Does the beginning and the end of income poverty affect psychosocial factors among middle-aged and older adults? Findings based on nationally representative longitudinal data

Purpose The objective of this study was to determine whether the onset and the end of income poverty were associated with psychosocial factors (depressive symptoms, optimism, loneliness, social isolation, and subjective well-being). Methods For this study, nationally representative longitudinal data were drawn from the German Ageing Survey (wave 5 and wave 6 with n = 8534 in the analytical sample), covering community-dwelling individuals 40 years and over. Widely used and well-established measures were used to quantify psychosocial factors. Asymmetric linear fixed effects (FE) regressions were used. Results Conv…