Quality of life and well-being in the Third Age: key predictors of CASP-19 & GHQ-12 for sample members aged 50 years and above in the British Household Panel Survey

Publication type

Conference Paper

Series

BHPS-2005 Conference: the 2005 British Household Panel Survey Research Conference, 30 June -2 July 2005, Colchester, UK

Authors

Publication date

June 1, 2005

Abstract:

This paper explores the lifecourse and contextual factors that influence the quality of
life in early old age for 7480 members of the British Household Panel Survey
(BHPS). We conceptualise quality of life as distinct from the factors, which influence
it, and employ a model of the quality of life that is derived from an explicit theory of
human need. Our measure, CASP-19, consists of 19 Likert-scaled items, which cover
four theoretical domains: control, autonomy, self-realisation and pleasure, was first
adopted in the BHPS retirement module for sample members aged over 50 years. It
was administered alongside the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) as a measure
of mental well-being or psychiatric status. Respondents provided information on a
number of contextual influences on their quality of life in early old age and mental
well-being, notably social support and participation, the quality and quantity of social
contact, feelings of trust and reciprocity about the local neighbourhood, health and
financial security. Using earlier waves of BHPS we will present findings, which
include distinct markers of physical and psychological well being as well as
employment, housing and partnership histories. Our preliminary analyses will consist
of a series of multivariate multilevel regression analyses, which explicitly model the
relationship between CASP-19 and GHQ-12. Multilevel analyses will also take
account of the clustering in BHPS to allow a characterisation of both household and
neighbourhood. The work is funded under the Economic and Social Research
Council's Priority Network on Human Capability and Resilience (Grant No.
L326253061).
KEY WORDS
quality of life, Casp-19, GHQ-12, third age, multilevel modelling, British Household
Panel Survey.

Subjects

Link

- http://www.iser.essex.ac.uk/bhps/2005/download.php

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