Overview

1. ESF FORWARD LOOKSLausanne October 24th, 2008Workshop „Well being of the Elderly“Social productivity and well beingJohannes Siegrist*, Morten Wahrendorf* * Department of Medical Sociology, University of Duesseldorf, Germany

2. Background / Policy questions Major progress in understandings: Scientific approach linking social productivity and well being Findings from the SHARE study Work and employment and well being Informal work (voluntary work) and well being Future directions of research Policy implications Overview 2

3. Background Source: SHARE Release II, own calculations

4. Background Source: SHARE Release II, own calculations

5. 2 major policy questions • What needs to be done to maintain as many older people as possible in employed or self-employed working conditions? By what means is it possible to reduce the proportion of employees with early exit from the labour market? How can health and well being of middle-aged to early old-aged working men and women better be protected and improved? • What needs to be done to enable retired people to continue or initiate socially productive activities? How can the proportion of socially productive early old people be augmented? What are the costs and benefits of extending respective opportunities and incentives?

6. Socially productive activities… have been defined as generating goods or services that are socially or economically valued by the recipient(s), whether or based upon a formal contract. provide options of goal-oriented agency to early old age populations consist of two types of goal-oriented agency with potentially beneficial effects on health and well being : paid work and voluntary or informal work. Understanding the links between socially productive activities and well being 6

7. The model of effort-reward imbalance (J. Siegrist 1996) • Reciprocity as a general principle of cooperative exchange. • Empirical evidence that non-reciprocity (“high effort / low reward”) at work and in close social relationships negatively affects health. • Can it be applied to other types of social exchange, e.g. social productivity in early old age? Reward Effort à “Reciprocity of effort and rewards or lack thereof may help to explain the links between productive activities and health and well being of older people.“ 1 1 Siegrist, J., von dem Knesebeck, O., and Pollack, C.E., 2004. Social Productivity and Well-being of Older People: A Sociological Exploration. Social Theory & Health, 2(1): 1-17.

8. Experiencing autonomy and control over one’s productive activity must be considered an additional health-protective psychosocial resource. Control over one’s agency reinforces feelings of self-efficacy and mastery and, thus, reduces uncertainty, threat and anxiety. Control and autonomy 8

9. Summary of scientific approach • The socio-emotional consequences of socially productive activities is considered particularly relevant in early old age where options of agency, control and reward resulting from core social roles are becoming less frequent and less pronounced. • Being socially productive in a formal (e.g. continued paid work) or informal (e.g. volunteering) activity that provides recurrent reciprocity and autonomy is assumed to exert beneficial effects on health and well being in early old age. • Conversely, experiencing recurrent non-reciprocity and lack of autonomy in such an activity reduces the probability of healthy ageing. 9

10. Findings from the SHARE study • Social productivity and well being in early old age: the role of work and employment 10

11. Quality of work in Europe Figure: Quality of work across SHARE countries (mean scores of reward at work (range 5-20) and standard error) in wave I and wave II

12. Quality of work and depressive symptoms Figure: Prevalence of depressive symptoms in wave II (EURO-D) according to low quality of work in wave I (yes= highest tertile effort-reward ratio or low control; no= lower tertiles)

13. Quality of work and decreased self-rated health Figure: Prevalence of decreased self-rated health in wave II according to low quality of work in wave I (yes= highest tertile effort-reward ratio or low control; no= lower tertiles)

14. Low quality of work and well-being • Lower level of well-being is observed in women. • Interestingly, adjusting for quality of work, the effect of SES on well-being is reduced. • ERI and, to some extent low control, remain as predictors of well-being in the multivariate model. 14

15. Quality of work and old age employment rate Source: SHARE Release II, ELSA Wave II & Eurostat, own calculations

16. Findings from the SHARE study • Social productivity and well being in early old age: the role of informal work 16

17. > 20 % 15 – 20 % 10 – 15 % < 10 % Voluntary work in Europe Figure: Prevalence of voluntary across SHARE and ELSA

18. Voluntary work and quality of life Figure: Quality of life in wave II (mean scores of CASP-12 (range 12-48) and standard errors) according to voluntary work (3 categories) in wave I

19. Voluntary work and depressive symptoms Figure: Prevalence of depressive symptoms in wave II (EURO-D) according to voluntary work (3 categories) in wave I

20. Social productivity and quality of life Table 1: Multilevel estimates for quality of life in wave 2 (CASP): Regression coefficients and standard errors • Most of the variance can be attributed to the individual level. • Low income and low education lead to lower quality of work in wave II. • The effect of volunteering is restricted to the group which experiences reciprocity in exchange. 20

21. Summary The results emphasize the importance of the social opportunity structure (formal and informal work) in supporting and strengthening older people’s health and well being. The theoretical notions of autonomy and reward resulting from reciprocal exchange explained variations in well being to a substantial degree. Being socially productive in a rewarding and control-enhancing formal (paid work) or informal (volunteering) social role is associated with better well being. This holds true for different indicators of well being (depressive symptoms, self-rated health, quality of life), and associations are consistent across different country groups in cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses.

22. Future directions of research To study the effect of differential occupational trajectories on associations of socially productive activities with health and well being. To study the effect of quality of work on occupational trajectories including retirement. To analyze variations of these associations according to different social policies (welfare states). Does the effect of poor quality of work (ERI) on depression (CES-D) vary according to different social policies (welfare states)?

23. Variations according to different welfare states: first findings Figure: Associations between low quality of work (yes= highest tertile effort-reward ratio or low control; no= lower tertiles) and depressive symptoms: Odds ratios adjusted for socioeconomic position (education, income), age and gender.

24. Policy implications I: Formal work Improving monitoring activities of health-adverse working conditions (including traditional physical and chemical hazards and more recent psychosocial hazards). Monitoring occupational high risk groups, in particular those employed in precarious work, temporary and irregular work, as well as those working in risky jobs. Increasing the flexibility of work time arrangements including broader opportunities of part-time work and continued training as well as ‘flexicurity’ models of occupational careers.

25. Policy implications II: Informal work Further development of opportunities of informal work for third age population groups. Creation of new social roles in the context of an emerging civil society (liberalization of legal restrictions, tax allowance, positive attitudes towards active ageing) Enrichment of informal work by enhancing opportunities of reward (recognition and esteem) and control (autonomy and self-esteem).