How "successful" do older Europeans age? Findings from SHARE.
OBJECTIVE
We estimate comparable prevalence estimates of "successful aging" for 14 European countries and Israel, adding a new cross-nationally comparative perspective to recently published findings for the United States.


METHODS
Measures for a variety of specific successful aging criteria were derived from baseline interviews of respondents aged 65+ who participated in the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (n=21,493). A multivariate logistic model was run for our global successful aging measure.


RESULTS
Our analysis revealed substantial cross-country variation around a mean value of 8.5%: Although as many as 21.1% of older Danes meet our successful aging criteria, the respective proportion in Poland is only 1.6%. Age, gender, and socioeconomic status are shown to bear highly significant associations with individuals' odds of successful aging.


CONCLUSIONS
The observed cross-national variation in successful aging-which continues to exist if population composition is controlled for-highlights the importance of taking into consideration structural factors at the societal level. It also suggests a potential for policy interventions supporting individuals' opportunities for successful aging.
University of Cologne, Institute of Sociology, Greinstr. 2, 50939 Cologne, Germany. hank@wiso.uni-koeln.de
Karsten
K
Hank
D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000523:psychology; D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D001294:Attitude to Health; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000523:psychology; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D005060:Europe; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel; D008297:Male; D016743:Mental Competency / Q000523:psychology; D008960:Models, Psychological; D012179:Retirement; D012919:Social Behavior; D012931:Social Environment; D012933:Social Identification; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors