The Persistence of Hardship over the Life Course

Thomas L. Hungerford, U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA)

Social scientists have long known that the elderly are an extraordinarily diverse group - for example, some elderly people are poor and others are extremely well-off. This paper focuses on one aspect of old-age heterogeneity: the persistence of hardship from middle-age to old-age. The cumulative advantage-disadvantage model hypothesizes that the effects of early advantages and disadvantages cumulate over the life course. Two implications follow directly from this model (1) heterogeneity increases over the life course, and (2) stratification of economic status over the life course. This study examines the relationship of persistent hardship in middle-age (poverty, welfare receipt, unmarried) to adverse outcomes at age 66 (poverty, welfare receipt, unmarried, poor health and death before age 66). The data for this study come from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID). The results show that individuals who experience persistent middle-age hardships are significantly (statistically) more likely to experience adverse old-age outcomes.