scholarly journals The well-being of British expatriate retirees in southern Europe

1999 ◽  
Vol 19 (6) ◽  
pp. 717-740 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANTHONY M. WARNES ◽  
RUSSELL KING ◽  
ALLAN M. WILLIAMS ◽  
GUY PATTERSON

This article examines the personal outcomes of overseas residence in later life, by analysing some findings from the first large-scale, comparative study of the retirement of British citizens to southern Europe. Four study areas are compared: Tuscany in Italy, Malta, the Costa del Sol of Spain, and the Algarve region of Portugal. The analysis focuses on the expressed reasons for moving to and residing in the areas, the reported advantages and disadvantages, and the respondents' predictions of whether they would stay or leave in response to adverse and beneficial events. Overall the subjects give very positive reports, but there are considerable differences among the four areas. The associations of individual variation in well-being with both a person's ‘temporal commitment’ to the area and to facets of their social integration are analysed. The onset of severe incapacity, sufficient to prevent the continued running of a home, is the event most likely to cause people to leave their adopted areas of residence.

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 123-123
Author(s):  
Althea Pestine-Stevens ◽  
Tina K Newsham

Abstract Older adults with intersecting identities as persons of color experience disparities in health and well-being due to racism in individual and structural spheres, which have been amplified by health, economic, and social consequences of COVID-19. We can begin the work to reduce these inequities by training scholars and practitioners to disrupt the systems within which we work that relegate advantages and disadvantages throughout the life course and in later life by racial groups. This interactive symposium presents resources on anti-racist gerontological education and provides an opportunity to engage critically with peers in all stages of their careers and anti-racism journeys who are interested in integrating anti-racism into their teaching. The first presenter introduces conversations to begin anti-racist pedagogy and assumptions to dismantle. The second presenter describes cultural humility as an essential step towards self-awareness and critical self-reflection for educators and practitioners. The third presenter presents how anti-racist pedagogy, a teaching approach that combines racial content, pedagogy, and organizing, may be applied to gerontology education. Fourth, an example will be presented from an online course module developed to guide Master of Social Work students toward recognizing racial disparities in aging services systems and identifying concrete suggestions for improvement. Finally, strategies for curriculum design will be presented with examples from Public Health education. This symposium is designed to include ample time for group discussion on this critical and under-addressed area of teaching in gerontology across disciplines, such that participants can better connect with others to build awareness, competency, and resources.


2019 ◽  
Vol 60 (4) ◽  
pp. 661-671
Author(s):  
Jeffrey E Stokes

Abstract Background and Objectives Integration in one’s social community may depend in part upon feeling safe and secure within one’s physical community, or neighborhood. Moreover, high-quality neighborhoods may serve as a supportive resource, potentially “buffering” against the harmful influence of experiences such as discrimination or depression that could otherwise erode adults’ sense of belonging. This study examines longitudinal associations of perceived neighborhood quality, daily discrimination, and depression with social integration among midlife and older adults, and tests whether perceived neighborhood quality is of increased importance with age and/or in the contexts of discrimination and depression. Research Design and Methods Multilevel random intercept models analyzed 6,016 observations of 3,102 individuals drawn from the 3 waves of the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS, 1995–2014). Results Perceived neighborhood quality was associated with greater social integration throughout adulthood, though its impact was slightly attenuated with age. Moreover, depression was harmful for social integration across the age range, yet its influence was significantly buffered by perceived neighborhood quality. Daily discrimination was not associated with social integration, net of covariates. Discussion and Implications Findings underscore the importance of physical place and person-environment fit for social well-being throughout adulthood, and confirm the deleterious effects of depression for adults’ social integration. Further, results highlight perceived neighborhood quality as a critical component for successful “aging in place,” particularly as a social resource adults may call upon in the context of depression.


Author(s):  
Steven G. Prus

ABSTRACTThis paper examines the extent to which an individual's income-status position relative to that of others in the same cohort is maintained over the later life course. Changes in the income status of individuals born between 1924 and 1928 are estimated by means of synthetic cohort methods. Using a series of cross-sectional data files from every fifth Survey of Consumer Finances, starting in 1978, the findings show that, from ages 50 to 64, persons of this birth cohort with early-life socio-economic status advantages (namely high education) improve their absolute and relative income status position vis-à-vis others with status disadvantages. For ages 65 to 74, the economic well-being of individuals with status advantages and disadvantages converge. Since Canada's public pension programs are relatively well developed in terms of comprehensiveness and generosity, they do a good job at countering the effects of status background characteristics on the distribution of income in old age. In the absence of these programs (i.e., up to age 64), the relative position of those with high education and other advantaged groups is strengthened.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lotte Brinkhof ◽  
K. Richard Ridderinkhof ◽  
sanne de wit ◽  
Harm Krugers ◽  
Jaap M. J. Murre

Aging inevitably gives rise to many late-life challenges and transitions that impose threats for one’s physical and mental health, which can greatly impact our well-being and quality of life. Hence, the key to successful aging may not be the absence of these challenges and transitions, but the ability to demonstrate resilience to them. We recently started a large-scale study (N > 10.000) among older adults (55 years or older) in the Netherlands, with the aim to understand resilience as an emergent property that arises through the interplay between various (risk and protective) factors from different domains. Participants are asked to complete online questionnaires and tests that cover a multitude of relevant factors from multiple domains (e.g., physical, psychological, cognitive, social, environmental). Relationships between those factors will be analysed through network analysis, in which conditional dependencies between factors are depicted in a network of nodes. In this way, critical resilience (protective) and risk factors can be identified. This study offers a unique possibility to obtain insights into the factors that characterize and contribute to resilience in old age and thereby assist in generating hypotheses for follow up work. The contribution of this study in the growing field of resilience research, as well as the limitations, are discussed accordingly.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (8) ◽  
pp. 111
Author(s):  
Giuseppe Santarsiero ◽  
Angelo Masi ◽  
Valentina Picciano ◽  
Andrea Digrisolo

Bridges are essential for guaranteeing the functioning of transportation systems since their failure can cause serious threats to the safety, well-being and economy of modern communities, especially in emergency conditions. Following recent bridge failures, among which include the Morandi bridge in 2018, specific guidelines on risk classification and management, safety assessment and monitoring of existing bridges have been issued in Italy by the Minister of Infrastructure as a mandatory code. They pay particular attention to the evaluation of the residual life span of critical transportation infrastructure dating back to the 1950s and 1960s of the last century. Being a newly issued tool, the Guidelines need to be applied and tested in order to find possible drawbacks and to point out the main factors influencing their results. Therefore, in this study, after a short description of the Italian Guidelines, pointing out some differences with other approaches adopted worldwide, some advantages and disadvantages are discussed by an application to a bridge stock located in the Basilicata region (Italy). Data needed to apply the Guidelines are gathered by a purposely set up procedure that exploits existing databases on road infrastructure (OpenStreetMap) complemented by additional data retrieved by means of public image repositories (Google Street View). By accounting for the qualitative nature of the risk classification results obtained by applying the lower analysis levels of the Guidelines, a prioritization method is proposed for ranking bridges for higher assessment levels and possible interventions, as well as consequent funds allocation. The application shows that the Guidelines’ approach tends to provide conservative results. In fact, even in case of bridges with low degradation levels, the final risk classification induces actions undertaken for preliminary or detailed assessment; thus, normal operation (with periodic inspections) would not be possible anymore.


GeroPsych ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ljiljana Kaliterna Lipovčan ◽  
Tihana Brkljačić ◽  
Zvjezdana Prizmić Larsen ◽  
Andreja Brajša-Žganec ◽  
Renata Franc

Abstract. Research shows that engagement in leisure activities promotes well-being among older adults. The objective of the current study was to examine the relationship between subjective well-being (flourishing) and leisure activities (total number of different activities in the previous year) in a sample of older adults in Croatia, thereby considering the variables of sex, marital status, financial status, and self-perceived health. The differences in the examined variables between the groups of older adults who reported to be engaged in new activities with those who did not were also examined. The sample of N = 169 older adults aged 60 years and above was drawn from a convenience sample of adult internet users in Croatia. Participants reported their self-perceived health and the number of leisure activities they engaged in over the previous year as well as completing the Flourishing Scale. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that older adults who were engaged in more various leisure activities, who perceived better financial status, and who were married reported higher levels of flourishing. A comparison of the two groups of older adults with and without engagement in leisure activities showed that those engaged in at least one leisure activity were more likely to be women, reported higher levels of flourishing, and perceived their own financial status as better. This study indicated that engaging in leisure activities in later life might provide beneficial effects for the well-being of older adults.


2013 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 158-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily Frankenberg ◽  
Katharina Kupper ◽  
Ruth Wagner ◽  
Stephan Bongard

This paper reviews research on young migrants in Germany. Particular attention is given to the question of how Germany’s history of migration, immigration policies, and public attitude toward migrants influence the transcultural adaptation of children and adolescents from different ethnic backgrounds. We combine past research with the results of new empirical studies in order to shed light on migrants’ psychological and sociocultural adaptation. Studies comparing young migrants and their German peers in terms of psychological well-being, life satisfaction, and mental health outcome suggest higher rates of emotional and behavioral problems among migrants of most age groups. With regard to adolescent populations between the ages of 14 and 17 years, however, the existence of differences between migrants and natives appears to be less clear. Research has also yielded inconsistent findings regarding the time trajectory of transcultural adaptation among adolescents. The coincidence of acculturation and age-related change is discussed as a possible source of these inconsistencies. Further, we provide an overview of risk and protective factors such as conflicting role expectations and ethnic discrimination, which may cause heightened vulnerability to adverse adaptation outcomes in some groups. Large-scale studies have repeatedly shown migrants of all age groups to be less successful within the German school system, indicating poor sociocultural adaptation. Possible explanations, such as the idiosyncrasies of the German school system, are presented. Our own studies contribute to the understanding of young migrants’ adaptation process by showing that it is their orientation to German culture, rather than the acculturation strategy of integration, that leads to the most positive psychological and sociocultural outcomes. The paper concludes by discussing implications for future cross-cultural research on young migrants and by suggesting recommendations for multicultural policies.


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