Life-Course SES Disadvantage and Dual-Poverty Trajectories in Later Life: Evidence From China

TL;DR

This study explores how lifelong socioeconomic disadvantages in China affect financial health in later life, identifying different poverty trajectories and the role of early-life and adulthood SES risks.

Contribution

The study introduces a novel asset-based approach to measure financial health and identifies dual-poverty trajectories linked to life-course socioeconomic disadvantages.

Findings

Four dual-poverty trajectories were identified, including persistent non-poor and transitioning from asset poverty to non-poor.

Early-life SES disadvantages were partially mediated by SES risks in early adulthood, influencing later-life poverty.

Persistent disadvantage or downward mobility increased risks of all poverty types.

Abstract

Research on life-course socioeconomic status (SES) and health outcomes in later life has been widely examined, but the application on financial health remains underexplored. Furthermore, financial health measurement tends to be a single dimension focusing on income or assets. To comprehensively understand financial health, this study adopts an asset-based perspective to construct financial health using income and asset poverty as measurements. Guided by the life course models, we examined whether and how four life course models (latency, pathway, cumulative, and mobility) were associated with dual poverty trajectories measured by income and assets. Using 1,976 respondents aged 45 and older from five waves (2011–2018) of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, sequence analysis and multinomial regression were used to examine how SES risk in childhood and early adulthood was associated with dual-poverty trajectories in later-life. Four types of dual-poverty trajectories were identified through sequence analysis: persistent non-poor, persistent asset-only poverty, transitioning to non-poor from asset poverty, and those switched between income and asset poverty. Regression results showed that the relationship between early-life SES disadvantages and later-life poverty was partially mediated by the SES risk in early adulthood. Furthermore, individuals with persistent disadvantage or downward mobility showed higher risks of all types of poverty. Findings highlight the importance of addressing cumulative SES disadvantages in both early-life and adulthood stages. Policies that support education, improve financial literacy, provide financial assistance, and promote asset-building initiatives should be established to promote financial health and economic security in later life.