The Impact of the Life Course on Health Transitions in Germany and the Netherlands

Elena Muth, Rostock Center for the Study of Demographic Change
Gabriele Doblhammer, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research

The aim of this study is to analyze the impact of life course events on the four health transitions between healthy, disabled, and dead (with recovering) and to explain gender differences in health. The life course is modeled with the help of contextual information on fertility and marital status, occupation and experience of unemployment and the combination of these factors. The focus is on early life events in young adulthood as well as on later life events prior to a health event. With logistic regression models the effect of the determining factors and their interplay that lead the health transitions are analyzed with the German Socio-Economic Panel for the period 1984-2007 and with cross-sectional data of the German, Dutch and French Gender and Generation Survey (GGS). Results show distinct differences in terms of fertility and occupational history in the gendered life courses and their impact on the health transitions.