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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Social engagement from childhood to middle age and the effect of childhood socio-economic status on middle age social engagement
— results from the National Child Development Study | | Author(s) | Heidi Hietanen, Marja Aaartsen, Noona Kiuru |
| Journal title | Ageing and Society, vol 36, no 3, March 2016 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press, March 2016 |
| Pages | pp 482-507 |
| Source | journals.cambridge.org/aso |
| Keywords | Young people ; Socio-economic groups ; Middle aged ; Participation ; Social contacts ; Voluntary workers ; Longitudinal surveys ; United Kingdom. |
| Annotation | Social engagement has powerful effects on well-being, but variation in individual engagement throughout the lifecourse is wide. The trajectories may differ by gender and be affected by socio-economic status (SES). However, long-term development of social engagement is little studied and the effect of childhood SES on later-life social engagement remains obscure. The authors describe social engagement development from childhood to middle age by gender, and test the effect of childhood SES on middle age social engagement. Data (N=16,440, 51.3% male) are drawn from the on-going National Child Development Study (NCDS), a longitudinal study of those born in England, Scotland and Wales the first week of March 1958. Social engagement was measured by social activities, voluntary work and social contacts, with follow-ups at age 11, 16, 23 and 50. SES was measured by father's occupational social class and tenure status. Structural equation modelling suggested inter-individual stability in social engagement, showing that development of social engagement started in childhood and increased social engagement in middle age through adolescence and early adulthood. Longitudinal effects were detected within and across the social engagement domains. Lower childhood SES was significantly related to a lower level of voluntary work and social activity in middle age, but to higher levels of social contacts. Although stability in social engagement is moderate over the lifecourse, variation within and across the different social engagement domains is shaped by differences in childhood SES. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-160219204 A |
| Classmark | SB: T4: SE: TMB: TOA: QV: 3J: 8 |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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