title: The social stratification of older adults' preparations for end-of-life health care.
abstract: I use data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (n = 4,971) to evaluate the extent to which socioeconomic status affects three health-related (living will, durable power of attorney for health care, and discussions) and one financial (will) component of end-of-life planning. Net worth is positively associated with all four types of planning, after demographic, health, and psychological characteristics are controlled. Low rates of health-related planning among persons with low or negative assets are largely accounted for by the fact that they are less likely to execute a will, an action that triggers health-related preparations. Rates of health-related planning alone are higher among recently hospitalized persons, whereas financial planning only is more commonly done by homeowners and those with richer assets. The results suggest that economically advantaged persons engage in end-of-life planning as a two-pronged strategy entailing financial and health-related preparations. Implications for health policy, practice, and theory are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Rutgers University, Department of Sociology and Institute for Health, Health Care Policy & Aging Research, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA. carrds@rci.rutgers.edu
authors.forename: Deborah
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Carr
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D032722:Advance Care Planning / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000368:Aged; D001293:Attitude to Death; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003142:Communication; D003657:Decision Making; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014918:Wills / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014922:Wisconsin