Active ageing - pathways and outcomes

Against the backdrop of population ageing, ?active ageing? has become a key objective in developing a sustainable welfare state. By building on a life course perspective and using longitudinal data, this project investigates pathways and outcomes of active ageing in three domains: labour market (paid work), civil society (volunteerism), and the family (family care and support). The empirical analyses will build on data from the NorLAG study. Third wave survey data were collected in 2017. International comparative analyses are based on data from Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). Aging baby boomers are expected to provide a large reservoir for the nonprofit sector. We find evidence which while broadly supportive of this idea also suggest limitations as to what can realistically be expected. We find that a sizable proportion is already engaged: near 2 out of 3 in the past year, and around half of non-volunteers express interest in volunteering. Yet, most volunteering is sporadic and less than half of volunteers participate on a weekly basis. Furthermore, most of the non-volunteers who express interest seem unlikely to realize their interest as they simultaneously report important motivational and ability-related barriers to volunteering. A further challenge is that few boomers are willing to make a major commitment to volunteering. Findings suggest that to mobilize boomers, nonprofit organizations need to accommodate more self-interested and ?exible forms of involvement. Furthermore, we show that people who are currently or previously involved with volunteering report higher well-being than people without such experience. This pattern is more pronounced with older age and in countries where volunteering is less common and less institutionally supported. Although we cannot rule out the possibility of causation mechanisms, there seems to be more support for the notion that volunteering is selective of individuals who already have high well-being. Regarding family care, we find clear indications of older adults representing a formidable resource to their children by being active and engaged grandparents. We find that helping one generation seems to compliment rather that to compete with helping an other generation. Women who take active (weekly) care of grandchildren are more likely to also provide help to older parents compared to women who are not actively grandparenting. Comparative analyses based on data from 14 countries show suggest that welfare state model matters, as some countries (Nord- and Central-Europe) seems to more successfully facilitate combining help to older and younger family members than other countries (South-Europe). The Nordic welfare model seems also to promote independence and choice regarding family care, as indicated, for example, by the likelihood of providing help to older parents is associated with relationship quality and not a sense of duty. This model also seems to decrease work-family conflict as few people in Norway retire due to care responsibility for older parents. However, caregiving for older parents is shown to lead to a loss of income, both in the short and long (up to eight years) term. Regarding labor participation, a study of older employees (age 67-75) and reasons for late work exit shows that these employees tend to have high levels of energy and strong work motivation. Many of them are self-employed. Ten years ago, they tended to view work as very important in life and to work long hours, and many of them had not made any plans for when to exit work. The longest careers seem motivated more by work satisfaction and engagement than financial concerns. A comparison of employer and employee attitudes reveal that, while the preferred exit age among employers have risen (from 61 years in 2003 to 65 years in 2018), employers seem to have little interest in expanding the share(number?) of older adults in their work staff. The results indicate that affective stereotypes of older adults can lead to prejudice and age discrimination in hiring practices. Furthermore, we find that employment is linked to greater well-being in later life. Work exit is not a uniform experience and change in well-being associated with this transition varies by work aspects and personal characteristics, especially among men. For example, work exit is negative for men who score high on values with a personal focus (self-enhancement and openness-to-change). Finally, findings suggest that leaving work increases volunteering and family care, pointing towards some degree of competition between these activities over people?s time and energy. The strongest predictor of volunteering and family caregiving in later life, however, is previous activity in these domains, showing the importance of continuity. Project web pages: blogg.hioa.no/norlag/prosjekter/agepaths

Prosjektet har gjennom utstrakt publisering og formidling bidratt med ny kunnskap til potensiell nytte for forskningsfelt, praksisfelt og allmennhet. Forskningsbasert kunnskap vil gi seniorer, parter innen frivillighet og arbeidsliv, og myndigheter et bedre grunnlag for å diskutere utfordringer og muligheter. Det er blitt gitt innspill til skriftlige veiledere, og funn har blitt presentert for sentrale målgrupper i form av foredrag og artikler. Funn er også formidlet via jevnlige oppslag på nettsidene til NorLAG, NOVA, OsloMet, forskning.no og aldersvennlig.no, og gjennom en rekke medieoppslag. Den utstrakte formidlingen kan ha påvirket folks syn på bl.a. eldre arbeidstakere, eldre frivillige og myter omkring aldring og eldre generelt. Prosjektet har medført økt kunnskap, erfaring og kompetanse blant prosjektmedarbeiderne når det gjelder samarbeid med praksisfelt og brukere, tverrfaglighet, metodeferdigheter, samt forskning innenfor prosjektets temaområder og aldersforskning generelt.

Population ageing changes the balance between generations. Active ageing is therefore a key objective in developing a sustainable welfare state. Utilizing a life course perspective and longitudinal data, this project investigates pathways and outcomes of active ageing in three domains and their interactions: the labor market (paid work), civil society (volunteerism), and the family (family care and support). A key question is how opportunities and constraints in earlier years, and previous practices and relationships, influence activity and participation in old age: Do changes in work and life conditions in the years prior to eligible pension age influence plans for and timing of retirement? Does volunteering in old age substitute loss of previous productive social roles, or is volunteering primarily a continuation of earlier activity? Are past patterns of involvement in intergenerational support reflected in current participation? Another key question addresses the interplay between the three domains: Does activity in one domain compete or complement activities in other domains? A third set of questions address the individual outcomes of participation in work, civic society and family. The empirical analyses will build on panel data from three waves of the NorLAG study. NorLAG data consist of survey data which are linked with administrative register data. A sample of 3 700 persons aged 40+ in 2003 has been followed to 2008 and will be interviewed again in 2015, and a gross sample of 13 000 persons will be followed from wave 2008 to 2015. Comparative (cross-national) data are available as NorLAG is included in the international Generations and Gender survey (GGS). Cooperation with the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) adds to th e comparative potential of the project.