Unequal Inequalities: The Stratification of the Use of Formal Care Among Older Europeans

Marco Albertini and Emmanuele Pavolini

The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, 2017, vol. 72, issue 3, 510-521

Abstract: Objectives:The general aim of the article is to incorporate the stratification perspective into the study of (long-term) care systems. In particular, 3 issues are investigated: the extents to which (a) personal and family resources influence the likelihood of using formal care in later life; (b) the unequal access to formal care is mediated by differences in the availability of informal support; (c) the relationship between individuals’ resources and the use of formal care in old age varies across care regimes and is related to the institutional design of long-term care policies.Method:Data from Waves 1 and 2 of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe for 4 countries: Denmark, Germany, France, and Italy, and population aged at least 65 (N = 9,824) were used. Population-averaged logit models were used.Results:Logit models revealed that in terms of access to formal care: an individual’s educational level plays a limited role; family networks function similarly across the countries studied; in general, financial wealth does not have a significant effect; there is a positive relation between income and the use of formal care in Germany and Italy, and no significant relation in France and Denmark; home ownership has a negative effect in Germany and Denmark. On accounting for informal care, inequality associated with individuals’ economic resources remains substantially unaltered.Discussion:The study shows that care systems based on services provision grant higher access to formal care and create lower inequalities. Moreover, countries where cash-for-care programs and family responsibilities are more important register inequalities in the use of formal care. Access to informal care does not mediate the distribution of formal care.

Keywords: Aging; Care regimes; Europe; Formal care; Inequality; Long-term care (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/geronb/gbv038 (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oup:geronb:v:72:y:2017:i:3:p:510-521.

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://academic.oup.com/journals

Access Statistics for this article

The Journals of Gerontology: Series B is currently edited by Psychological Sciences - S. Duke Han, PhD and Social Sciences - Jessica A Kelley, PhD, FGSA

More articles in The Journals of Gerontology: Series B from The Gerontological Society of America Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP, UK.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Oxford University Press ().