Abstract Both childhood and adulthood socio-economic status (SES) are associated with the health of older adults. However, how lifetime SES shapes older adults’ disability trajectories has not been fully explored. This study aims to investigate whether there are distinctive disability trajectories (encompassing physical and cognitive function) among older adults, and whether lifetime SES accounts for their distinctiveness. Using data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) spanning 2011–2020, we included 6,119 respondents aged 60 and above. We applied the group-based trajectory model (GBTM) to identify distinct disability trajectories and used multinomial logistic regression to examine the association between lifetime SES and disability trajectories. The findings reveal three physical trajectories (low, middle and high risk) and two cognitive trajectories (low risk and high risk) among older adults. Older adults with higher childhood or adulthood SES were more likely to be classified into low-risk physical and cognitive trajectories. Compared to older adults with downward social mobility, those with stable or upward mobility were more likely to be classified into low-risk physical and cognitive trajectories, and these effects exhibit gender and regional heterogeneity. These findings indicate that SES can predict the distinctive disability trajectories of older adults. We should attach great importance to the long-term impacts of lifetime SES on the health of older adults.
Hu et al. (Thu,) studied this question.