Table 1.
Characteristics of the Observations Included in the Fixed‐Effects Regressions (with GP Visits, Specialist Visits, or Hospitalization as Outcome Variable, Waves 2–4, Pooled)
| GP visits | Specialist Visits | Hospitalization | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time‐constant variables (not included as independent variables in FE regressions) | Female: N (%) | 3,520 (51.2) | 3,549 (49.9) | 1,245 (54.1) |
| Low education (ISCED‐97; 0–2): N (%) | 365 (7.3) | 374 (7.2) | 133 (8.4) | |
| Medium education (ISCED‐97; 3–4): N (%) | 2,576 (51.4) | 2,633 (50.5) | 851 (53.4) | |
| High education (ISCED‐97; 5–6): N (%) | 2,069 (41.3) | 2,204 (42.3) | 609 (38.2) | |
| Outcome variables | GP visits (mean (SD))/specialist visits (mean (SD))/hospitalization (N (%)) | 3.9 (3.1) | 5.7 (5.8) | 1,067 (46.4) |
| Predisposing factors | Age (in years): mean (SD) | 63.1 (11.0) | 63.5 (11.0) | 65.2 (10.8) |
| Married, living together with spouse: N (%) | 5,144 (74.8) | 5,331 (74.9) | 1,709 (74.2) | |
| Working: N (%) | 2,507 (36.4) | 2,493 (35.0) | 641 (27.8) | |
| Retired: N (%) | 3,570 (51.9) | 3,801 (53.4) | 1,420 (61.7) | |
| Other: not employed: N (%) | 805 (11.7) | 822 (11.6) | 241 (10.5) | |
| Enabling resources | Monthly equivalent net income in Euro: mean (SD) | 1,722.9 (1,414.1) | 1782.4 (1,629.9) | 1,727.8 (1,413.6) |
| Need factors | Self‐rated health (from 1 = “very good” to 5 = “very bad”): mean (SD) | 2.4 (0.8) | 2.5 (0.8) | 2.7 (0.8) |
| Number of chronic diseases: mean (SD) | 2.4 (1.8) | 2.5 (1.8) | 2.9 (1.9) | |
| Underweight: N (%) | 43 (0.6) | 47 (0.7) | 20 (0.9) | |
| Normal weight: N (%) | 2,476 (36.0) | 2,619 (36.8) | 763 (33.1) | |
| Overweight: N (%) | 2,907 (42.2) | 2,981 (41.9) | 1,021 (44.4) | |
| Obesity: N (%) | 1,456 (21.2) | 1,469 (20.6) | 498 (21.6) | |
| Currently smoking: N (%) | 1,123 (16.3) | 1,101 (15.5) | 354 (15.4) | |
| Psychological factors | Negative affect (PANAS, Watson, Clark, and Tellegen 1988b): mean (SD); range | 2.0 (0.5); 1–4.5 | 2.0 (0.5); 1–4.5 | 2.1 (0.5); 1–4.4 |
| Positive affect (PANAS, Watson, Clark, and Tellegen 1988b): mean (SD); range | 3.5 (0.5); 1–5 | 3.5 (0.5); 1–5 | 3.5 (0.5); 1–5 | |
| Life satisfaction (SWLS, Pavot and Diener 1993): mean (SD); range | 3.8 (0.7); 1–5 | 3.8 (0.7); 1–5 | 3.8 (0.7); 1–5 | |
| Self‐efficacy (Snyder et al. 1991): mean (SD); range | 3.1 (0.4); 1–4 | 3.1 (0.4); 1–4 | 3.0 (0.4); 1.1–4 | |
| Loneliness (Gierveld and Van Tilburg 2006): mean (SD); range | 1.7 (0.5); 1–4 | 1.7 (0.5); 1–4 | 1.7 (0.5); 1–3.5 | |
| Flexible goal adjustment (Flex, Brandtstädter, and Renner 1990): mean (SD); range | 3.6 (0.5); 1–5 | 3.6 (0.5); 1–5 | 3.6 (0.5); 1.1–5 | |
| Self‐esteem (Rosenberg 1965; Ferring and Filipp 1996): mean (SD); range | 3.4 (0.4); 1.3–4 | 3.4 (0.4); 1.3–4 | 3.4 (0.4); 1.5–5 | |
| Optimism (Brandtstädter and Wentura 1994): mean (SD); range | 2.9 (0.6); 1–4 | 2.9 (0.6); 1–4 | 2.9 (0.6); 1–4 | |
| Observations | 6,882 | 7,116 | 2,302 |