Family Life Trajectories to Living Alone in Later Life: A Comparative Analysis of 28 European Countries

Petra Medimurec , University of Zagreb, Faculty of Economics & Business
Ivan Cipin, University of Zagreb, Faculty of Economics and Business, Department of Demography
Sime Smolic, University of Zagreb, Faculty of Economics & Business

Over the past decades, the prevalence of living alone among older adults has witnessed a considerable rise, particularly in developed countries. Previous studies have shed light on several determinants of living alone in later life, including the influence of gender, marital status, and education. Yet, our knowledge about the heterogeneity in demographic pathways to living alone in later life remains limited. This paper delves into partnership and parenthood biographies of older adults living alone in 28 European countries. The main goals are: first, to identify and describe clusters of similar family life trajectories of older Europeans living alone, and second, to investigate how gender and education jointly influence cluster membership, with specific attention to variations across European welfare regimes. We draw life history data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe and apply sequence and cluster analysis to identify typical family trajectories to living alone. Our preliminary examination reveals five clusters representing the following family life course types: (1) predominantly never partnered and childless, (2) married with 2+ children, (3) partnered childless, (4) married with 1 child, and (5) partnerless parents. To assess how gender and education affect cluster membership across European welfare regimes, we estimate a multinomial logistic regression model. Our first results reveal that the probability of being in each cluster varies by gender and education, and across European welfare regimes. The educational effects are gender-specific, and their joint influence on sorting into each cluster differs considerably across institutional contexts.

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 Presented in Session 19. Trajectories of Singlehood