"Working old-old": Psychological well-being, cognitive abilities and physical health of employed and self-employed Europeans aged 75

Self-Employment Transitions and Health Outcomes in Later Life: Evidence From China

Background and Objectives

Self-employment is a vital alternative to waged employment for older workers. Recent research has shown that employment transitions frequently occur when individuals approach retirement. However, evidence of how older people's health changes when they switch between self and waged employment is lacking, particularly outside Western contexts. To address this research gap, we explored the health impact of employment transitions for the older working population in China by hukou (urban or rural household registration status), region, and education.

Research Design and Methods

We employed fixed effect models to examine the impact of employment transitions on cognitive, mental, and physical health and life satisfaction drawing on data from four waves (2011, 2013, 2015, and 2018) of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (N = 4,606). Given China's unique context, we analyzed the results of agricultural and nonagricultural work separately.

Results

Individuals transitioning into or remaining in self-employment had lower self-rated health and life satisfaction than those remaining in waged employment. There was no significant difference in cognitive functioning or depressive symptoms. Additionally, those who transitioned from self-employment into waged employment rated their health worse than those who remained in waged employment. The health impacts were more apparent for agricultural than nonagricultural self-employment, particularly for older workers living in urban regions with rural hukou and lower education levels.

Discussion and Implications

Most older Chinese transitioning into or staying self-employed are or were pushed into self-employment due to their low human capital and socioeconomic status, which affects their subsequent health. Pension reform and policies supporting older adults to stay in the workforce could help close the economic and health gaps between rural and urban older adults.

Association between diversity levels of member composition in group activities of older adults and the occurrence of need for care: the JAGES 2013-2019 longitudinal study

BACKGROUND

Participating in groups with diverse members is associated with improved health among older adults. The study examined the relationship between diversity of group members and needed support or long-term care.

METHODS

We conducted a longitudinal study for the Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study with 61,281 participants aged ≥ 65 years who were surveyed in 2013 and followed-up for six years. We assessed three dimensions of the diversity of the participating members (sex, age, and region of residence). We then graded the diversity level into four categories: level 0 (not in any group), level 1 (in a group without diversity or in a group with diversity in one of the three factors), level 2 (in a group with diversity in two of the three factors), or level 3 (in a group with diversity across all factors). We adjusted for 12 covariates using Cox hazard survival analysis models with hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) estimated for the association between group members' diversity levels and needed support or long-term care. The same study was conducted when stratified by employment status at baseline.

RESULTS

Participants in social participation groups with more diverse group members had a lower incidence of needed support or long-term care as compared to their counterparts. Compared to those with no participation group, HR decreased by 14% to 24% with increasing levels of diversity. The HR for the level of care needed for participants in the social participation group with high residential diversity was 0.89 (95% CI: 0.84-0.94). For participants who were currently unemployed, HR reductions ranged from 16%-28% with increasing levels of diversity compared to the non-participating group. No association was found for employed participants.

CONCLUSIONS

The reason the HRs of Japanese elderly people certified as needing support or care are lower when the diversity of participating groups is higher could be owing to the presence of a variety of people and the diversification of social networks, which facilitates the building of bridging social relational capital. Public health policies that encourage participation in diverse organizations will be important in the future.

A survey of social well-being among employees, retirees, and nursing students: a descriptive-analytical study

BACKGROUND

Social well-being is one of the essential dimensions of individual health. Nursing is one of the occupations that can affect a person's well-being. This study aimed to determine social well-being among employees, retirees, and nursing students.

METHODS

This is a cross-sectional descriptive study. 321 samples participated in this study. Convenience sampling method was used to collect samples. Two questionnaires of demographic characteristics and the Keyes Social Well-being Questionnaire were used to collect data. Descriptive statistics, independent t-test, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and Linear regression analysis by the Backward Elimination method were applied using SPSS 14.0.

RESULTS

The mean total social well-being score of this study's participants was 100 ± 16.43. The mean social well-being score among nursing employees was 109.58 ± 15.98, among nursing retirees was 95.67 ± 12.55, and among nursing students was 93.14 ± 14.81. Nursing students had lower social well-being scores than nursing employees and retirees (p < 0.001). Linear regression analysis showed a significant relationship between the number of children (p = 0.04) (β = -0.11), marital status (p = 0.04) (β = 2.95), and employment status (p < 0/001) (β = 0.451) and social well-being and predicted 25% of the total variance of social well-being.

CONCLUSION

According to the results of this study, the social well-being of retirees and nursing students was significantly lower than nursing employees. Therefore, the educational and healthcare systems of the countries must take the necessary measures to improve the Social well-being of this group of people.

The impact of self-employment on mental health of the younger elderly in China

BACKGROUND

With the prolongation of the life expectancy of the Chinese population and the intensification of the aging process of the population, the mental health problems of the elderly have become increasingly prominent. This study aims to explore whether self-employment can promote and how to promote the mental health of the elderly.

METHOD

Based on the 2018 China Longitudinal Aging Social Survey (CLASS) data, this paper uses OLS model and KHB method to verify the impact of self-employment on the mental health of the younger elderly and its mechanism.

RESULTS

The results indicate that self-employment can significantly reduce the depression tendency of the younger elderly and promote their mental health. Heterogeneity analysis shows that self-employment has a more significant positive impact on the mental health of the younger elderly who are self-rated healthy, free of chronic diseases and low-level medical service utilization. The mechanism shows that self-employment can indirectly improve the mental health of the younger elderly through income growth effect and self-worth realization effect, in which the self-worth realization effect is greater than the economic effect. It illustrates that with the development of China's economy, the elderly are pursuing more intrinsic values brought by self-employment than economic benefits.

CONCLUSION

In view of the above research results, it is suggested to encourage the elderly to actively participate in social activities, provide policy support for the younger elderly to engage in self-employment, increase government support as well as health guarantee level, and improve the subjective initiative of the elderly to participate in self-employment, so that the society can truly realize the healthy aging of "being useful and productive for the elderly".

Information assistance systems as preventive mediators between increasing customization and mental workload

BACKGROUND: The future of work in Germany is shaped by megatrends like globalization, automatization, digitization, and the demographic change. Furthermore, mass customization and the increasing usage of AI even in manual assembly offers new opportunities as well as it creates new challenges. OBJECTIVE: The trend towards mass customization in turn leads to increased complexity in production, which results in additional mental workload. This effect will continue in the foreseeable future. METHOD: Especially for small and medium sized companies, the backbone of Germany’s economy, automatization and Human-Robot-Collaboration will take time to develop. Information assistance systems are and will be a bridging technology to help organizations to manage increasing complexity and the mental workload of their employees to not only boost productivity but also keep their workforce healthy. The ongoing demographic change further underlines the need to use information assistance systems to compensate possible age-associated deficits, but also keep older employees committed to their work and avoid effects of disengagement or disenfranchisement through participatory ergonomics. RESULTS: Information assistance systems can only develop their inherent potential if they are designed to support employees of varying age, competence levels, and affinity for technology. Participatory development and early engagement are key factors for an increased acceptance and usage of the systems as well as the individualization to make it suitable for each individual employee. CONCLUSION: Expanding the functionalities to an adaptive assistance system, using physiological correlates of mental workload as an input, is conceivable in the future.