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Age, Education, and the Sense of Control

A Test of the Cumulative Advantage Hypothesis

University of Miami

Recent U.S. surveys indicate that older people report a lower sense of control. Moreover, education and impairment explain some of that association. What explains the rest? The author proposes that education, marital and employment statuses, health, financial satisfaction, and religious involvement influence the age differences in control. Using data from a 1996 sample of 1,421 U.S. residents, the author documents an inverted U-shaped association between age and control. Lower education and higher rates of widowhood and retirement account for about 67 percent of older adults’ lower control. Greater financial satisfaction and religious involvement suppresses part of that effect. Similarly, education, marital status, and employment status explain about 54 percent of the linear age effect. Were it not for lower financial satisfaction and declining self-reported health during young and middle adulthood, the age effect would be even stronger. Results support the Cumulative Advantage hypothesis: Education buffers against erosion in control during the later years.

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