Abstract
Objectives: This paper describes anddiscusses trends in life expectancy inwellbeing between 1989 and 1998.Methods: Data on wellbeing by theBradburn Affect Balance Scale is obtained fromthe Netherlands Continuous Health InterviewSurveys for the calendar years from 1989 to1998. Using Sullivan's method, life expectancyin wellbeing is calculated.Results: For males at the age of 16, lifeexpectancy in wellbeing increases significantlyfrom 52.7 years in 1989 (90.1% of the totallife expectancy) to 54.4 years in 1998(90.8%). This increase is almost completelycaused by the increase in total lifeexpectancy. For females at the age of 16, lifeexpectancy in wellbeing raises significant from54.4 years in 1989 (84.1%) to 56.2 years in1998 (86.3%). This increase is almostcompletely caused by a decrease in the numberof years in a state of distress.For both males and females at the age of 65,the significant increase of life expectancy inwellbeing exceeds the increase in total lifeexpectancy and is mainly caused by the decreasein number of years in distress.Conclusion: Contrary to life expectancyin good perceived health and to disability freelife expectancy – which show a decreasing trend– the overall wellbeing of the population isincreasing. It seems that aspects in human lifethat contribute to wellbeing or quality of lifeother than physical health are gaining inimportance. This makes life expectancy inwellbeing a less appropriate instrument tomonitor changes in population health, but auseful instrument to measure population qualityof life.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Barendregt, J. J., L. Bonneux and P. J. van der Maas: 1994, Health expectancy: an indicator for change? Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 48, pp. 482-487.
Boshuizen, H. C. and H. P. A. van de Water: 1994, An international comparison of health expectancies (TNO Prevention and Health, Leiden).
Bowling, A.: 1997, Measuring health. A review of quality of life measurement scales (Open University Press, Buckingham, Philadelphia).
Bradburn, N. M.: 1969, The structure of psychological well-being (Aldine Publishing, Chicago).
Bradburn, N. M. and D. Caplovitz: 1965, Reports on happiness: a pilot study of behavior related to mental health (Aldine Publishing, Chicago).
Devins, G. M., M. Beiser, R. Dion, L. G. Pelletier and R. G. Edwards: 1997, ‘Cross-cultural measurements of psychological well-being: the psychometric equivalence of Cantonese, Vietnamese, and Laotian translations of the Affect Balance Scale’, American Journal of Public Health 87, pp. 794-799.
Furer, J. W., C. König-Zahn and B. Tax: 1995, ‘Affect Balance Scale (ABS)’, in J. W. Furer, C. König-Zahn and B. Tax (eds.), Beschrijving en Evaluatie van Vragenlijsten: 3: Psychische Gezondheid. (Van Gorcum, Assen, pp. 42-54).
Hagerty, M. R. and R. Veenhoven: 2002, ‘Wealth and happiness revisited: growing wealth of nations does go with greater happiness’, Social Indicators Research (accepted for publication).
Heydendael, P. H. J. M., J. W. Furer, P. P. G. Hodiamont, P. G. M. Peer and E. J. H. ter Heine: 1986, ‘De waarde van vijf screeningstests voor geestelijke (on)gezondheid’, Gezondheid and Samenleving 7, pp. 138-144.
Jagger, C.: 1997, Health expectancy calculation by the Sullivan Method: a practical guide (Euro-REVES/INED, Leicester/Paris).
Kunst, A. E., P. T. Okma-Keulen and R. Veenhoven: 1994, Happy life expectancy in 5 European countries. Paper, presented at XIII World congress of Sociology, Bielefeld, Germany, July 18–23 (Erasmus University, Rotterdam).
Mathers, C. D. and J.-M. Robine: 1997, ‘How good is Sullivan's method for monitoring changes in population health expectancies’, Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 51, pp. 80-86.
Perenboom, R. J. M. and Y. M. Mulder: 2001, Health expectancies of the elderly in the Netherlands. Paper, presented at the 13th meeting of REVES (TNO Prevention and Health, Leiden/Vancouver).
Perenboom, R. J. M., L. M. van Herten, H. C. Boshuizen and H. P. A. van de Water: 1997, ‘Trends in de gezonde levensverwachting in Nederland 1983–1994, met een verdeling naar ernst van ongezondheid’, in P. J. van der Maas and P. G. N. Kramers (eds.), Volksgezondheid Toekomst Verkenning 1997; Deel III: Gezondheid en Levensverwachting Gewogen (Elsevier/de Tijdstroom, Maarsen, pp. 53-77).
Perenboom, R. J. M., H. van Oyen and M. Mutafova: 2002, ‘Health expectancies in European countries’, in J.-M. Robine, C. Jagger, C. D. Mathers, E. M. Crimmins, R. Suzman and REVES (eds.), Determining Health Expectancies (John Wiley &; Sons, Ltd., Chichester).
Robine, J.-M., I. Romieu, E. Cambois, H. P. A. van de Water, H. C. Boshuizen and C. Jagger: 1995, Global assessment in positive health: contribution of the Network on Health Expectancy and the Disability Process to World Health Report 1995 (WHR95) by World Health Organization (WHO) (INSERM/TNO-PG/Univ. of Leicester, Montpellier/Leiden/Leicester).
Robine, J.-M., I. Romieu and M. Jee: 1998, Health Expectancy in OECD countries (INSERM/REVES, Montpellier).
Statistics Netherlands: 1996, Netherlands Health Interview Survey 1981–1995 (Sdu-publishers/CBS-publications, Den Haag/Voorburg/Heerlen).
Sullivan, D. F.: 1971a, ‘A single index of mortality and morbidity’, HSMHA Health Reports 86, pp. 347-354.
Sullivan, D. F.: 1971b, Disability components for an index of health — a methodological study of an aggregative measure of several forms of disability intended for use as one component of a joint mortality-morbidity index (National Center for Health Statistics, Rockville) (US Department of Health, Education, and Welfare — Public Health Service).
van de Water, H. P. A., H. C. Boshuizen, R. J. M. Perenboom, C. D. Mathers and J.-M. Robine: 1995, ‘Health expectancy: an indicator for change? Letter to the editor’, Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 49, pp. 330-331.
Veenhoven, R.: 1996, ‘Happy life expectancy. A comprehensive measure of the quality of life in nations’, Social Indicators Research 39, pp. 1-58.
Ware, J. E., Jr., M. Kosinski and S. D. Keller: 1996, ‘A 12-item Short-form health survey: construction of scales and preliminary test of reliability and validity’, Medical Care 34, pp. 220-226.
Ware, J. E., Jr., K. K. Snow, M. Kosinski and B. Gandek: 1997, SF-36 Health Survey: Manual and interpretation guide (The Health Institute, New England Medical Center, Boston).
Wilkins, R., J. Chen and E. Ng: 1994, ‘Changes in health expectancy in Canada from 1986-1991’, in C. D. Mathers, J. McCallum and J.-M. Robine (eds.), Advances in Health Expectancies (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, AGPS, Canberra, Australia, pp. 115-132).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Perenboom, R., van Herten, L., Boshuizen, H. et al. Trends in life expectancy in wellbeing. Social Indicators Research 65, 227–244 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025822024481
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025822024481