Sibship Size, Health, and Illness in Later Life

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kuan-Yi Chen ◽  
Sunghun Kim ◽  
Elizabeth Pommier
Keyword(s):  
Later Life ◽  
Sibship Size ◽  
Health And Illness

Resisting the ‘mask’ of old age?: the social meaning of lay health beliefs in later life

1998 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 469-494 ◽  
Author(s):  
STEPHEN CONWAY ◽  
JENNY HOCKEY
Keyword(s):  
Health Beliefs ◽  
Conventional Medicine ◽  
Death And Dying ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Postmodern Theory ◽  
The Social ◽  
Health And Illness ◽  
Lay Health Beliefs ◽  
Depth Interviews

While the substantial literature on lay health beliefs gives some consideration to older people's conceptions of health and illness, it is material which has yet to be examined from the perspective of postmodern theory. This article, therefore, critically examines the value of using ideas from postmodernism in such a context and focuses on data obtained from a series of in-depth interviews with a sample of fifteen older people. During the interviews they were asked to talk about themselves in relation to issues which included health, illness, disease, death and dying. What they said revealed that, while medicine remained a location of power and knowledge, many of their health beliefs were nonetheless at odds with conventional medicine and indeed with the traditionally passive role of the NHS patient. In conclusion, we suggest that, whilst not always in an explicit or conscious sense, interviewees were discovering self-empowering strategies by questioning the meta-narratives through which the social world is fabricated.

scholarly journals Newspaper portrayals of health and illness among Canadian seniors : Who ages healthily and at what cost?

2006 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 111-139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Rozanova
Keyword(s):  
Healthy Aging ◽  
Population Aging ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Safety Net ◽  
Media Representations ◽  
Individual Responsibility ◽  
Health And Illness ◽  
The Media

While media representations of health and illness receive growing attention from researchers, few studies have considered the newspaper portrayals of health and illness among the elderly. Yet, print media are one vehicle through which governments, in a climate of concern about population aging and the sustainability of the social safety net, emphasize individual responsibility for health and well-being in later life. By praising healthy aging, the media may, perhaps inadvertently, perpetuate new ageist stereotypes that marginalize vulnerable adults who fail to age healthily, and downplay the role of social institutions and structural inequalities (particularly gender and socio-economic status) in influencing individuals’ personal resources and lifestyle choices. This paper explores whether, and if so, how the media represent interrelations between health and aging, through thematic analysis of a pool of articles about seniors published in The Globe and Mail in 2005.

scholarly journals The Long Arm of Conflict: How Timing Shapes the Impact of Childhood Exposure to War

Demography ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Ramirez ◽  
Steven A. Haas
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Functional Health ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Childhood Exposure ◽  
Socioeconomic Attainment ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Health And Illness ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Timing Of Exposure

Abstract This paper examines how the timing of childhood exposure to armed conflict influences both the magnitude of the impact it has on later-life health and the pathways through which those impacts manifest. Utilizing the Survey of Health and Retirement in Europe, we examine cohorts of children during World War II. We find that cohorts born during the war show the largest negative effects of exposure on health in later life. The pathways also vary the timing of exposure. Consistent with a latent critical period process, children born during the war experienced increased risk of poor health and illness in childhood, as well as adult cardiometabolic conditions and poor functional health. Conversely, cohorts born before the war experienced more indirect pathways consistent with cumulative disadvantage processes and institutional breakdown. These pathways include stunted socioeconomic attainment, increased risk behaviors, and poorer mental health. Overall, this study emphasizes that the timing of exposure is critical to understanding the long-term health effects of war.

Leisure Activities and the Subjective Well-Being of Older Adults in Croatia

GeroPsych ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ljiljana Kaliterna Lipovčan ◽  
Tihana Brkljačić ◽  
Zvjezdana Prizmić Larsen ◽  
Andreja Brajša-Žganec ◽  
Renata Franc
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Leisure Activities ◽  
Leisure Activity ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Perceived Health ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Hierarchical Regression ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Convenience Sample ◽  
Financial Status

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.

Images of Aging in the Psychotherapeutic Context

GeroPsych ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 47-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva-Marie Kessler ◽  
Catherine E. Bowen
Keyword(s):  
Old Age ◽  
Diagnostic Tests ◽  
Aging Process ◽  
Developmental Psychology ◽  
Mental Representations ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Psychotherapeutic Process ◽  
Images Of Aging ◽  
Client Communication

Both psychotherapists and their clients have mental representations of old age and the aging process. In this conceptual review, we draw on available research from gerontology, social and developmental psychology, and communication science to consider how these “images of aging” may affect the psychotherapeutic process with older clients. On the basis of selected empirical findings we hypothesize that such images may affect the pathways to psychotherapy in later life, therapist-client communication, client performance on diagnostic tests as well as how therapists select and apply a therapeutic method. We posit that interventions to help both older clients and therapists to reflect on their own images of aging may increase the likelihood of successful treatment. We conclude by making suggestions for future research.

Health psychology and health promotion

2008 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 123-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Toni Faltermaier
Keyword(s):  
Health Psychology ◽  
Health Promotion ◽  
Health Resources ◽  
Target Groups ◽  
Occupational Groups ◽  
Socially Disadvantaged ◽  
Research Activities ◽  
Health And Illness ◽  
Prevention And Health Promotion ◽  
Basic And Applied Research

Abstract. The Flensburg health psychology group takes a salutogenic perspective and aims at developing innovative health promotion approaches. It stands in the interdisciplinary context of health and educational sciences. Our focus in research is on both, stress processes and lay representations of health and illness in the context of salutogenic theories of health. Basic and applied research activities aim at developing subject-oriented approaches of prevention and health promotion that are designed to promote health resources and competencies in selected settings and target groups. Current research is concentrated on socially disadvantaged groups, on occupational groups and on men to develop tailored health promotion approaches that reach groups in need and which show sustainable effects.

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