Michael Wagner

Social participation in old age is beneficial for the individual and the community. However, very old adults are confronted with specific challenges regarding their resources, values, and social networks. In a rapidly changing society, very old adults may experience conflicts resulting in individual experiences of anomie which we understand as feelings of disorientation. They can have negative effects on their social participation. Using data from the population-based survey Old Age in Germany (D80+), we examined whether individual experiences of anomie played a mediating role in explaining very old adults’ social participation. Based on the civic voluntarism model and theories of anomie and ageing, hypotheses were derived and tested using a structural equation model (SEM). Predictors included in the model were socio-economic and health resources, individual values, and social relationships. The SEM revealed significant indirect effects through anomie for education, income, and health. Direct effects on social participation were significant for all predictors except income. While mediation through anomie played a minor role for education and health, its importance for income was greater. Furthermore, model results showed a significant direct effect of all predictors on anomie and of anomie on social participation. While the predictors of social participation according to the civic voluntarism model could be confirmed for very old age, individual experiences of anomie seemed to play a crucial mediating role only for income. The model indicated that not income itself, but rather the insecurities caused by relative deprivation, influenced the social participation of very old adults.

The growing number of people aged 80 or older living in the community has raised concerns about meeting their care needs and about socio-economic inequalities in their care use. The study examines socio-economic status (SES) patterns in informal and formal care use, as well as unmet care needs, of people aged 80 or older living in the community in Germany and England. We propose that SES patterns in care use change with the intensity of care needs. The analyses use data from the Survey of Quality of Life and Well-Being of the Very Old in North Rhine-Westphalia and the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. Despite the differences in the long-term care systems (LTCSs) and cultural norms around filial obligations, we find a consistent pattern of association between socio-economic status (SES) and care use for older people with only few care needs in both countries. In this group, people with a higher SES have the highest likelihood of experiencing unmet care needs. For older people with many care needs, we find country-specific SES patterns that we link to cultural differences and the design of the LTCSs. In Germany, SES is negatively associated with using informal care and positively with using formal care. In England, care use shows little SES variation for older people with many care needs. The findings underscore the importance of considering the intensity of care needs when assessing inequalities in care access.

Social survey data on those aged 80 years or older is sparse. Based on a representative sample, this paper validates a multidimensional model proposed for understanding of quality of life (QoL) in very old age. Towards this goal, this paper estimated levels and heterogeneity of personal and environmental resources, well-being, autonomy, and perceived appreciation by society in the population of the very old in Germany. Next, the contribution of personal and environmental resources to QoL outcomes and overlap between these outcomes was estimated using a multivariate approach. Results were based on a representative survey on QoL of the very old in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany’s most populous state. The survey included comprehensive information on socio-demographics, health, social and personal QoL resources including objective testing of cognitive function. The sample comprised 1,863 individuals (mean age 86.5 years, range 80–102 years), including 211 individuals residing in non-private dwellings. Interviews with proxy informants were conducted for 176 individuals that were willing to participate but could not conduct the interview themselves due to limited ability to communicate (PLC). Pronounced differences were found for PLC with respect to environmental and personal resources and QoL outcomes. Pronounced differences were also found both with respect to lower observed levels of QoL outcomes (e.g., autonomy) and predictors of QoL outcomes (e.g., effect of negative “external” appreciation on subjective well-being). Contrary to the deficit-oriented model of old age, a high degree of autonomy was observed. However, substantial and consequential negative “external” appreciation of very old age was also apparent.

Zusammenfassung: Zwischen November 2020 und April 2021 wurde im Rahmen der bundesweiten Studie „Hohes Alter in Deutschland“ eine schriftliche Befragung von mehr als 10.000 Personen ab 80 Jahren zu deren Lebenssituation und Lebensqualität durchgeführt. Das vorliegende Kapitel beschreibt die soziale Einbindung der Hochaltrigen. Hierbei werden besonders betrachtet: die Größe des sozialen Netzwerks, die Lebens- bzw. Wohnform, die sozialen Kontakte mit Verwandten, Freund:innen und Bekannten sowie der Erhalt sozialer Unterstützung.

Zusammenfassung: Mit der Studie D80+ „Hohes Alter in Deutschland“ werden erstmals für den gesamtdeutschen Raum repräsentative Aussagen zur Lebenssituation der sehr alten und ältesten Menschen möglich. Die Datenbasis ist vor dem Hintergrund eines umfassenden Verständnisses von Lebensqualität thematisch breitgefächert sowie inhaltlich und methodisch anschlussfähig an die laufende Altersberichterstattung des Bundes und der Länder (z. B. NRW) aus etablierten Altersstudien wie dem Deutschen Alterssurvey (DEAS). Das Studienprotokoll für diese einzigartige Studie wurde seit Mitte 2015 am Cologne Center for Ethics, Rights, Economics, and Social Sciences of Health (ceres) im interdisziplinären Team aus Vertreter:innen der Gerontologie, Soziologie, Psychologie, Ethik sowie Medizin entwickelt. Es wurde gemeinsam sowohl mit älteren Menschen als auch führenden sozialwissenschaftlichen Umfrageinstituten validiert. Der Erhebungs- und Auswertungsplan für eine deutschlandweite Hochaltrigenstudie wurde seit Anfang 2019 zwischen ceres und dem Deutschen Zentrum für Altersfragen (DZA) abgestimmt.

Zusammenfassung: Zwischen November 2020 und April 2021 wurde aufbauend auf der NRW80+ Studie die bundesweite Studie „Hohes Alter in Deutschland“ (D80+) durchgeführt. Die Erhebung der Daten erfolgte im Rahmen einer bundesweiten, repräsentativen schriftlichen Befragung von mehr als 10.000 Personen ab 80 Jahren zu deren Lebenssituation und Lebensqualität. Mit diesen Daten ist die Einkommenssituation und Einkommensungleichheit dieser hochaltrigen Personen repräsentativ, aktuell erfasst und kann differenziert analysiert werden. Wir berichten nachfolgend – bis auf wenige Ausnahmen – das Nettoeinkommen der Hochaltrigen, genauer deren Haushaltsnettoäquivalenzeinkommen, das ein auf die Haushaltsmitglieder bezogenes Pro-Kopf-Einkommen darstellt. Einkommensarmut wurde anhand der gängigen Armutsriskoschwelle von 60 % des mittleren Einkommens (Median) definiert, welches bei Unterschreitung eines Nettobetrages von 1176,-€ monatlich vorliegt. Aussagen über Vermögen, Schulden und Einkommensquellen können in diesem Bericht nicht getroffen werden.