Aging, sarcopenia and the life-course

2006 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 265-274 ◽  
Author(s):  
Avan Aihie Sayer ◽  
Cyrus Cooper
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Human Aging ◽  
Maintenance And Repair ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Disposable Soma Theory ◽  
Somatic Maintenance ◽  
Variable Capacity ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Life Course

There is growing support for characterizing human aging from a life-course perspective, in terms of recognizing important influences operating from conception to death, and this approach provides a framework for understanding aging processes operating at the individual level. Kirkwood's disposable soma theory proposes that aging is a manifestation of imperfect somatic maintenance and repair processes. We can therefore predict that differing exposure to the determinants of somatic damage across the life-course, and variable capacity to respond in terms of repair are likely to underlie the wide variation in rates of aging between individuals.

scholarly journals AGENCY AS IDEOLOGY: PRECARITY AND DISEMBEDDEDNESS IN THE 21ST CENTURY LIFE COURSE

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S589-S589
Author(s):  
wenxuan huang
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Transition To Adulthood ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
Historical Time ◽  
Cultural Traditions ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Individual Agency ◽  
Transition Research ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Life Course

Abstract The “individualization” thesis has gradually merged into the discussion of increasing heterogeneity of the life course as well as growing inequality over historical time. As individuals are “disembedded” from both cultural traditions and more recently social institutions, individual agency has drawn revived interest in outlining “choice biography” that is seen as paramount to personal outcomes and even containing overcoming force against structure. This practice mutes the consideration of the ongoing forces of social structure that by their very nature continue to constitute individual selves and possibilities. The uncritical treatment of individual agency makes it problematic for the study of precarity, mystifying and obscuring the analysis of inequality-generating mechanisms, reducing them to the individual-level. We analyze current uses of the concept of agency in the life course research, and particularly in the areas of transition research, e.g., transition to adulthood/retirement, where individual agency is assumed to be most active.

scholarly journals Eurofound’s Reference Framework: Sustainable work over the life course in the EU

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-83
Author(s):  
Franz Eiffe
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Working Life ◽  
Physical And Mental Health ◽  
Outcome Indicators ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Reference Framework ◽  
Research Priority ◽  
Work Outcome ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Life Course

Demographic change has triggered policy debates and responses across Europe. The need of keeping workers in employment longer is a consequence that requires rethinking new solutions for working conditions and career paths helping workers to retain their physical and mental health – as well as motivation and productivity – throughout an extended working life. Eurofound has titled the broad goal set out by this statement as ‘making work sustainable over the life course’. Identifying and analysing the factors and actions underpinning sustainable work throughout working life has been a research priority for Eurofound since 2013. In this article, the Eurofound reference framework of sustainable work is introduced and its components are discussed. In a first step, the rather expansive concept of sustainable work was illuminated by a framework that explains our approach and that has been used as reference point for a range of Eurofound research projects examining different aspects of sustainable work. Section 2 presents sustainable work outcome indicators on the societal and the individual level and provides some reflections of how those can be used jointly to map overall beneficial work environments for sustainable work. Section 3 investigates contextual factors such as infrastructures, workplace practices and job quality. The specific role of motivation is highlighted in section 4 based on empirical analysis. The paper closes with some conclusions and a policy outlook. 

scholarly journals Intrapair Comparison of Life-Course Appetite and Physical Activity in Elderly Danish Twins: Reliability and Association With Subsequent Survival

2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 447-455 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura E. Løkkegaard ◽  
Lisbeth A. Larsen ◽  
Kaare Christensen
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Healthy Aging ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
Late Life ◽  
Lifestyle Factors ◽  
Physically Active ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Life Course

Avoiding overeating and being physically active is associated with healthy aging, but methodological issues challenge the quantification of the association. Intrapair comparison of twins is a study design that attempts to minimize social norm-driven biased self-reporting of lifestyle factors. We aimed to investigate the association between self-reported lifestyle factors and subsequent survival in 347 Danish twin pairs aged 70 years and older and, additionally, to investigate the reliability of these self-reports. The twins were interviewed in 2003 and followed for mortality until 2015. They were asked to compare their appetite and physical activity to that of their co-twins in different stages of life. On an individual level, we found a positive association between current self-reported physical activity and late-life survival for elderly twins. This was supported by the intrapair analyses, which revealed a positive association between midlife and current physical activity and late-life survival. A positive association between lower appetite and late-life survival was found generally over the life course in the individual level analyses but not in the intrapair analyses. Kappa values for the inter-twin agreement on who ate the most were 0.16 to 0.34 in different life stages, and for physical activity 0.19 to 0.26, corresponding to a slight-to-fair agreement. Approximately, 50% of the twin pairs were not in agreement regarding physical activity, and of these twins 75% (95% CI: 67–82%) considered themselves the most active twin. These findings indicate a still-existing tendency of answering according to social norms, even in a twin study designed to minimize this.

Healthy ageing across the life course

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diana Kuh ◽  
Rebecca Hardy ◽  
Catharine Gale ◽  
Jane Elliott ◽  
Yoav Ben-Shlomo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Healthy Ageing ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Optimal Functioning ◽  
Cognitive Capability ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Meta Analyses ◽  
The Life Course

This chapter describes the Healthy Ageing across the Life Course (HALCyon) NDA collaborative research project, the aim of which was to investigate biological and social factors from early life that influence healthy ageing in later life. Healthy ageing was studied as optimal functioning at the individual level, in terms of physical and cognitive capability and wellbeing. The roles of lifetime socioeconomic circumstances, cognitive development and education, body size and diet were investigated, as well as underlying biology (the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, telomeres and genes). The project undertook: systematic reviews and meta-analyses of all available studies; comparative analysis using harmomised data across nine British cohort studies; in depth analysis of single cohorts with unique data; and qualitative interviews with sub-samples of participants from three of these cohorts.

scholarly journals Joint Family and Work Trajectories and Multidimensional Wellbeing

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. L. Comolli ◽  
L. Bernardi ◽  
M. Voorpostel
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Subjective Wellbeing ◽  
Work And Family ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Social Origin ◽  
Employment Trajectories ◽  
Family And Work ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Family Trajectories

AbstractInformed by the life course perspective, this paper investigates whether and how employment and family trajectories are jointly associated with subjective, relational and financial wellbeing later in life. We draw on data from the Swiss Household Panel which combines biographical retrospective information on work, partnership and childbearing trajectories with 19 annual waves containing a number of wellbeing indicators as well as detailed socio-demographic and social origin information. We use sequence analysis to identify the main family and work trajectories for men and women aged 20–50 years old. We use OLS regression models to assess the association between those trajectories and their interdependency with wellbeing. Results reveal a joint association between work and family trajectories and wellbeing at older age, even net of social origin and pre-trajectory resources. For women, but not for men, the association is also not fully explained by proximate (current family and work status) determinants of wellbeing. Women’s stable full-time employment combined with traditional family trajectories yields a subjective wellbeing premium, whereas childlessness and absence of a stable partnership over the life course is associated with lower levels of financial and subjective wellbeing after 50 especially in combination with a trajectory of weak labour market involvement. Relational wellbeing is not associated with employment trajectories, and only weakly linked to family trajectories among men.

scholarly journals Persistent short-term imprisonment: Belonging as a lens to understand its shifting meanings over the life course

Incarceration ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 263266632198901
Author(s):  
Marguerite Schinkel ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Sense Of Belonging ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Criminal Punishment ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Looking Back

This article takes a life-course perspective to the meaning of persistent short-term imprisonment and introduces the significance of ‘penal careers’. Examining a total of 62 interviews with men and women in Scotland with long careers of (progression through) criminal punishment, it uses to the concept of belonging as a lens to interpret their experiences. While some participants already felt early on in their career that they belonged in prison because of their shared characteristics with other prisoners, the repetition of imprisonment meant that they increasingly felt displaced from life outside and saw life in prison as ‘easier’ and ‘safer’. Nevertheless, looking back on their many sentences, they felt their cumulative meaning was ‘a waste of life’. The article concludes by considering steps towards tackling the conditions that create this sense of belonging in a place of punishment.

Foster Care in a Life Course Perspective

2020 ◽  
Vol 692 (1) ◽  
pp. 227-252
Author(s):  
Fred Wulczyn
Keyword(s):  
Foster Care ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Foster Children ◽  
Foster Parents ◽  
Local Variation ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
State And Local ◽  
Policy Priority ◽  
The Life Course

To understand what placement outside of one’s home means to the young people involved, we must understand foster care from a life course perspective. I analyze young people’s experiences in foster care from this perspective, accounting for when foster care happens, how long it lasts, and what happens when foster care placements end. I show that the population of children coming into foster care is younger and less urban than it was 20 years ago. I also show reliable measures of exposure to foster care over the life course. Children who enter care early in life are the children who spend the largest proportion of their childhood in foster care—a fact that rarely weighs on the policymaking process. We know very little about state and local variation in foster care placement rates, not to mention the influence of social services, the courts, foster parents, and caseworkers over foster children, so I close by arguing investment in research should be a clear policy priority.

scholarly journals SUITABLE? THE RHETORICAL AND LIFE COURSE IMPLICATIONS OF SERENA WILLIAMS AND THE CATSUIT

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S537-S537
Author(s):  
Brianne M Stanback
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Los Angeles ◽  
Life Course ◽  
New York Times ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Power Structures ◽  
Los Angeles Times ◽  
Race And Class ◽  
Sports Illustrated ◽  
The Life Course

Abstract Rhetorical inquires have shown connections between representation and power, workplace fashion and development of ethos, and the rhetoric of glamour through women’s fashion and dress. One element absent from that conversation is how the life course, which typically differs for women because of existing power structures advantaging men, may impact the experience of women as they age, their choice of dress, and the rhetorical implications of those decisions. To explore dress and rhetoric from a life course perspective, this project traces the evolution of Serena Williams’ work apparel across her professional tennis career to the catsuit worn at the 2018 French Open, which is the focus of the project. Press reports on the 2018 catsuit by Nike, New York Times, Sports Illustrated, Business Insider, BBC Sport, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times, interviews given by Williams, and the television documentary, Becoming Serena, will be analyzed for their treatment of Williams’ work attire and the life course. Responses to the catsuit emphasize attitudes about gender, race, and class, either discounting or ignoring the life course implications such as motherhood and changes in health status. Despite professional success, responses about the catsuit may reflect that Williams faces the same jeopardies, and invisibility, common to many women as they age, and the rhetorical perspective provides new methodological and pedagogical possibilities for instruction in aging.

scholarly journals Development of Violence Across the Lifespan: A Preliminary Model

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Janneke Van't Klooster
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Development Model ◽  
Rehabilitation Unit ◽  
Preliminary Model ◽  
Holistic Understanding ◽  
Pathways Model ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Adult Rehabilitation ◽  
Age Range

<p>Violence has serious implications for both the victim and the wider community. The current adult rehabilitation programmes accept violent offenders ranged from 20 years and older. This age range could have serious rehabilitation consequences, as a twenty year olds violence and violence related goals may differ substantially to a 70 year old. For this reason an understanding of the development of violence and violence related goals can aide rehabilitation and punitive policies. A review of recent research highlights there are many methodological and empirical gaps in the development of violence whereby the current research aimed to assuage this issue. The current research used grounded theory to develop a model on the development of violence over the life-course. For this research twelve men currently incarcerated at Rimutaka Prison in a violence rehabilitation unit were interviewed. This method developed two models. The “Influences on violence development” model outlines how environment and personal choices had an impact on the development of violence. The “development of violence” model outlines the increasing severity and frequency of violence over time, and the increasing complexity of violence related goals. This model is nested within the influences on violence development model. Comparing the current models to Loeber et al's (1993) pathways model, and Sampson and Laub's life-course perspective on offending, has found support for both models. Thus this model's theoretical value lies within its ability to draw together other areas of research and provide a holistic understanding of both how and why violence develops. One implication of these models is the understanding of the varying influences of environment on violence, upon both different individuals and different ages. This implies that rehabilitation should perhaps follow a more individual based focus. There are many limitations to the research, the most salient one being lack of saturation in the model and low sample size.</p>

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