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Gender differences in years of remaining life by living arrangement among older Singaporeans

Author

Listed:
  • Angelique Chan

    (Duke-NUS Medical School
    Duke-NUS Medical School)

  • Abhijit Visaria

    (Duke-NUS Medical School)

  • Bina Gubhaju

    (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare)

  • Stefan Ma

    (Ministry of Health)

  • Yasuhiko Saito

    (Nihon University)

Abstract

Living arrangements of older adults have often been studied as a measure of the support available to them. Given the rapidly ageing and low fertility context of Singapore where the prevalence of older adults living alone and without children is expected to increase, we construct multistate life tables to estimate the number of years that older persons can expect to live in different living arrangements at a population level (population-based) as well as based on their initial living arrangement (status-based). We focus particularly on whether there are gender differences in the expected years of life in different living arrangement states. We use the Panel on Health and Ageing of Singaporean Elderly, a 2009 nationally representative survey of 4990 Singaporeans aged 60 years and older, with follow-up surveys in 2011 and 2015. In calculating the probabilities of transition between different states, we control for number of children, housing type, and time-varying ADL limitations. We find that at age 60, women can expect to spend more than twice the proportion (18%) of their remaining lives living alone compared to men (7%). Status-based estimates indicate that the proportion of remaining years living with a child is higher for women initially living alone, with a spouse only or already with a child, compared to males. Our results indicate that while older women are more likely to live alone compared to their male counterparts, older women living alone are also more likely to transition to living with children. Our research sheds light on the importance of expanding research on life expectancy beyond health, to consider analysis using other forms of social stratification, particularly gender differences in states of living arrangement.

Suggested Citation

  • Angelique Chan & Abhijit Visaria & Bina Gubhaju & Stefan Ma & Yasuhiko Saito, 2021. "Gender differences in years of remaining life by living arrangement among older Singaporeans," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 18(4), pages 453-466, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:eujoag:v:18:y:2021:i:4:d:10.1007_s10433-020-00594-3
    DOI: 10.1007/s10433-020-00594-3
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Chai Podhisita & Peter Xenos, 2015. "Living alone in South and Southeast Asia," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 32(41), pages 1113-1146.
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    3. James M Raymo & Isabel Pike & Jersey Liang & J Scott Brown, 2019. "A New Look at the Living Arrangements of Older Americans Using Multistate Life Tables," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 74(7), pages 84-96.
    4. Lois M. Verbrugge & Shannon Ang, 2018. "Family reciprocity of older Singaporeans," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 15(3), pages 287-299, September.
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    6. Bussarawan Teerawichitchainan & John Knodel & Wiraporn Pothisiri, 2015. "What does living alone really mean for older persons? A comparative study of Myanmar, Vietnam, and Thailand," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 32(48), pages 1329-1360.
    7. Liming Cai & Mark D. Hayward & Yasuhiko Saito & James Lubitz & Aaron Hagedorn & Eileen Crimmins, 2010. "Estimation of multi-state life table functions and their variability from complex survey data using the SPACE Program," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 22(6), pages 129-158.
    8. David Russell & John Taylor, 2009. "Living Alone and Depressive Symptoms: The Influence of Gender, Physical Disability, and Social Support Among Hispanic and Non-Hispanic Older Adults," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 64(1), pages 95-104.
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    Cited by:

    1. Cheng, Grand H.-L. & Sung, Pildoo & Chan, Angelique & Ma, Stefan & Malhotra, Rahul, 2022. "Transitions between social network profiles and their relation with all-cause mortality among older adults," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 292(C).
    2. Aïda Solé-Auró & Dorly J. H. Deeg, 2021. "New thinking about health expectancy: introduction to the special section," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 18(4), pages 439-441, December.

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