Older Women in Poverty: The Impact of Midlife Factors

This study investigates the factors contributing to older women's economic well-being from a life course perspective, assessing the effects of both midlife characteristics and later life events on women between the ages of 66-70, and 71-85. Using the 1968-1997 Panel Study of Income Dynamics, the findings suggest that midlife characteristics such as workforce participation, income, and rural residence are strongly related to economic outcomes in old age. Late-life events and characteristics, however, also contribute significantly to economic outcomes even when midlife factors are incorporated into analyses. In addition, both midlife and later life characteristics contribute to the persistence of poverty in old age, with many groups of ever poor women finding themselves in poverty for over 50% of their old age years. Key Words: earnings, elderly, income, marital status, poverty, women. Poverty rates among older adults in the United States have dropped dramatically in the past 30 years. The poverty rate for people over 65 fell from 24% in 1970 to 10.5% in 1995 (Villa, Wallace, & Markides, 1997). Cross-sectional poverty rates, however, underestimate the extent of poverty among older adults (Choudhury & Leonesio, 1997; Holden, 1988). Rank and Hirschl (1999), for example, found that 40% of the elderly population experience a year below the poverty line at some point in old age. Older women are twice as likely to be living in poverty as older men (Choudhury & Leonesio, 1997; Quinn, 1993). African American older women are twice as likely to be in poverty as their White counterparts and both Black and White women face a greater likelihood of poverty as they move through the elderly lifespan (Jakobi, 1991; O'Rand, 1996; Richardson, 1999). An awareness of women's continuing economic vulnerability in old age has prompted interest in the impact that events across the lifespan may have on older women's economic well-being. In this study, we present data in which both a range of earlier life circumstances as well as events in old age can be evaluated in terms of their relative impact on the economic well-being of older women. We specifically focus on outcomes in old age rather than lifetime risks of poverty. The methodology we use allows us to assess the importance of women's earlier life circumstances on late-life poverty while also examining the impact of events and characteristics in old age. Such an approach extends the current state of empirical knowledge about the poverty of older women and explores the mechanisms through which the feminization of poverty remains problematic across the lifespan. A number of studies focusing on the experience of widowhood suggest that this event is associated with a decline in economic well-being for both younger and older women (Bound, Duncan, Laren, & Oleinick, 1991; Burkhauser, Butler, & Holden, 1991; Zick & Smith, 1991). Widows appear more likely to experience a spell of poverty in old age than intact couples (Holden, Burkhauser & Myers, 1986), and the death of a spouse has been found to be strongly associated with an increased risk of poverty for older women (Burkhauser et al., 1991; Holden & Smock, 1991). Although widowhood is also an event more likely to be experienced by lower income than higher income women, its effects on poverty status appear to remain even when this is taken into account (Holden et al., 1986; Holden & Smock). Most studies of widowhood do not study this event in combination with earlier life events, although one study by Smith and Zick (1986) did find that years of work experience prior to widowhood decreased the likelihood of poverty following the death of a spouse for both men and women. Other studies have focused on a range of other late-life factors that may increase the likelihood or length of poverty for women in old age. More advanced age and length of time in poverty have been associated with a lower likelihood of exiting from poverty (Dodge, 1995). …