499 |
25.26
| 10,437 |
23.65
| 4062 |
30.61
|
2nd | 14,689 |
25.59
| 10,736 |
24.33
| 3953 |
29.79
| |
3rd | 14,680 |
25.58
| 11,557 |
26.19
| 3123 |
23.54
| |
4th | 13,523 |
23.56
| 11,392 |
25.82
| 2131 |
16.06
| |
Social participation | |||||||
Formal learning activities | 6736 |
11.74
| 5879 |
13.32
| 857 |
6.46
| |
Informal care provision | 13,539 |
27.76
| 10,563 |
27.58
| 2976 |
28.41
| |
Sport clubs | 14,718 |
25.65
| 12,309 |
27.90
| 2409 |
18.16
| |
Voluntary work | 9132 |
15.91
| 7533 |
17.07
| 1599 |
12.05
| |
Religious activity | 7449 |
12.98
| 5705 |
12.93
| 1744 |
13.14
|
Variables
-
Education the level of education attained is the basic indicator of human capital used in the analysis. Such an approach is based on the concept of human capital measurement in some statistical studies (e.g. OECD—Hanson 2008). SHARE data include a variable for educational attainment corresponding to the ISCED-97 scale. For this analysis, it was transformed into a simple variable distinguishing three levels of education: primary, secondary and higher education.
-
Demographic factors sex, age, marital status and household size. Based on the ordinal variable of birth year, three age groups were differentiated: 50–64, 65–74 and 75+. Households were categorised into three groups depending on size: single, two members and three or more members. Marital status was categorised into single, married, divorced and widowed.
-
Socio-economic status was measured by level of income. Income quartiles were calculated separately for each country and aggregated for all analysed countries.
-
Functional limitations and mental health problems were represented by three variables: ability to perform the selected activities for functional status assessment, mental health problems and the occurrence of dementia. Selected activities to assess functional status include walking 100 m; sitting for about 2 h; getting up from a chair after sitting for a long period, climbing several flights of stairs without resting; climbing one flight of stairs without resting; stooping, kneeling or crouching; reaching or extending arms about shoulder level; pulling or pushing large objects like a living room chair; lifting or carrying weights over 10 lb/5 kilos, like a heavy bag of groceries; picking up a small coin from the table. Mental health is assessed using the Euro-D scale where poor mental health is assessed in case of occurrence of more than three symptoms (Prince et al. 1999). Additionally, a dichotomous variable for reporting dementia is created.
-
Caregiving and social participation was based on two original binary variables of providing care inside or outside the household. These two activities were combined into one variable of providing any type of care. Social participation was defined as a set of binary variables: volunteering, participating in clubs or sports, and religious activity.
Assessment methods
Results
Descriptive data on formal learning activities
Variables | Categories | Total sample | Less than 2 morbidities | 2 morbidities or more | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
% | % |
p value* | % |
p value* | ||
1 ADL+ | 4.92 | 6.49 |
0.000
| 3.62 |
0.000
| |
Poor mental health | 9.73 | 11.95 |
0.000
| 5.40 |
0.000
| |
Dementia | 2.00 | 2.18 |
0.000
| 1.80 |
0.000
| |
Gender | Male | 10.31 | 11.52 |
0.000
| 6.01 |
0.075
|
Female | 12.83 | 14.75 | 6.78 | |||
Demographics | ||||||
Age | 50–64 | 17.40 | 18.30 |
0.000
| 12.05 |
0.000
|
65–74 | 8.05 | 8.76 | 6.00 | |||
75+ | 3.03 | 3.53 | 2.29 | |||
Marital status | Single | 13.81 | 14.78 |
0.000
| 10.05 |
0.000
|
Married | 12.14 | 13.57 | 6.65 | |||
Divorced | 16.96 | 18.86 | 10.84 | |||
Widowed | 6.04 | 7.46 | 3.56 | |||
Household size | Single | 9.99 | 11.81 |
0.000
| 5.96 |
0.023
|
2 persons | 10.95 | 12.32 | 6.32 | |||
3 persons+ | 15.10 | 16.60 | 7.70 | |||
Human capital | ||||||
Level of education | Primary | 4.06 | 4.69 |
0.000
| 2.48 |
0.000
|
Secondary | 12.12 | 13.27 | 7.71 | |||
Higher | 26.83 | 28.57 | 17.99 | |||
Socio-economic | ||||||
Labour market | Retired | 6.05 | 6.86 |
0.000
| 4.10 |
0.000
|
Employed or self-employed | 26.04 | 26.22 | 24.17 | |||
Unemployed | 12.48 | 12.03 | 14.90 | |||
Sick or disabled | 5.07 | 5.31 | 4.72 | |||
Other | 6.38 | 7.09 | 4.00 | |||
Income quartilea
| 1st | 6.01 | 6.90 |
0.000
| 3.72 |
0.000
|
2nd | 8.87 | 10.10 | 5.54 | |||
3rd | 12.40 | 13.85 | 7.01 | |||
4th | 20.28 | 21.72 | 12.58 | |||
Social participation | ||||||
Informal care provision | 16.98 | 19.02 |
0.000
| 9.74 |
0.000
| |
Sport, clubs | 21.68 | 22.94 |
0.000
| 15.23 |
0.000
| |
Voluntary work | 25.13 | 25.99 |
0.000
| 21.08 |
0.000
| |
Religious activity | 15.95 | 17.62 |
0.000
| 10.49 |
0.000
| |
Country | ||||||
Denmark | 21.64 | 22.69 |
0.000
| 15.43 |
0.000
| |
Switzerland | 20.89 | 22.18 | 13.09 | |||
Netherlands | 19.15 | 20.41 | 10.32 | |||
Sweden | 19.07 | 20.12 | 13.69 | |||
Belgium | 18.79 | 21.18 | 11.01 | |||
Austria | 13.01 | 13.68 | 10.43 | |||
Estonia | 11.98 | 15.32 | 5.54 | |||
Germany | 11.54 | 13.29 | 5.14 | |||
France | 9.73 | 11.11 | 4.96 | |||
Czech Republic | 9.14 | 10.19 | 5.93 | |||
Slovenia | 7.59 | 7.90 | 6.26 | |||
Portugal | 6.86 | 7.70 | 4.44 | |||
Spain | 6.62 | 7.54 | 3.86 | |||
Hungary | 5.64 | 7.43 | 2.16 | |||
Italy | 2.22 | 2.56 | 1.02 | |||
Poland | 2.22 | 2.75 | 0.50 |
Examination of the role of predictors based on multivariate analysis
Variables | No multimorbidity (<2 diseases) | Multimorbidity (≥2 diseases) |
---|---|---|
AME (SE) | AME (SE) | |
1 ADL+ (ref. no ADL) | −0.003 (0.005) | −0.001 (0.002) |
Poor mental health (ref. good mental health) | 0.000 (0.003) | 0.000 (0.003) |
Dementia (ref. no dementia) | −0.042 (0.023) | −0.017 (0.013) |
Female (ref. male) | 0.030*** (0.003) | 0.010** (0.003) |
Age (ref. 50–64) | ||
65–74 | −0.009 (0.005) | 0.006 (0.004) |
75+ | −0.034*** (0.007) | −0.014** (0.005) |
Marital status (ref. single) | ||
Married | 0.001 (0.007) | −0.017 (0.010) |
Divorced | 0.018 (0.010) | −0.004 (0.007) |
Widowed | 0.021 (0.012) | −0.010 (0.007) |
Household size (ref. single) | ||
2 persons | −0.010 (0.008) | −0.001 (0.007) |
3 persons+ | −0.003 (0.007) | 0.004 (0.007) |
Education (ref. primary) | ||
Secondary | 0.047*** (0.005) | 0.012*** (0.005) |
Higher | 0.129*** (0.009) | 0.043*** (0.009) |
Labour market position (ref. retired) | ||
Employed or self-employed | 0.083*** (0.006) | 0.063*** (0.011) |
Unemployed | 0.048*** (0.013) | 0.055** (0.019) |
Sick or disabled | −0.016 (0.011) | 0.001 (0.008) |
Other | 0.008 (0.009) | 0.005 (0.008) |
Income (ref. 1st quartile) | ||
2nd quartile | 0.008 (0.006) | 0.008 (0.006) |
3rd quartile | 0.017** (0.006) | 0.006 (0.006) |
4th quartile | 0.031*** (0.006) | 0.014* (0.007) |
Informal care giving (ref. no caregiving) | 0.022*** (0.004) | 0.002 (0.004) |
Sports, clubs (ref. no club activity) | 0.035*** (0.004) | 0.024*** (0.005) |
Volunteering (ref. no volunteering) | 0.054*** (0.005) | 0.042*** (0.007) |
Religious activity (ref. no religious act.) | 0.029*** (0.006) | 0.014** (0.006) |
Variables | Labour market active: employed, self-employed, unemployed | Labour market inactive: retired, sick or disabled, other | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
No multimorbidity (<2 diseases) | Multimorbidity (≥2 diseases) | No multimorbidity (<2 diseases) | Multimorbidity (≥2 diseases) | |
1 ADL+ (ref. no ADL) | 0.025 (0.014) | 0.005 (0.019) | −0.006 (0.004) | −0.003 (0.002) |
Poor mental health (ref. good mental health) | 0.005 (0.008) | −0.002 (0.023) | −0.005 (0.003) | −0.004 (0.003) |
Dementia (ref. no dementia) | −0.041 (0.116) | – | −0.054** (0.016) | −0.010 (0.011) |
Female (ref. male) | 0.067*** (0.007) | 0.032 (0.023) | 0.029*** (0.003) | 0.008** (0.003) |
Age (ref. 50–64) | ||||
65–74 | −0.045* (0.015) | −0.091** (0.029) | −0.053*** (0.003) | −0.024*** 0.003 |
75+ | −.108* (0.037) | −0.029 (0.085) | −0.072*** (0.003) | −0.039*** (0.004) |
Marital status (ref. single) | ||||
Married | −0.028 (0.016) | 0.009 (0.050) | −0.020** (0.007) | −0.012 (0.007) |
Divorced | 0.002 (0.018) | 0.059 (0.065) | 0.008 (0.008) | 0.000 (0.007) |
Widowed | −0.021 (0.024) | 0.009 (0.075) | −0.005 (0.008) | −0.009 (0.006) |
Household size (ref. single) | ||||
2 persons | −0.021 (0.018) | −0.029 (0.048) | −0.015* (0.006) | −0.007 (0.006) |
3 persons+ | 0.004 (0.019) | 0.013 (0.050) | 0.003 (0.007) | −0.000 (0.006) |
Level of education (ref. primary) | ||||
Secondary | 0.139*** (0.012) | 0.072* (0.032) | 0.061*** (0.004) | 0.023*** (0.004) |
Higher | 0.291*** (0.014) | 0.242*** (0.043) | 0.159*** (0.005) | 0.075*** (0.010) |
Income quartile (ref. 1st) | ||||
2nd quartile | 0.036* (0.016) | 0.026 (0.041) | 0.021*** (0.005) | 0.013* (0.005) |
3rd quartile | 0.071*** (0.015) | 0.028 (0.039) | 0.038*** (0.005) | 0.017** (0.006) |
4th quartile | 0.099*** (0.014) | 0.068 (0.039) | 0.070 (0.006) | 0.034*** (0.008) |
Informal care giving (ref. no cg) | 0.060*** (0.008) | 0.010 (0.026) | 0.023*** (0.003) | 0.003 (0.003) |
Sports or clubs (ref. no clubs) | 0.084*** (0.008) | 0.083** (0.028) | 0.043*** (0.004) | 0.028*** (0.004) |
Volunteering (ref. no vol.) | 0.107*** (0.011) | 0.192*** (0.035) | 0.052*** (0.004) | 0.046*** (0.006) |
Religious activity (ref. no rel. act.) | 0.046 (0.013) | 0.038 (0.036) | 0.023*** (0.004) | 0.011* (0.004) |