ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses ways in which the experience and behaviour of service users differed across the sample studied. Such findings have been interpreted in terms of self-reported health status, gender, socio-economic group and levels of social support. The chapter reveals a number of associations between socio-economic grouping and user experience and behaviour, as related to health state. The age group under study was deliberately chosen as the one with the longest experience of using health and social care services prior to the 1990 reform of welfare, a factor which must underlie and influence their current attitudes and interpretation of events. Socio-demographic characteristics may be of use in discussing more long-term health trends and any possible influence on experience and behaviour in health and social care. The variable 'pension' was used as an indicator of socio-economic grouping due to the significant association of whether respondents received a pension other than the state retirement pension with former occupational grouping and housing tenure.
