Table 1.
Socio-demographic characteristics among females and males in CLSA baseline by sexual orientation (N = 51,208)
| Characteristic | Female (n = 26,086) | Male (n = 25,122) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heterosexual (n = 25,688) 95% CI |
Lesbian and bisexual | Heterosexual (n = 24,463) Mean or % (95% CI) |
Gay and bisexual | |||||
| Total (n = 398) Mean or % (95% CI) |
Lesbian (n = 275) Mean or % (95% CI) |
Bisexual (n = 123) Mean or % (95% CI) |
Total (n = 659) Mean or % (95% CI) |
Gay (n = 528) Mean or % (95% CI) |
Bisexual (n = 131) Mean or % (95% CI) |
|||
| Age, years | *** | *** | ** | |||||
| 60.26 (60.13–60.39) | 56.42 (55.58–57.25) | 56.5 (55.4–57.49) | 56.3 (54.4–58.2) | 59.8 (59.6–59.9) | 56.9 (56.3–57.6) | 56.4 (55.6–57.2) | 59.2 (57.4–61.1) | |
| Marital status | *** | *** | *** | * | ||||
| Married/common law | 68.6 (68.0–69.2) | 64.4 (59.4–69.11) | 71.1 (64.7–76.7) | 48.6 (38.3–59.1) | 82.9 (82.4–83.3) | 46.5 (42.3–50.8) | 45.7 (40.4–51.0) | 50.3 (39.7–60.8) |
| Single | 7.7 (7.4–8.1) | 21.8 (18.0–26.3) | 20.8 (15.8–26.7) | 24.4 (17.0–33.8) | 6.6 (6.2–6.9) | 40.2 (36.1–44.4) | 42.9 (37.8–48.2) | 28.5 (20.0–38.8) |
| Divorced/separated | 13.3 (12.9–13.7) | 10.2 (7.7–13.4) | 6.6 (4.1–10.6) | 18.6 (12.4–26.9) | 7.6 (7.3–8.0) | 9.8 (7.7–12.4) | 8.5 (6.2–11.5) | 15.4 (9.5–24.2) |
| Widowed | 10.4 (10.0–10.7) | 3.6 (2.2–5.6) | 1.5 (0.7–3.5) | 8.4 (4.6–14.9) | 3.0 (2.8–3.1) | 3.5 (2.4–5.0) | 2.9 (1.8–4.7) | 5.8 (2.7–12.0) |
| Ethnicity | ||||||||
| White | 95.2 (94.9–95.5) | 94.1 (91.1–96.2) | 95.0 (90.9–97.4) | 92.1 (84.3–96.2) | 93.7 (93.4–94.1) | 95.7 (93.6–97.2) | 95.7 (92.8–97.5) | 95.8 (90.3–98.2) |
| Education | ** | ** | ||||||
| Less than secondary | 6.5 (6.2–6.8) | 2.0 (1.0–4.0) | 1.8 (0.1–4.6) | 2.5 (0.01–8.7) | 5.7 (5.4–6.0) | 4.0 (2.5–6.4) | 2.9 (1.4–6.1) | 9.0 (4.5–17.0) |
| Secondary graduation, no post-secondary | 11.8 (11.3–12.2) | 9.2 (6.6–12.7) | 9.3 (6.0–14.4) | 8.9 (4.5–16.8) | 9.8 (9.4–10.3) | 7.3 (5.5–9.6) | 6.0 (4.1–8.7) | 13.1 (7.9–10.8) |
| Some post-secondary | 7.3 (6.9–7.6) | 7.9 (5.5–11.3) | 7.2 (4.4–11.6) | 9.6 (4.6–18.8) | 7.0 (0.07–7.4) | 8.3 (6.2–11.0) | 7.2 (4.9–10.4) | 12.9 (6.9–22.9) |
| Post-secondary degree/diploma | 74.5 (74.0–75.1) | 80.1 (76.4–84.7) | 81.7 (75.7–86.4) | 79.0 (68.9–86.5) | 77.5 (76.9–78.04) | 80.4 (76.8–83.6) | 84.0 (79.6–87.5) | 65.1 (54.5–74.3) |
| Retirement | *** | * | ** | * | ||||
| Completely retired | 40.3 (39.8–41.0) | 23.6 (19.7–27.9) | 27.0 (21.5–33.3) | 15.5 (9.7–24.0) | 32.0 (31.4–32.6) | 27.1 (23.8–30.7) | 25.2 (21.3–29.5) | 35.3 (26.4–45.4) |
| Partly retired | 8.4 (8.1–8.8) | 8.3 (5.2–11.5) | 5.5 (3.1–9.5) | 14.9 (8.9–23.8) | 11.1 (10.7–11.6) | 9.7 (7.7–12.2) | 8.6 (6.4–11.6) | 14.23 (8.5–22.9) |
| Not retired | 51.2 (50.6–51.9) | 68.2 (63.3–72.6) | 67.5 (60.9–73.6) | 69.6 (56.7–78.0) | 56.8 (56.2–57.5) | 63.2 (59.2–61.0) | 66.2 (61.4–70.7) | 50.5 (39.8–61.1) |
| Household income per year | * | *** | ||||||
| ≥ $100,000 | 31.7 (31.1–32.4) | 35.7 (30.7–41.1) | 38.9 (32.2–46.1) | 28.1 (19.4–38.8) | 42.8 (42.1–43.5) | 34.9 (30.8–39.3) | 37.3 (32.2–42.7) | 24.8 (16.5–35.5) |
| $50,000–$99,999 | 31.9 (31.3–32.5) | 33.3 (28.6–38.5) | 33.3 (27.0–40.3) | 33.5 (24.4–44.0) | 33.5 (32.9–34.2) | 33.3 (29.5–37.4) | 32.9 (28.2–38.0) | 35.0 (25.9–45.3) |
| $20,000–$49,999 | 23.3 (22.8–23.9) | 18.8 (15.2–23.0) | 17.3 (12.8–23.0) | 22.2 (15.2–31.3) | 16.6 (16.1–17.0) | 20.0 (17.4–23.8) | 19.7 (16.3–23.8) | 23.2 (15.4–33.5) |
| < $20,000 | 5.7 (5.5–6.0) | 7.8 (5.5–10.8) | 5.9 (3.5–9.8) | 12.2 (7.0–20.5) | 3.3 (3.0–3.5) | 8.2 (6.1–10.8) | 7.0 (4.7–10.1) | 13.3 (7.6–22.1) |
| Refused/Don’t know | 7.3 (7.0–7.7) | 4.4 (2.7–7.2) | 4.6 (2.4–8.7) | 4.1 (1.4–11.0) | 3.9 (3.6–4.1) | 3.2 (2.1–4.9) | 3.1 (1.8–5.3) | 3.8 (1.5–9.1) |
| Residence (urban) | ** | * | ||||||
| 85.0 (84.6–85.5) | 87.8 (83.6–91.0) | 86.9 (81.3.5–91.0) | 89.9 (80.695.0) | 85.95 (85.5–86.4) | 90.27 (87.6–92.4) | 91.8 (88.8–94.0) | 83.9 (75.1–89.9) | |
| Children in household | *** | *** | *** | *** | ||||
| 2.3 (2.2–2.3) | 1.0 (0.9–1.2) | 0.8 (0.7–1.0) | 1.5 (1.2–1.8) | 2.2 (2.2–2.2) | 0.6 (0.5–0.7) | 0.4 (0.3–0.5) | 1.5 (1.2–1.9) | |
| Living alone | *** | *** | ||||||
| 21.0 (20.6–21.5) | 24.3 (20.4–28.7) | 17.6 (13.4–22.9) | 40.1 (30.7–50.3) | 11.3 (11.0–11.7) | 38.8 (34.9–42.9) | 39.2 (34.3–44.3) | 37.4 (28.1–47.8) | |
| Province | ** | *** | ** | |||||
| Alberta | 9.3 (9.1–9.5) | 6.6 (4.3–9.8) | 6.4 (4.2–9.5) | 7.0 (3.7–12.7) | 10.6 (10.4–10.9) | 6.5 (4.5–9.2) | 6.1 (4.6–8.0) | 8.3 (3.8–17.2) |
| British Columbia | 17.1 (16.9–17.4) | 24.1 (20.0–28.7) | 23.0 (19.5–27.0) | 26.6 (19.7–34.8) | 17.3 (17.0–17.5) | 18.8 (15.7–22.3) | 18.4 (16.2–20.8) | 20.6 (13.1–30.7) |
| Manitoba | 8.7 (8.6–8.9) | 12.4 (9.4–16.2) | 13.3 (10.8–16.1) | 10.4 (6.0–17.3) | 9.2 (9.0–9.4) | 5.8 (4.1–8.2) | 6.5 (5.3–8.0) | 2.8 (1.0–7.3) |
| New Brunswick | 2.7 (2.6–2.7) | 1.7 (8.0–3.6) | 1.4 (0.8–2.5) | 2.4 (1.0–5.8) | 2.6 (2.5–2.7) | 3.7 (2.5–5.5) | 4.0 (3.2–5.1) | 2.3 (0.8–6.7) |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 7.0 (6.9–7.2) | 6.9 (4.7–10.1) | 7.6 (5.6–10.1) | 5.4 (2.3–12.1) | 6.5 (6.4–6.7) | 3.9 (2.6–5.7) | 3.4 (2.3–4.9) | 5.9 (3.5–9.7) |
| Nova Scotia | 9.6 (9.4–9.7) | 9.5 (6.7–13.4) | 9.4 (6.8–12.8) | 9.8 (5.3–17.7) | 8.5 (8.3–8.7) | 7.6 (5.7–10.2) | 7.6 (6.2–9.3) | 7.7 (4.0–14.5) |
| Ontario | 21.6 (21.4–21.8) | 17.3 (14.0–22.3) | 17.1 (13.8–20.9) | 19.3 (12.8–28.0) | 21.7 (21.5–22.0) | 26.3 (22.8–30.2) | 26.8 (24.2–26.5) | 25.4 (17.2–33.5) |
| Prince Edward Island | 2.2 (2.2–2.3) | 1.7 (0.8–3.5) | 2.4 (1.9–2.9) | 0 (0.0–0.0) | 2.2 (2.1–2.3) | 2.7 (1.7–4.3) | 2.2 (1.6–3.2) | 4.9 (2.3–10.2) |
| Quebec | 19.0 (18.8–19.2) | 17.3 (13.7–21.6) | 17.7 (14.6–21.4) | 16.3 (10.8–23.9) | 18.7 (18.4–18.9) | 22.1 (18.8–25.9) | 23.8 (21.1–26.8) | 15.0 (9.9–22.2) |
| Saskatchewan | 2.7 (2.7–2.8) | 2.1 (1.1–4.0) | 1.8 (0.9–3.7) | 2.8 (1.1–6.7) | 2.7 (2.6–2.8) | 2.5 (1.5–4.2) | 1.2 (0.7–2.3) | 8.0 (4.4–14.3) |
Tests first compared demographic characteristics between heterosexual and non-heterosexual participants of the same sex. Next, demographic characteristics were contrasted between homosexual (i.e., lesbian or gay) and bisexual participants of the same sex. All analyses accounted for complex survey by applying the analytic weights for the pooled CLSA sample
CI confidence interval
*p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001