‘If I look old, I will be treated old’: hair and later-life image dilemmas

2010 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 288-307 ◽  
Author(s):  
RICHARD WARD ◽  
CAROLINE HOLLAND
Keyword(s):  
Older People ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Age Discrimination ◽  
The Body ◽  
Dual Processes ◽  
Contemporary Culture ◽  
Social Responses ◽  
Road Project ◽  
Field Workers ◽  
Using Data

ABSTRACTThis paper considers the social symbolism of hair, how it is managed and styled in later life, and what attitudes to appearance in general and hairstyling in particular reveal about ageism in contemporary culture. The paper draws on findings from a two-year, nationwide, participative study of age discrimination in the United Kingdom, the Research on Age Discrimination (RoAD) project. Using data collected by qualitative methods, including participant diaries and interviews undertaken by older field-workers, the paper explores narratives of image and appearance related to hair and associated social responses. The paper focuses on older people's accounts of the dual processes of the production of an image and consumption of a service with reference to hairdressing – and the dilemmas these pose in later life. The findings are considered in the context of the emerging debate on the ageing body. The discussion underlines how the bodies of older people are central to their experience of discrimination and social marginalisation, and examines the relevance of the body and embodiment to the debate on discrimination. A case is made for further scrutiny of the significance of hairdressing to the lives of older people and for the need to challenge the assumption that everyday aspects of daily life are irrelevant to the policies and interventions that counter age discrimination and promote equality.

scholarly journals Lived experiences of ageing and later life in older people with intellectual disabilities

2013 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 602-628 ◽  
Author(s):  
IDA KÅHLIN ◽  
ANETTE KJELLBERG ◽  
CATHARINA NORD ◽  
JAN-ERIK HAGBERG
Keyword(s):  
Older People ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Essential Element ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Phenomenological Approach ◽  
The Body ◽  
Analysis Method ◽  
Life World ◽  
People With Intellectual Disabilities

ABSTRACTThe aim of this article is to explore how older people with intellectual disability (ID), who live in group accommodation, describe their lived experience in relation to ageing and later life. The article is based on a study with a phenomenological approach, grounded on the concept of life-world. Individual, qualitative interviews were conducted with 12 people with ID (five men, seven women), between the ages of 48 and 71 (mean=64), who lived in four different group accommodation units in southern Sweden. A descriptive phenomenological analysis method was used, which disclosed a structure consisting of themes and sub-themes. The findings of the study reveal the informants' lived experience of ageing and later life as a multifaceted phenomenon, expressed through the two themes, ‘age as a process of change’ and ‘existential aspects of ageing’, each with three sub-themes. The body is an essential element in their experience of ageing and growing old, and in how this experience is expressed. The study also found social, cultural and historical dimensions of the life-world to be important in the informants' experience of ageing and later life. This supports understanding of the existence of a collective life-world for older people with ID, the unique experiences the informants share because of their disability and its consequences for their lifecourse.

The impact of age-related risks and inequalities on mental health in later life

2020 ◽  
pp. 81-104
Author(s):  
Alisoun Milne
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Older People ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Age Discrimination ◽  
Psychological Wellbeing ◽  
Physical And Mental Health ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Indirect Discrimination ◽  
The Impact

In broad terms there are two sets of age-related risks to mental health. The first set are those arising directly from experiences and losses common to later life, including physical ill health and/or disability, being a carer, retirement, and bereavement. These are associated with impaired psychological wellbeing and heightened risk of depression, particularly amongst older people with few economic or social resources. The second set of risks arise from ageism and age discrimination, and their intersection with other types of discrimination such as sexism for older women. Direct and indirect discrimination is widespread; it is located in all areas of society including health and social care services. It is profoundly damaging to older peoples’ psychological wellbeing and is associated with fear, helplessness, low self-esteem, anxiety and depression. It is also linked to exclusion, marginalisation and abuse. In recent years there have been efforts to ensure that older people are overtly included in policies intended to improve the population’s physical and mental health; this includes access to treatments e.g. for depression. There has also been a focus on addressing age discrimination in specific arenas e.g. in employment and mental health services. These initiatives have had mixed success.

Bat wings, bunions, and turkey wattles: body transgressions and older women's strategic clothing choices

2009 ◽  
Vol 29 (5) ◽  
pp. 709-726 ◽  
Author(s):  
LAURA HURD CLARKE ◽  
MERIDITH GRIFFIN ◽  
KATHERINE MALIHA
Keyword(s):  
Older Women ◽  
Female Body ◽  
Later Life ◽  
The Body ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Body Shapes ◽  
Clothing Choices ◽  
Depth Interviews

ABSTRACTThis paper examines older women's experiences and perceptions of clothing prescriptions for adults in later life. Using data from in-depth interviews with 36 women aged 71 to 93 years, we investigate the stringent, taken-for-granted social norms that older women identified with respect to appropriate fashion for the ageing female body. Specifically, the participants argued that older women should refrain from wearing bright colours and revealing or overly suggestive styles. Expressing a preference for classic or traditional styles, the women also reported that they used clothing strategically to mask or compensate for bodily transgressions that had occurred over time as a result of the physical realities of ageing, including weight gain, altered body shapes, wrinkles and sagging or ‘flabby’ arms and necks, referred to respectively as ‘bat wings’ and ‘turkey wattles’. In addition, the women contended that they consciously chose their clothing styles to compensate for age-related health issues and/or to present a competent, healthy self to others. Finally, the women talked about the ways in which their clothing choices were influenced by their changing lifestyles and constrained by a lack of desirable and affordable clothing options for the older female body. The findings are discussed in the light of Erving Goffman's concept of stigma and contemporary theorising about ageing, ageism, beauty work and the body.

scholarly journals Gender Differences in Pain: Examining Explanations for the Association

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 894-895
Author(s):  
Cherish Michael ◽  
Anne Barrett
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Gender Differences ◽  
Social Relationships ◽  
Later Life ◽  
The United States ◽  
Economic Security ◽  
The Body ◽  
Physical And Mental Health ◽  
Mediating Role ◽  
Using Data

Abstract Physical pain is a gendered experience: Women report higher levels of it than do men. This pattern may stem from differences in experiences of the body. Women are socialized to be attentive to its functioning, appearance, and sensations, while men are discouraged from paying much attention to their bodies. Little is known, however, about the precise social and economic pathways leading to gender differences in pain, especially in middle and later life when pain is most prevalent. We examine this issue using data from Wave 3 of Midlife in the United States (2013-2014). We consider four possible explanations for women’s more frequent reports of pain: economic security, physical and mental health, social relationships, and discrimination. Results indicate that women are more likely than men to report experiencing chronic pain, as well as greater effects of it on their everyday lives. However, only two of the explanations contributed to explaining this association. Economic security and physical and mental health accounted for substantial portions of the association between gender and pain – 57 and 73 percent, respectively. In contrast, no mediating role was observed for either women’s social relationships, in particular the greater strain they experience in them, or their more frequent reports of everyday and lifetime discrimination. The final model including all the possible explanations revealed that gender was no longer significant, suggesting that middle-aged and older women’s greater pain is explained by their worse health and economic circumstances.

scholarly journals Colonizing the Aged Body and the Organization of Later Life

2014 ◽  
Vol 35 (11) ◽  
pp. 1699-1717 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paula Hyde ◽  
Diane Burns ◽  
John Hassard ◽  
Anne Killett
Keyword(s):  
Older People ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Social Practices ◽  
The Body ◽  
Care Homes ◽  
Social Segregation ◽  
Normative Concepts ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
Mental Decline ◽  
Corporate Colonization

Based on fieldwork in residential homes, arrangements for the care of older people are examined with reference, primarily, to Deetz’s theory of ‘corporate colonization’. Extending this theory, it is argued that grouping such people in care homes can result in a form of social segregation, one that reflects the management of the aged body in relation to normative constructions of dependence. Focusing on the experiences of residents, the everyday effects of narratives of decline on disciplining the lives of older people are assessed, with this analysis taking recourse to the work of Foucault (1979). The result is the identification of three related concepts at work in the colonizing process of the aged body: (i) appropriation of the body – the physical and social practices involved in placing older people in care homes; (ii) separation from previous identities – how a range of new subjectivities are produced in the process of becoming a ‘resident’; and (iii) contesting colonized identities – the ways in which residents can attempt to challenge normative concepts of managed physical and mental decline. Overall the disciplining of the body is theorized not only as an adjunct to the notion of corporate colonization but also, more generally, as a prominent and powerful organizing principle of later life.

scholarly journals Accumulated lifecourse adversities and depressive symptoms in later life among older men and women in England: a longitudinal study

2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (10) ◽  
pp. 2079-2105
Author(s):  
Jane Falkingham ◽  
Maria Evandrou ◽  
Min Qin ◽  
Athina Vlachantoni
Keyword(s):  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Older People ◽  
Single Point ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Childhood Adversities ◽  
Major Life ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Older Men And Women

AbstractThis paper investigates the association between accumulated major lifecourse adversities and later-life depressive symptoms among older people in England, both at a single point in time (prevalence) and the onset over time during later life (incidence), using data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. Using retrospective data on the experience of major life adversities from childhood onwards, five latent classes were identified: no/few lifecourse adversities (58.6%), lost relationship (27.0%), chained adversities (2.4%), childhood adversities (6.3%) and war-related adversities (5.7%). Older people who had experienced ‘chained adversities’, ‘childhood adversities’ and ‘a lost relationship’ had higher odds of presenting current depressive symptoms in 2006, even after controlling for socio-demographic characteristics, health-risk behaviours and social resources. Longitudinal analysis indicated that amongst respondents who were clear of depression in 2006, those older people who had experienced childhood adversities, a lost relationship and war-related adversities experienced a higher risk of having a new case of depressive symptoms. Results further indicate that women's mental health in later life is more sensitive to earlier life adversities than men's. The study shows that intervention earlier in the lifecourse may have benefits for the individual both contemporaneously and over the longer term.

Psychotherapies and Older Adults

2003 ◽  
Vol 37 (5) ◽  
pp. 537-548 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane Garner
Keyword(s):  
Older People ◽  
Older Patients ◽  
Psychiatric Care ◽  
Later Life ◽  
The Body ◽  
Therapeutic Technique ◽  
Psychotherapeutic Approach ◽  
Cognitive Behavioural ◽  
Old Age Psychiatry ◽  
Better Than

Objective: To confirm clinical experience which suggests that older people are offered psychotherapies significantly less often than younger ones. For those who are able to access psychotherapeutic help the outcome is comparable, sometimes better, than for younger patients. Method: Contemporary and older seminal literature was reviewed for psychodynamic, cognitive–behavioural, reminiscence and systemic family therapies treating older patients. Results: The main findings supported the experience of staff in old age psychiatry that if the reluctance of referrers and sometimes of older patients themselves can be overcome this type of work is valuable and effective. Conclusions: Each patient is unique. Generalizations are not always appropriate, however, with advancing years some common themes emerge in therapeutic work. It may be necessary to make modifications to the therapeutic technique to accommodate the difficulties experienced by people in later life but also to use their strengths. Staff working in this field need to have the capacity to be aware of and to understand their own feelings and prejudices about the second half of life. For patients not offered formal therapy a psychotherapeutic approach will nevertheless enhance their psychiatric care. Although the body of research is growing, more work needs to be done in evaluating all of the psychotherapies offered to older people.

scholarly journals Prevalence of Masturbation and Associated Factors Among Older Adults in Four European Countries

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nantje Fischer ◽  
Cynthia A. Graham ◽  
Bente Træen ◽  
Gert Martin Hald
Keyword(s):  
Older People ◽  
Sexual Activity ◽  
Associated Factors ◽  
Sexual Attitudes ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Sexual Pleasure ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Factors Associated ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Almost All

AbstractSolitary sexual activity is a free, safe, and accessible way to experience sexual pleasure. Despite these advantages, research on masturbation in later life is highly understudied. Using data from a cross-sectional probability-based survey of 3816 European adults (mean age 67 years; range 60–75 years), we explored several sociodemographic, health, attitudinal, and sexual behavioral factors associated with reported masturbation frequency. Across all countries, between 41% and 65% of men and 27% and 40% of women reported any masturbation in the preceding month. Satisfaction with sexual activity and attitudes related to disapproval of sex without love were significant predictors of reported masturbation in almost all countries and in both genders. Age, education, self-perceived health, and depression were for the most part predictive of men’s reported masturbation, but not women’s. Generally, those believing sex is beneficial to older people were more likely to masturbate, while less permissive attitudes decreased the likelihood of reporting masturbation. To improve healthy sexual aging, misinformation about masturbation and sexual attitudes in older people need to be addressed.

Role of Rasayana in Geriatric Care - A Review

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yagyik Mishra ◽  
Negalur Vijay ◽  
Thakor Krunal ◽  
Bhat Nagaraj ◽  
Shubhasri B.
Keyword(s):  
Older People ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Statistical Data ◽  
Geriatric Care ◽  
The Body ◽  
Psychological Improvement

The growth of any country or society depends on the number of youth dwelling in that country but according to recent statistical data we soon will have older people more than children and more people at extreme old age than ever before. The number of people aged 65 or older is projected to grow from an estimated 524 million in 2010 to nearly 1.5 billion in 2050. Geriatrics (Jarachikitsa) is the branch of medicine dealing exclusively with the problems of aging and the diseases of elderly. The term Rasayana (rejuvination) refers to nourishment or nutrition. Rasayana therapy act essentially on nutrition dynamics and rejuvenate the body on both physical and mental levels. The problems of health due to modernization can be solved by increasing resistance against diseases and psychological improvement by implementing Rasayana therapy. Aging (Jara) is one among the Swabhavika Vyadhis. Jara Chikitsa is one among the Astanga of Ayurveda which is specifically dedicated for geriatric care. As per estimation, India currently has around 75 million persons over 65 years. By proper administration of Rasayana therapy as preventive tool one can delay Jara Janita Vyadhis to occur. This paper highlights the role of Rasayana in geriatric care.

Toward a conceptual model for successful transgender aging

2021 ◽  
pp. 147332502199466
Author(s):  
Steffany Sloan ◽  
Jacquelyn J Benson
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Successful Aging ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
The Body ◽  
Aging Research ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Resilience Factors

Transgender older adults have been subject to life-long stigma and marginalization, resulting in significant social and health consequences. Despite these challenges, this population commonly reports thriving in later life. In order to attend to nuanced experiences of older transgender adults, theoretical models of successful aging must reflect complexities presented by gender minority status. In order to address theoretical gaps, a systematic qualitative meta-synthesis was conducted to summarize findings across the body of qualitative transgender aging research. Findings indicated that transgender older adults conceptualize successful aging through the process of embracing gender identity. Themes were identified to conceptualize successful transgender aging such as gender expression, shedding internalized stigma, and championing a resilience mindset. Implications for social work practice are provided, suggesting a more comprehensive understanding of both challenges and resilience factors amongst the aging transgender population.

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