The English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) is a scientific examination of how the population of England is ageing from a multidisciplinary perspective.
ELSA explores how a number of factors such as income, wealth, social inequalities, past life experiences, work, spending patterns, physical and mental health and well being are all related through the ageing process.
The study has been going for over 20 years now and the data helps understand the determinants of healthy ageing over a long period of time. It has also contributed to social policy decisions around pensions and social care.
ELSA started in 2000 with a sample of 10 000 people and their partners, to date there have been over 19 000 participants. It is a a cohort study with the same people being interviewed every two years,
The study collects a range of biological, genetic, medical, physiological, psychological and social data.
This is an excellent example of a very long standing longitudinal study.
Key questions asked of respondents include:
- Basic demographic data
- Work, income, benefits, savings
- Health mental and physical
- Social and civic engagement
- Spending patterns
- Also end of life with relatives of the deceased.
Some years involve more in-depth questions and cognitive tests. Every four years a nurse visits to collect blood samples and measures other health indicators.
Respondents have recently been interviewed in more depth about their retrospective life histories. Participants have also granted access to their financial and health records.
ELSA: Main aims
To examine the ways in which different aspects of life are linked:
- What is the relationship between financial security and health?
- Why does the health of those in lower social positions decline faster?
- How have changes in pension arrangements affected decisions about retirement?
- How do social relationships change with age, and affect health and wellbeing?
- How does declining cognitive function affect the ability to plan a financial future?
ELSA has been designed to be compatible with the US Health and Retirement Study (HRS) so direct comparisons can be made. There are 15 similar studies in other countries, meaning broader cross national comparisons can also be made.
Data from ELSA has been used to model pensions, welfare and disability policies. It has also been used to contribute to policies to get older people back to work and to develop national strategies for loneliness.
ESLA: Selected Findings and contributions
The report breaks down the main findings into several different areas, below are just a few selected key points:
Inequality drives every aspect of ageing…
- Greater wealth was linked to slower decline on all health measures used: for example the reduction in walking speed was 38 per cent greater in the lowest quarter of the wealth range than in the highest.
- People from deprived neighbourhoods more likely to feel socially isolated.
- Lack of education earlier on life means worse memory deterioration in later life.
Inadequate health and social care
The research revealed a large gap between the care that is recommended and care which is actually received, particularly for conditions most strongly associated with growing older….
Increasing social isolation
The participants, all aged 52 and older, were asked in 2004 if they had a partner, how often they saw friends and family and whether they were members of clubs, organisations, committees or religious groups. They were also asked if they sometimes felt they lacked company. Around one in five were socially isolated or felt lonely, or both.
The study followed those people up in 2012 to see how many had died.
Other social factors that could lead to isolation were taken into account – a lack of social networks was known to be more common among people who were poorer, who had health problems or who had only basic education. In the most isolated fifth of the group around one in five had died, compared with one in eight in the least isolated.
Those who are isolated or lonely die sooner – but a range of background issues such as poverty, poor health and lack of education are a key part of the picture and are linked to mortality.
In England and Wales the proportion of 45- 64 year-olds living alone rose by 53 per cent between 1996 and 2012.
However a counter trend to this is caused by rising housing costs. There has been an 8.5% increase in adult children living with 50-64 year olds.
Work and Pensions
Objective measures of poor health only explains 15% of the decline in work for those aged 50-70.
Among those aged 60-64 in 2013/14 around a quarter of men and almost four in ten women are well enough to work but are not working.
Those in better health are significantly more likely to carry on working, along with married men and highly educated women.
Among those who had full-time jobs, the hours worked were dropping. The change took place across the social spectrum and affected the full age range as well as those in different types of job
When planning for pensions, men underestimate their life expectancy by 10 years and women by nine years.
ELSA and Social Changes
In 2000, average life expectancy for men in the UK was 75 and for women 80.
What we learned in the last 20 years maybe something different to what we learn in the next 20 years!
In the first decade of the 21st Century life expectancy increased: the over-50s now constitute 40 per cent of the British population and by 2050 three in 10 will be over 60. And though there are signs the increase may have stalled, there is much that is positive to say.
By 2010 the figures had risen to 79 and 83, though no further increase occurred between then and 2020.But the health and social care needs of older people have grown, too.
We have learned a lot from the last 20 years of ELSA, but already what we have learned may not be relevant going forwards! Times are a changing!
Signposting
This material is directly relevant to the families and households module, part of A-level sociology.
