Planning for Serious Illness by the General Public: A Population-Based Survey

Table 1

Sociodemographic, health, and experiential characteristics of the sample (by age group and overall).

	18–34 years; n = 237; %	35–54 years; n = 307; %	55–64 years; n = 171; %	>65 years; n = 112; %	Overall; n = 827; %
Sex
Male	46.0	49.2	45.6	47.3	47.3
Female	54.0	50.8	55.4	52.7	52.7
Education
< or completed high  School	12.4	17.8	20.1	14.4	16.1
Some postsecondary	56.0	54.3	52.1	55.0	53.8
completed  Postsecondary	31.6	28.0	27.8	30.6	29.0
Income
<$30,000	14.3	6.8	7.6	11.6	9.8
$30,000 to $59,999	27.4	16.6	15.8	30.4	21.4
$60,000–89,999	19.0	18.9	14.6	19.6	18.1
<$90,000	21.3	38.4	35.1	8.9	28.9
Refused	23.3	19.2	26.9	29.5	21.8
Residence
Large urban	49.4	34.2	43.3	41.1	41.4
Other	50.6	65.8	56.7	58.9	58.6
Health conditions
None	56.5	44.3	27.5	10.7	39.8
One	28.7	28.3	29.2	19.6	27.4
Two or more	14.8	27.4	43.3	69.6	32.8
Involved in funeral planning for relative or close friend
Never	74.3%	36.5%	17.5%	9.8%	39.8%
Once	19.8%	29.3%	24.6%	18.8%	24.2%
Twice or more	5.9%	34.2%	57.9%	71.4%	36.0%