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Determinants of Life Satisfaction in Older Russians

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Abstract

In Russia, the process of population aging has recently become the topic of many studies examining the socioeconomic characteristics, health status, and retirement behaviors of older people. Nonetheless, research on the life satisfaction of Russian seniors and its determinants is still rather scarce. Thus, identifying the factors of life satisfaction in old age could enable the development of a sound state policy towards the elderly and enhance the well-being of society as a whole. This paper explores the determinants of older adults’ life satisfaction using cross-sectional and panel data from the Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS-HSE). Our research shows that for all Russian seniors (females over the age of 55 and males over the age of 60), the strongest and most common correlates of life satisfaction are: marital status, health status, social status, and personal income. We found significant gender differences in the factors of life satisfaction: an inverse U-shaped relation of age and life satisfaction is characteristic for the oldest females only; having a job and having a higher education enhances life satisfaction for women but not for men. The type of settlement and parental status have no correlation with seniors’ life satisfaction.

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Acknowledgements

This study is a part of the project “Older people opportunities, socio-economic determinants of active aging, and public policies” funded by the Basic Research Program at the National Research University Higher School of Economics (2015, TOR N38). The earlier version of this paper was presented as an electronic working paper on the HSE website. The authors thank Dr. Elena Kossova for valuable comments.

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  1. Department of Applied Economics, National Research University Higher School of Economics, #2213, 28/11, Shabolovka st, Moscow, 119049, Russia

    Marina Kolosnitsyna, Natalia Khorkina & Hongor Dorzhiev

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  1. Marina Kolosnitsyna
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  2. Natalia Khorkina
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Correspondence to Marina Kolosnitsyna.

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Conflict of Interest

Marina Kolosnitsyna, Natalia Khorkina and Hongor Dorzhiev have received research grants from the Basic Research Program at the National Research University Higher School of Economics.

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This study was funded by the Basic Research Program at the National Research University Higher School of Economics (2015, TOR N38).

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Appendix

Appendix

Correlation matrix (pairwise Pearson correlations)

 

Age

Age^2

Sex

Type of settlement

Health status

Smoking

Education

Income (ln)

Job

Social status

Marital status

Children

Age

1.00

           

Age^2

1.00***

1.00

          

Sex

.05***

.08***

1.00

         

Type of settlement

−.05***

0

−.02***

1.00

        

Health status

−.27***

.30***

−.06***

−.01***

1.00

       

Smoking

−.01***

−.14***

.40***

-,01

−.07***

1.00

      

Education

.05***

−.29***

.00

.22***

−.19***

−.01

1.00

     

Income (ln)

.13*

−.09

.06***

.13***

−.12***

.03

.25***

1.00

    

Job

.1***

−.4***

−.01

.07***

−.24***

.05***

.25***

.49***

1.00

   

Social status

.24***

-,04***

.00

.05***

−.1***

−.01*

.13***

.16***

.12***

1.00

  

Marital status

.10

−.28

.38***

−.04***

−.13

.15***

.11***

.02***

.08***

.04***

1.00

 

Children

.04***

−.09***

.02***

−.06***

−.04***

.01

.00

.02

.05***

.03***

.11***

1.00

  1. *** p < 0.01, ** p < 0.05, * p < 0.1
  2. Number of observations 16,369

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Kolosnitsyna, M., Khorkina, N. & Dorzhiev, H. Determinants of Life Satisfaction in Older Russians. Ageing Int 42, 354–373 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12126-017-9297-3

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