abstract: 'Background Previous research has highlighted the importance of

  accumulated life-course labour market status and the balancing of

  multiple roles for understanding inequalities in health in later life.

  This may be particularly important for women, who are increasingly

  required to balance work and family life in liberal welfare contexts,

  such as in Britain.

  Methods This study analyses retrospective life history data for 2160

  women aged 64+ years (born 1909-1943) from the English Longitudinal

  Study of Ageing, collected in 2006-2007 as part of an ongoing panel

  study. Optimal matching and cluster analyses are used to produce a

  taxonomy of women''s life-course economic activity trajectories based on

  their experiences between ages 16 and 64 years. This classification is

  then used in logistic regression analysis to investigate associations

  with self-rated health in later life.

  Results A set of five trajectories emerge as the dominant patterns of

  women''s economic activity over the life course for those cohorts of

  English women born prior to 1943: (1) full-time workers; (2) family

  carers; (3) full-time returners; (4) part-time returners; (5)

  atypical/inactive. Regression analyses show that women who experience

  defined periods of full-time work both before and after focusing on

  family life appear to have the most favourable later life health

  outcomes.

  Conclusions The findings are discussed with reference to the

  accumulation of social and economic resources over the life course and

  the balancing of multiple roles in work and family domains. In

  conclusion, the development of policies that facilitate women, if they

  wish, to successfully combine paid employment with family life could

  have a positive impact on their health in later life.'
affiliation: 'Stone, J (Corresponding Author), Univ Southampton, Sch Social Sci, ESRC
  Ctr Populat Change, Room 2043,Bldg 58, Southampton S017 1BJ, Hants, England.

  Stone, Juliet; Evandrou, Maria; Falkingham, Jane; Vlachantoni, Athina, Univ Southampton,
  ESRC Ctr Populat Change, Southampton S017 1BJ, Hants, England.

  Evandrou, Maria; Vlachantoni, Athina, Univ Southampton, Ctr Res Ageing, Southampton
  S017 1BJ, Hants, England.'
author: Stone, Juliet and Evandrou, Maria and Falkingham, Jane and Vlachantoni, Athina
author-email: j.stone@soton.ac.uk
author_list:
- family: Stone
  given: Juliet
- family: Evandrou
  given: Maria
- family: Falkingham
  given: Jane
- family: Vlachantoni
  given: Athina
da: '2023-09-28'
doi: 10.1136/jech-2014-204777
eissn: 1470-2738
files: []
issn: 0143-005X
journal: JOURNAL OF EPIDEMIOLOGY AND COMMUNITY HEALTH
keywords-plus: 'ROLE ACCUMULATION; MULTIPLE ROLES; SOCIAL ROLES; FAMILY-LIFE; ROLE

  STRAIN; BRITISH; WORK; BRITAIN; PERSPECTIVE; EMPLOYMENT'
language: English
month: SEP
number: '9'
number-of-cited-references: '48'
orcid-numbers: 'Falkingham, Jane/0000-0002-7135-5875

  Vlachantoni, Athina/0000-0003-1539-3057'
pages: 873-879
papis_id: 89eb936f39fb2127525bfd838b202426
ref: Stone2015womenseconomic
times-cited: '23'
title: 'Women''s economic activity trajectories over the life course: implications
  for the self-rated health of women aged 64+in England'
type: Article
unique-id: WOS:000359388800009
usage-count-last-180-days: '1'
usage-count-since-2013: '18'
volume: '69'
web-of-science-categories: Public, Environmental \& Occupational Health
year: '2015'