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Table 3 Demographic and socioeconomic characteristics for 1946–51 cohort and chi-square associations between these characteristics and caring†

From: Socioeconomic factors associated with trajectories of caring by young and mid-aged women: a cohort study

Characteristics Baseline N (%) Latent classes (N = 12,282) x 2
   Overall highest (n = 2,605) Overall lowest (n = 8,618) Low then increasing (n = 1,059)  
Relationship status a      x 2 (2) =1.8
Partnered 11,311 (82.5%) 83.3% 83.7% 85.1%  
Unpartnered 2,336 (17.0%) 16.7% 16.3% 14.9%  
Area of residence      x 2 (4) =4.6
Major city 5,000 (36.4%) 36.1% 35.5% 36.4%  
Inner regional area 5,214 (38.0%) 39.8% 38.3% 38.2%  
Outer regional/remote area 3,498 (25.5%) 24.1% 26.2% 25.4%  
Country of birth b      x 2 (4) =27.6***
Australia 10,306 (75%) 79.5% 75.9% 80.1%  
Other ESB 1,820 (13.3%) 11.0% 14.5% 11.6%  
European/Asia/other non ESB 1,416 (10.3%) 9.5% 9.5% 8.3%  
Occupational status (S3)      x 2 (8) =45.3***
No occupation 2,655 (19.4%) 30.9% 24.7% 23.4%  
Elementary clerical/production 1,251 (9.1%) 11.2% 12.3% 13.5%  
Intermediate clerical/production 1,385 (10.1%) 14.0% 13.4% 12.5%  
Trade/advanced clerical 1,334 (9.7%) 11.3% 13.5% 12.7%  
Manager/professional 3,644 (26.6%) 32.6% 36.1% 37.9%  
Ability to manage on available income      x 2 (6) =25.3***
Impossible/difficult always 2,030 (14.8%) 15.4% 13.7% 14.5%  
Difficult sometimes 3,922 (28.6%) 30.4% 27.5% 31.6%  
Not too bad 5,642 (41.1%) 40.3% 42.9% 38.7%  
Easy 2,035 (14.8%) 13.9% 15.9% 15.2%  
Highest educational qualification      x 2 (8) =16.4*
No formal 2,482 (18.1%) 16.3% 17.7% 15.4%  
≤ 10 years 4,317 (31.5%) 32.5% 31.5% 32.0%  
11-12 years 2,287 (16.7%) 16.8% 16.7% 18.3%  
Trade/certificate/diploma 2,599 (18.9%) 21.3% 19.3% 18.6%  
Degree/higher degree 1,892 (13.8%) 13.1% 14.8% 15.7%  
Labour force participation c      x 2 (4) =26.5***
Not in labour force 3,567 (26.0%) 29.5% 26.8% 24.7%  
Part-time 4,309 (31.4%) 37.2% 34.5% 36.9%  
Full-time 4,571 (33.3%) 33.3% 38.7% 38.4%  
  1. †from latent class analysis; *P ≤ 0.05; ***P ≤ 0.001 (all 2-sided); apartnered = married/defacto, unpartnered = separated/divorced/widowed/single; bESB = English speaking background; cPT = part-time ≤34 hours/week, FT = full-time 35+ hours/week; S3 = asked at survey 3; all variables had ≤1% missing data except for occupational status (25.1%) which was asked at survey 3 and labour force participation (9.2%) which had a high missing as it only asked about main employment and did not consider secondary employment roles.
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BMC Public Health

ISSN: 1471-2458

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