Age takes hold of us by surprise: Conceptualising Vulnerabilities in Ageing as the Timing of Adverse Events - Pre-print

Objectives Ageing in the public eye can be distilled to a limited number of adverse events, such as loss of health, partnership and wealth. While these events are a constitutive part of “normal ageing”, they do not occur uniformly at the same time point in the life course. This study investigates to what extent bereavement, functional health loss and onset of poverty are adequate markers of ageing, and illustrates inequalities in their timing according to cohort, gender, class and ethnicity. Methods Data of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA), collected over 7 waves (2002-2016) (n=7913) are examined using survival analysis. Results Persistent associations of manual or routine occupational class and belonging to an ethnic minorities are found with increased hazards of health loss, bereavement and wealth loss. Later born cohorts have higher health loss hazards as well as lower hazards for wealth loss, while earlier born cohorts have lower hazards for bereavement. Gender effects are pronounced in terms of bereavement, limited in terms of health loss and absent in terms of wealth loss. Discussion The timing of adverse events is a crucial gateway through which existing social inequalities are transferred into unequal ageing pathways.