Measuring the Impacts of Resilience on the Level of Subjective Wellbeing of the Elderly in Switzerland.

People aged 60 or older are often considered as being economically and socially vulnerable. Most of them are out of the labour force and their economic resources (e.g. pensions, rents and cumulated wealth) are sometimes too scarce to maintain a good level of quality of life. In addition to this, many individuals experience a reduction in their social capital when they retire because they have fewer contacts with colleagues and friends. Consequently, a clear majority of this group experience more often feelings of loneliness, isolation or depression compared to those who are still active on the labour market. Therefore, resilience to possible negative life events, such as the death of a closely related person, the occurrence of a severe health problem or the onset of a disability status, is crucial to preserve a decent level of subjective wellbeing for these people.

This paper aims at identifying which resources (i.e. presence of a closely related person, family and friends, economic assets) allow people aged 60 or older to buffer the negative effects of a critical life event. This study provides insights on the resources that can be mobilised to overcome a negative event, and resilience is evaluated from the perspective of subjective wellbeing.

For the analyses, we use the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). Data are available since 2004, and six waves are currently at our disposal (2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2013 and 2015). Models are estimated for each individual, before and after the occurrence of a negative event, using fixed-effect regressions.