[Social participation of the 55-64 year olds: is the new generation more socially active than its predecessor?]

Nowadays people speak of the 'new' generation of young old who would be healthier and more socially active compared to the earlier generation. Using data from the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam it was examined to what degree this is a realistic image. The study compared the social participation level of 55-64 year olds in 1992 and the same age group in 2002, and aimed to explain the differences from cohort differences in four determinants of participation: level of education, labour participation, health and partner status. Descriptive analyses showed that the younger cohort was more actively involved in voluntary organisations and participated more often in cultural and leisure activities compared to the older cohort. In addition, the younger cohort was more highly educated, yet reported more functional disabilities, and more often hold paid jobs compared to the older cohort. No cohort differences were found with respect to the proportion of married persons. Logistic regression analyses showed that the higher level of social participation of the younger cohort was mainly due to the higher level of education, but that this effect was reduced by the larger disability of the younger cohort. Job and partner status did not explain the cohort differences in social participation. It is concluded that the current young old are more socially active and higher educated than their predecessors. Their (somewhat) worse health status, however, asks for a more nuanced image of the 'new' young old.