Conceptualizing Human Well-Being from a Gender and Life Course Perspective

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katie Wright
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Life Course Perspective

From 9 to 91: health promotion through the life-course—illuminating the inner child

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margareta Sjöblom ◽  
Lars Jacobsson ◽  
Kerstin Öhrling ◽  
Catrine Kostenius
Keyword(s):  
Health Promotion ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Secondary Analysis ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
World Health ◽  
Main Question ◽  
Childhood Experiences ◽  
Inner Child ◽  
The Life Course

Summary A life-course perspective is according to the World Health Organization about increasing the effectiveness of health promotion interventions at all ages. This targets the needs of human beings throughout their life. Descriptions of the phenomenon of the inner child invite the possibility that it may be of help when promoting health throughout the life-course. The aim was to describe and understand schoolchildren’s, adults and older person’s experiences of childhood in connection to health and well-being in the present and through the life-course, illuminating the inner child. The research strategy used was a secondary analysis of the original transcribed data from three Swedish studies investigating new questions. In total, 53 individuals aged 9–91, 20 school children, 20 adults and 13 older persons were interviewed about childhood experiences. The schoolchildren were invited to create a drawing, and to narrate about it during the interview. The main question in the secondary analysis was ‘How do the participants’ narrations about childhood experiences illuminate the inner child, useful for health promotion through the life-course?’ The findings showed the importance of a secure atmosphere and trusting relationships, indicating that experiences during childhood can help us to adapt and pass along life lessons across generations. There were narratives about play as an activity where they learned to promote a healthy childhood, struggle for independence and learning how to be responsible when growing up. Dimensions of mental, social and existential well-being can be seen as examples of the inner child’s role in health promotion through the life-course.

scholarly journals The Life Course Construction of Inequalities in Health and Wealth in Old Age

2021 ◽  
pp. 97-109
Author(s):  
Michel Oris ◽  
Marie Baeriswyl ◽  
Andreas Ihle
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Adult Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Differential Mortality ◽  
Active Ageing ◽  
Cumulative Processes ◽  
The Life Course

AbstractIn this contribution, we will mobilize the interdisciplinary life course paradigm to consider the processes through which individual heterogeneity in health and wealth is constructed all along life, from the cradle to old age. Considering altogether historical, family and individual times, the life course perspective has been developed in sociology, (lifespan) psychology and epidemiology, and has framed many important studies during the last four decades. The theory of cumulative disadvantage is for sure the most popular in social sciences, explaining how little inter-individual differences early in life expand all along life to reach maximal amplitude among the “young old” (before the selection by differential mortality at very old age). In lifespan psychology, the theory of cognitive reserve (educational level being a proxy) and its continuation, the theory of use or disuse (of cognition during adult life) have more or less the same explanatory power, cognition being a decisive precondition for active ageing and quality of life in old age. However, in spite of the success of those theoretical bodies, a prominent figure in the field, Glen Elder, recently observed that there is surprisingly little evidence for cumulative processes and that a wide variety of model specifications remain completely untested. This finding makes even more important a critical review of the literature which summarize several robust evidences, but also discuss contradictory results and suggest promising research tracks. This exercise considers the life course construction of inequalities in the distribution of objective resources older adults have (or not) “to live the life they own value” (to quote A. Sen 2001). But it is also crucial to consider the subjective component that is inherent to the understanding of well-being.

scholarly journals Marital Strain and Support and Subjective Well-Being in Later Life: Ascribing a Role to Early-Life Conditions

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 407-407
Author(s):  
Laura Upenieks ◽  
Yingling Liu
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Process Model ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Marital Support ◽  
Lagged Dependent Variable ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Marital Strain

Abstract Decades of research have the beneficial effects of marital support and the detrimental consequences of marital strain on health and well-being. However, we know relatively less about how circumstances in childhood—a key developmental period of the life course—influence the relational structure in which later life is embedded and any implications this may hold for well-being. We integrate the life course perspective with the stress process model to offer a framework for how childhood conditions (childhood happiness, family structure, and financial strain) moderate the relationship between marital support/strain and subjective well-being in older adulthood in potentially different ways for men and women. The consequences of marital strain may be more severe and the benefits of marital support may not be as strongly felt for those adults who experienced greater adversity during childhood. Drawing on longitudinal data from Waves 2 (2010-2011) and 3 (2015-2016) of the NSHAP project (N = 1,376), results from lagged dependent variable models suggest that marital support buffers the effect of not living with both parents in childhood on subjective well-being for men. Meanwhile, women raised in families that experienced financial hardship reported lower subjective well-being in the context of marital strain in later life. No significant interaction effects were obtained for childhood happiness. Taken together, our findings suggest that adverse experiences in childhood can be scarring, particularly in the context of strained intimate relationships. However, a supportive marriage can, in some cases, offset the effects of childhood hardship on subjective well-being in later life.

scholarly journals Rank Prize Lecture Global nutrition challenges for optimal health and well-being

2008 ◽  
Vol 68 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ricardo Uauy ◽  
Camila Corvalan ◽  
Alan D. Dangour
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Premature Death ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Full Spectrum ◽  
Effective Prevention ◽  
Optimal Health ◽  
Health And Well Being ◽  
Global Nutrition

Optimal health and well-being are now considered the true measures of human development. Integrated strategies for infant, child and adult nutrition are required that take a life-course perspective to achieve life-long health. The major nutrition challenges faced today include: (a) addressing the pending burden of undernutrition (low birth weight, severe wasting, stunting and Zn, retinol, Fe, iodine and folic acid deficits) affecting those individuals living in conditions of poverty and deprivation; (b) preventing nutrition-related chronic diseases (obesity, diabetes, CVD, some forms of cancer and osteoporosis) that, except in sub-Saharan Africa, are the main causes of death and disability globally. This challenge requires a life-course perspective as effective prevention starts before conception and continues at each stage of life. While death is unavoidable, premature death and disability can be postponed by providing the right amount and quality of food and by maintaining an active life; (c) delaying or avoiding, via appropriate nutrition and physical activity interventions, the functional declines associated with advancing age. To help tackle these challenges, it is proposed that the term ‘malnutrition in all its forms’, which encompasses the full spectrum of nutritional disorders, should be used to engender a broader understanding of global nutrition problems. This term may prove particularly helpful when interacting with policy makers and the public. Finally, a greater effort by the UN agencies and private and public development partners is called for to strengthen local, regional and international capacity to support the much needed change in policy and programme activities focusing on all forms of malnutrition with a unified agenda.

scholarly journals Depression Over the Adult Life Course for African American Men

2011 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 194-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daphne C. Watkins
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Social Determinants ◽  
African American Men ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Adult Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Quality Health Care ◽  
Quality Health

Rarely are within-group differences among African American men explored in the context of mental health and well-being. Though current conceptual and empirical studies on depression among African American men exists, these studies do not offer a framework that considers how this disorder manifests over the adult life course for African American men. The purpose of this article is to examine the use of an adult life course perspective in understanding the complexity of depression for African American men. The proposed framework underscores six social determinants of depression (socioeconomic status, stressors, racial and masculine identity, kinship and social support, self-esteem and mastery, and access to quality health care) to initiate dialogue about the risk and protective factors that initiate, prolong, and exacerbate depression for African American men. The framework presented here is meant to stimulate discussion about the social determinants that influence depression for African American men to and through adulthood. Implications for the utility and applicability of the framework for researchers and health professionals who work with African American men are discussed.

‘You Have Neither Neighbours Nor Privacy’: Ambiguities in the Experience of Emotional Well Being of Women in Farming Families

1997 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 621-644 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pia Christensen ◽  
Jenny Hockey ◽  
Allison James
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Northern Region ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Agricultural Communities ◽  
Cultural Strategies ◽  
Personal Wellbeing ◽  
Farming Families

This paper explores findings from an ethnographic study of relations of dependency within agricultural communities in the Northern region. Using a life course perspective it focuses on the cultural strategies which women draw upon to deal with the changing constraints, emotional stresses and loneliness of marrying into a farming family. Accounts from women occupying different generational positions demonstrate how they manage to achieve personal wellbeing through creative resolution of the different ambiguities involved in being a ‘country girl’, a ‘farmer's wife’ and a ‘gran’.

scholarly journals Timing and Support Matter: Caregiving Demands at the Intersection of Stress Process and Life Course Perspectives

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 105-106
Author(s):  
Yeonjung Lee ◽  
Alex Bierman ◽  
Margaret Penning
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Support ◽  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Family Caregiving ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Stress Process ◽  
As Stress ◽  
High Level

Abstract Extensive research documents the outcomes of family caregiving. However, perspectives differ, with some suggesting that caregiving provides psychological rewards and others suggesting that the stress of caregiving carries psychological costs. We argue that both of these perspectives are correct, but their applicability will differ based on the timing of caregiving and the availability of social support. A life course perspective suggests that the timing of a stressor in the life course will create variations in its mental health impacts, whereas a stress process perspective suggests that the consequences of a given stressor for mental health will vary based on the availability of social support. A synthesis of these two perspectives then suggests that social support will act as stress buffer differently depending on the age of caregiver. To examine these questions, we use a subsample of respondents who reported caregiving (N=20,441) in the 1st wave of the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging. Analyses provide evidence of different outcomes of caregiving, according to both the timing of caregiving and the availability of support. In particular, a high level of caregiving demands are associated with greater depression and lower life satisfaction. Social support inhibits both associations, and the association between high demands and life satisfaction is stronger in older caregivers. Social support does not buffer high caregiving demands more strongly at older ages, though, showing two distinct process. Demanding caregiving appears particularly detrimental for psychological well-being as people age, and the efficacy of social support resources do not increase to compensate.

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