How does the onset of incontinence affect satisfaction with life among older women and men? Findings from a nationally representative longitudinal study (German Ageing Survey)

Table 2 Determinants of life satisfaction. Results of linear FE regression analysis

Independent variables	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)
Independent variables	Total sample	Men	Women	Total sample - with interaction term incontinence x sex
Age	0.02***	0.03***	0.01	0.02***
Age	(0.00)	(0.01)	(0.01)	(0.00)
Marital status: Divorced/Widowed/Single (Ref.: married, living together with spouse)	0.07	0.18*	−0.03	0.07
	(0.07)	(0.09)	(0.11)	(0.07)
Employment status: (Ref.: Employed)
- Retired	−0.03	−0.04	− 0.02	− 0.03
- Retired	(0.05)	(0.07)	(0.07)	(0.05)
- Other (not employed)	−0.12**	−0.13+	− 0.13*	−0.12**
- Other (not employed)	(0.05)	(0.07)	(0.06)	(0.05)
Number of important people in regular contact	−0.00	−0.00	0.00	−0.00
Number of important people in regular contact	(0.00)	(0.00)	(0.00)	(0.00)
Self-rated health (from 1 = very good to 5 = bad)	−0.06***	−0.07**	− 0.04+	−0.06***
Self-rated health (from 1 = very good to 5 = bad)	(0.02)	(0.02)	(0.02)	(0.02)
Physical functioning (from 0 = worst score to 100 = best score)	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
	(0.00)	(0.00)	(0.00)	(0.00)
Depression (CES-D ≥ 18)	−0.21***	−0.22**	−0.21**	− 0.21***
Depression (CES-D ≥ 18)	(0.05)	(0.08)	(0.06)	(0.05)
Presence of physician-diagnosed incontinence (Ref.: Absence of physician-diagnosed incontinence)	−0.08	− 0.25**	0.05	− 0.21*
	(0.06)	(0.09)	(0.08)	(0.09)
Interaction term: incontinence x sex (Ref.: men)				0.23*
Interaction term: incontinence x sex (Ref.: men)				(0.11)
Constant	2.71***	1.98***	3.37***	2.71***
Constant	(0.27)	(0.39)	(0.39)	(0.27)
Observations	9869	4995	4874	9869
Number of Individuals	6959	3539	3420	6959
R²	0.03	0.05	0.02	0.03

Notes: Beta-Coefficients are reported; Cluster-robust standard errors in parentheses. The Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) was used to quantify life satisfaction [19]. The Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) was used to quantify depression [32]. Physical functioning was measured by the subscale “Physical Functioning” of SF-36 (0–100 range) [31]. The Stata command for FE regression analysis (‘xtreg, fe’) include individuals with only one observation in calculating the number of observations because these individuals provide information about the variance components, the constant, the between R² and so on. Nevertheless, it does not affect the beta-coefficients as well as the standard errors
*** p < .001, ** p < .01, * p < .05, + p < .10

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