scholarly journals The networked question in the digital era: How do networked, bounded, and limited individuals connect at different stages in the life course?

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 291-312 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barry Wellman ◽  
Anabel Quan-Haase ◽  
Molly-Gloria Harper
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Digital Media ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Life Stages ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Digital Era ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Networked Individualism

AbstractWe used in-depth interviews with 101 participants in the East York section of Toronto, Canada to understand how digital media affects social connectivity in general—and networked individualism in particular—for people at different stages of the life course. Although people of all ages intertwined their use of digital media with their face-to-face interactions, younger adults used more types of digital media and have more diversified personal networks. People in different age-groups conserved media, tending to stick with the digital media they learned to use in earlier life stages. Approximately one-third of the participants were Networked Individuals: In each age-group, they were the most actively using digital media to maintain ties and to develop new ones. Another one-third were Socially Bounded, who often actively used digital media but kept their connectivity within a smaller set of social groups. The remaining one-third, who were Socially Limited, were the least likely to use digital media. Younger adults were the most likely to be Networked Individuals, leading us to wonder if the percentage of the population who are Bounded or Limited will decline over time.

Folklore and Folklife of American Age Groups and Aging

2018 ◽  
pp. 844-866
Author(s):  
Mary L. Sellers
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Group Identity ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
The United States ◽  
Childhood And Adolescence ◽  
Folk Traditions ◽  
Values And Beliefs ◽  
Infancy And Early Childhood ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Pregnancy And Birth

Folklore occurs at every stage of a person’s life, and this chapter covers the way folklore and folklife across, and of, the life course has been studied. Six divisions in the life course that mark traditions of age groups as well as perceived stages in the United States are pregnancy and birth, infancy and early childhood, childhood and adolescence, adulthood, seniority, and death. Although much of the scholarship of age groups has been on the beginning and end of life, I demonstrate the conditions of aging in adolescence through the senior years that generate folklore and should be studied in relation to formation of age-group identity. This chapter emphasizes the use of folklore as an adaptation to aging. It examines the connection of folk traditions to the role that anxiety plays in the aging process, the formation of self and group identity, and the rites of passage that mark transitions from one stage to another. It shows that the presence of invented and emerging traditions indicates changing values and beliefs across the life course and encourages research in age-based research as a basic component of folklore and folklife studies.

Partner Selection Across the Life-Course: Age Variation in Partner Preferences in the Czech Republic

2021 ◽  
pp. 136078042199237
Author(s):  
Jana Klímová Chaloupková ◽  
Renáta Topinková ◽  
Markéta Šetinová
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Older Women ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Financial Resources ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Partner Preferences ◽  
Age Variation ◽  
The Life Course

The proportion of people seeking a partner later in life has increased in recent decades. However, studies exploring age variation in partner preferences are quite rare. We aim to fill this gap by examining the partner preferences for household care skills, financial resources, and education of unpartnered individuals aged 19–65 years ( n = 1145) who participated in speed-dating events in the Czech Republic. We hypothesized that the importance of these characteristics varies with age, and that this variance may differ for men and women. The results show that gender differences concerning these characteristics are mostly stable across age groups. The exception is the importance of household care skills, which increases for older men and decreases for older women. We found that older adults value financial resources more than younger adults, and that this increase is true for women and men. Finally, we did not find evidence that the importance of education differs with age.

Families, Relationships, and Technology

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raelene Wilding
Keyword(s):  
Digital Media ◽  
Family Life ◽  
Social Transformation ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Aged Care ◽  
Cultural Norms ◽  
Rapid Changes ◽  
And Migration ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Family Connection

Digital media are transforming families and relationships. Whether these changes are best thought of as positive or negative needs to be considered within a larger context of social transformation, in which changing gender roles and labor markets, cultural norms of intimacy and relationships, and globalization and migration are also contributing to rapid changes in family life. Drawing on recent theoretical developments that emphasize family as a set of practices and digital media as simultaneously social and technological, this chapter considers the intersections of family and technology across the life course, from partnering to pregnancy and adoption to parenting, family support, and aged care. The evidence suggests a mixed impact of digital media on family life. The popularity of digital media suggests that there is a strong desire for families to remain in touch and that people use digital media to maintain strong bonds of intimacy and family connection, even when circumstances require them to live at a distance. In some cases, access to digital media is contributing to the democratization of relationships across gender, class, and age groups. At the same time, it appears that digital media are also capable of both reinforcing existing inequalities and generating new asymmetries of power. To illustrate these complex trends, examples are drawn from a rich and growing body of research on how families are using digital media around the world and with what consequences, including the experiences of migrants and refugees.

scholarly journals ARABIC LEARNING IN THE DIGITAL ERA: APPROACH IN ONLINE SYSTEM

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 73
Author(s):  
Zainul Arifin ◽  
Suci Ramadhanti Febriani ◽  
Hendri Yahya Saputra ◽  
Anasruddin Anasruddin
Keyword(s):  
Digital Media ◽  
Digital Technology ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Online Classes ◽  
Data Display ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Online System ◽  
Digital Era ◽  
Learning Conditions ◽  
Data Grouping

One alternative to learning Arabic in the digital era is through online learning using digital technology. The process of learning Arabic in Indonesia has developed rapidly in recent times. The transition from face-to-face to online classes requires adjustments in the learning approach. This research used literature review method. Sources of data were books, articles, and other relevant sources. Data were analyzed through data collection procedures, data grouping, data display, and drawing conclusion. The validity of the data was tested through source and technical triangulation. The result of the study indicated that there are three appropriate approaches for learning Arabic online in this digital era, namely the contextual approach, constructivism approach, and behaviorism approach. The choice of approach should meet the students’ needs and learning conditions. Each approach could be implemented through a variety of methods and techniques. The integration of these three approaches in learning Arabic online provides broad opportunities for students to study independently and develop language skills aspects through various available digital media platforms.

La lenta affermazione delle convivenze prematrimoniali in Italia

2013 ◽  
pp. 53-62
Author(s):  
Monica Santoro
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Parental Home ◽  
Financial Condition ◽  
Functional Aspects ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Religious Aspects ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Leaving The Parental Home ◽  
Instrumental Reasons

The aim of this article is to investigate the phenomenon of cohabitation in Italy through Istat data on the cohabitation trends in the last decades and the results of a qualitative research, based on in-depth interviews among people who cohabited or married after cohabitation, with or without children. The analysis of the interviews shows that the meaning of cohabitation changes according to the experiences of leaving the parental home and the life course stages crossed by interviewees. Marriage is valued for its legal and functional aspects, as a protection of the less financial independent partner. So it becomes a necessity only if the financial condition between partners is unbalanced in order to redress this asymmetry. If the partner conditions are equal - which is the case of the interviewees - marriage does not add benefits. Therefore all social and religious aspects of marriage are excluded by interviewees who were married or plan to marry only for instrumental reasons.

scholarly journals Exploration of Finnish adults’ successful weight management over the life course: a qualitative study

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anu Joki ◽  
Johanna Mäkelä ◽  
Hanna Konttinen ◽  
Mikael Fogelholm
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Weight Management ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Normal Weight ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Active Lifestyle ◽  
Health Promoting ◽  
High Level ◽  
The Life Course

Abstract Background Despite the current obesogenic environment creating challenges weight management, some people succeed in maintaining a normal weight. This study explored lifelong weight management from the life course perspective. We aimed to gain an insight into the issues related to the pathways of individuals of normal weight from childhood to adulthood, and how their experiences and social connections influence their weight management. Methods We approached the research topic using qualitative methods. Two age groups (30–45; 55–70 years, men and women), forming a total of 39 individuals, participated in theme interviews. Thematic analysis resulted in two main categories, namely (1) adoption of lifestyle and (2) maintenance of lifestyle. Results Childhood family played a central role in the formation of lifestyle: food-upbringing created the basis for the interviewees’ current diet, and their lives had always been characterized by an active lifestyle. High perceived self-efficacy was vital in weight management. The interviewees were confident about their routines and trusted their abilities to recognize and handle situations that threatened their lifestyles. They possessed skills for adjusting their lifestyle to altered environments, and showed a high level of coping self-efficacy. The interviewees also highlighted the importance of habits for weight management. They had improved their adopted lifestyle through constant learning. New routines had become more internalized through active repetition, finally turning into habitual practices, which simplified weight management. Conclusions Based on our interviews, we conclude that childhood was important in the development of the health-promoting lifestyle of our interviewees. However, weight management was described as a journey over the life course, and success also encouraged skills of identifying risks and adjusting actions to cope with challenging situations.

scholarly journals Reflections on life-course vaccination: the England experience

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (Supplement_4) ◽  
Author(s):  
M Edelstein
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Meningococcal Disease ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Disease Group ◽  
Life Course Approach ◽  
Group B ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
In Pregnancy

Abstract Since the introduction of the expanded programme on immunization in the 1970s, vaccination has evolved from being an intervention of early infancy to being a programme targeting individuals at all stages of life including birth, infancy, childhood, teenage years, pregnancy and adulthood. The UK has been at the forefront of this lifelong approach to vaccination and has introduced vaccines at all stages of life in its national schedule, including vaccination against hepatitis B at birth, Meningococcal disease group B in infancy, influenza in primary school years, Meningococcal disease groups A, C, W and Y in teenage years, pertussis in pregnancy and shingles in older adults. Based on a range of studies conducted by Public Health England, This session will reflect on some of the challenges brought on by the life course approach in the UK including issues of access in different age groups, choosing the right age and settings for vaccinations, age-specific attitudes to vaccination and subsequent communication strategies, and challenges with monitoring a life-course programme.

Dividing the Grey Divide: Deconstructing Myths About Older Adults’ Online Activities, Skills, and Attitudes

2018 ◽  
Vol 62 (9) ◽  
pp. 1207-1228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anabel Quan-Haase ◽  
Carly Williams ◽  
Maria Kicevski ◽  
Isioma Elueze ◽  
Barry Wellman
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Digital Media ◽  
Media Use ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Skill Levels ◽  
Online Engagement ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Online Activities ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Negative Sense

Although research has demonstrated a grey divide where older adults are less involved and skilled with digital media than younger adults, by treating them as a homogenous group, it has overlooked differences in their digital skills and media use. Based on 41 in-depth interviews with older adults (aged 65+ years) in East York, Toronto, we developed a typology that moves beyond seeing older adults as Non-Users to include Reluctants, Apprehensives, Basic Users, Go-Getters, and Savvy Users. We find a nonlinear association between older adults’ skill levels and online engagement, as many East York older adults are not letting their skill levels dictate their online involvement. They engage in a wide range of online activities despite having limited skills, and some are eager to learn as they go. Older adults often compared their digital media use with their peers and to more tech-adept younger generations, and these comparisons influenced their attitudes toward digital media. Their narratives of mastery included both a positive sense that they can stay connected and learn new skills and a negative sense that digital media might overwhelm them or waste their time. We draw conclusions for public policy based on our findings on how digital media intersect with the lives of East York older adults.

scholarly journals Age Effect on the Bidirectional Relations Between Alcohol Consumption and Pain

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 289-289
Author(s):  
Matthew Lee ◽  
Kenneth Sher ◽  
Ellen Yeung
Keyword(s):  
Alcohol Consumption ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Age Effect ◽  
Pain Interference ◽  
Self Medication ◽  
Bidirectional Association ◽  
Bidirectional Relations ◽  
The Life Course

Abstract Alcohol consumption reduces but pain rises over the life course. Thus, we hypothesized that developmental variability in the bidirectional association between alcohol consumption and pain would vary as a function of age. This hypothesis was tested across three age groups – younger (<29), middle (29-65), and older (>65) using NESARC wave 1 and 2 data (N=34,653). The effect of pain interference at baseline on alcohol consumption at follow-up was non-significant across the age groups, indicating that self-medication theory was unsupported. The effect of alcohol consumption at baseline on pain interference at follow-up was significant among the middle (Estimate -.007, p=.002) and older (Estimate -.019, p<.001) groups, but non-significant among the younger group. This latter effect differed significantly between the younger and older groups (p =.005) and the middle and older groups (p=.041). Results show that alcohol consumption reduces pain interference, especially later in life.

scholarly journals The Crush: A Proto-Romantic Relationship Across the Life Course

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 283-283
Author(s):  
Joseph Kotarba ◽  
Amanda Couve
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Romantic Relationship ◽  
Life Experiences ◽  
Younger Women ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Fluid Process ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Developmental Phases

Abstract This presentation describes the “crush” experience as it occurs among older adults. A basic definition of a crush is a one-sided, proto-romantic relationship. The scholarly and commonsense understanding in American culture focuses on the crush as most commonly occurring during the developmental phases of adolescence and pre-adolescence. Symbolic interactionists view life course as a somewhat fluid process of adapting to changing situations in life. Experiences like the crush can potentially occur at almost any age at which romantic thoughts and feelings are possible. Our ethnographic research on older adults residing either in group facilities or in domiciliary locations indicates that crushes are fairly common. These crushes follow the same general narrative as crushes among younger people: a beginning, a middle and an end. There are two narrative styles among older adults: face-to-face and mediated. The crush in a group facility is encouraged by interaction during social hours, meals, entertainment, and religious/spiritual activities. Crushes are more observable among women who do not have to delve into their past for objects of their affection. Available paramours from the mass media include young celebrities such as Michael Buble and Josh Groban. These crushes differ from those among younger women in the denouement, to the degree affection generally fades away from memory rather than comes to a distinct end. Factors such as increased access to electronic media and music, and increased sociality in the community and in residential environments will create situations in which the security, excitement and rewards of a crush are plausible.

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