Attrition and health in ageing studies: evidence from ELSA and HRS

Authors

  • James Banks Institute for Fiscal Studies and University College London
  • Alastair Muriel Institute for Fiscal Studies
  • James P Smith RAND Corporation

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14301/llcs.v2i2.115

Abstract

This paper investigates the characteristics associated with attrition in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) and the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), with a particular focus on whether attrition is systematically related to health outcomes and socioeconomic status. 

 

We have three main results. Firstly, raw attrition is greater in ELSA than in HRS but the potential survey-based explanations for this that we are able to consider do not, taken together, appear to explain the extent of this difference. Second, these differential attrition rates do not change the core conclusions regarding comparisons between the two countries of health and socioeconomic status. Finally, very few observable characteristics predict attrition in either study among those in their seventies. In the group aged 55-64, wealth appears to predict attrition in the U.S. (but not in England), and low education predicts attrition in England (but not the U.S.).  Since the more serious attrition problem exists in ELSA, we conduct additional analysis of attrition in that survey. We find that respondents' level of numeracy strongly predicts attrition, but this does not account for the education gradient in attrition in ELSA.

Author Biographies

James Banks, Institute for Fiscal Studies and University College London

Professor of Economics at University College London and Deputy Research Director at the Institute for Fiscal Studies

Alastair Muriel, Institute for Fiscal Studies

Senior Research Economist at the Institute for Fiscal Studies

James P Smith, RAND Corporation

Senior Economist at The RAND Corporation

Downloads

Issue

Vol. 2 No. 2 (2011): Longitudinal and Life Course Studies

Section

Special Section

License

Authors who published with Longitudinal and Life Course Studies Volumes 1–9 agreed to the following terms:

1. Authors retain copyright and grant the Journal right of first publication with the work, simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.

2. Following first publication in this Journal, Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal, provided always that no charge is made for its use.

3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g. in institutional repositories or on their own website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.