Experiences of becoming widowed in old age – a cross-countries study with qualitative interviews from Denmark and quantitative measures of association in a Swedish sample

Abstract Images of what retirement is and ought to be are changing. Older workers are being encouraged to work for longer, at the same time, older adults increasingly voice expectations of a ‘third age’ of active engagement and new life prospects. In this article, we draw on the literature on older workers’ work patterns and retirement transitions (noting push/pull/stay/stuck/jump factors), and on scholarship on the changing social meaning of old age, most importantly the notions of a ‘third’ and ‘fourth’ age. The analysis is based on qualitative interviews with 28 employees in the private sector in Norway, aged between 55 and 66 years. Based on the interviews, we propose three ideal-typical approaches to the work–retirement transition: ‘the logic of deadline’, ‘the logic of negotiation’ and ‘the logic of averting retirement’. The ideal-types are defined by the degree to which informants assume agency in the workplace, their orientation towards work versus retirement and the degree to which they expect to exercise agency in retirement. We emphasise how retirement decisions are informed by notions of the meaning of ageing, while also embedded in relationships with employers and partners.

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Avoidant Coping of the Decision-Making Process on the Location of Care in Old Age: A Possible Conspiracy of Silence?

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph182412940 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (24) ◽

pp. 12940

Author(s):

Gema Serrano-Gemes ◽

Isabel Gil ◽

Adriana Coelho ◽

Rafael Serrano-del-Rosal

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Palliative Care ◽

Comparative Analysis ◽

Old Age ◽

Qualitative Interviews ◽

Avoidant Coping ◽

Decision Making Process ◽

Older Person ◽

High Incidence ◽

Conspiracy Of Silence

The conspiracy of silence is extremely important due to both its high incidence and its consequences. This process usually occurs in situations of palliative care, or death; however, this concept is also mentioned in the literature linked to other contexts. Therefore, our objective was to study whether the conspiracy of silence may be extrapolated to the context of decision-making on the location of care in old age. To this end, we first analyzed the in-depth semi structured qualitative interviews conducted with older people, caregivers, and professionals, about decision-making on the location of care in old age. Subsequently, a comparative analysis was performed between the basic elements of the conspiracy of silence and this decision-making. Our findings revealed an avoidance process developed by all three groups. Furthermore, this decision-making presents similarities with the conspiracy of silence in the process of avoidance coping and denial that is developed. However, there are significant differences, as information is not withheld from the older person, who has an active attitude in the process of avoidance. Decision-making on the location of care in old age does not exactly match the conspiracy of silence process, but it does seem to correspond to a pact of silence.

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Migration and Intergenerational Responsibilities

The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science ◽

10.1177/0002716213481188 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 648 (1) ◽

pp. 204-217 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Nathalie Mondain ◽

Alioune Diagne ◽

Sara Randall

Keyword(s):

Social Networks ◽

Old Age ◽

Small Town ◽

Qualitative Interviews ◽

Young Men ◽

Social Resources ◽

Social Prestige ◽

The Social ◽

Transitory Phase ◽

European Migration

Migration to Europe has become a major source of financial and social resources for an increasing number of Senegalese men who are the main providers for their natal households. European migration is seen as a transitory phase, since most of them plan to return to Senegal. We use qualitative interviews conducted in 2007 in a small town in northwest Senegal to explore the dynamics of migration among young Senegalese men, identifying their goals and examining how migration affects their lives and families. Motivations to migrate for these young men are related both to the social prestige associated with being a successful migrant and to the obligations they feel toward their elders to enable them to live out their old age in the best conditions. Because migrating is costly and demands mobilization of social networks, most migrants require the support of their elders to leave, thus reinforcing their obligations toward them and contributing to transforming the relationships between generations.

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Parental absence: Intergenerational tensions and contestations of social grants in South Africa

Critical Social Policy ◽

10.1177/0261018319867583 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 39 (4) ◽

pp. 525-540

Author(s):

Mokoene Ziphora Kearabetswe ◽

Khunou Grace

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Old Age ◽

Child Support ◽

Qualitative Interviews ◽

Well Being ◽

Labour Migration ◽

Family Responsibilities ◽

Parental Absence ◽

Poor Households ◽

The Guardian

Most recently, the role of grandmothers has been highlighted as significant in the lives of their grandchildren in South Africa. Studies have previously highlighted the contribution the Old Age Grant makes in contexts of poverty, orphanhood and the migrant labour system. Similarly, studies on the Child Support Grant (CSG) have illustrated its contribution to the well-being of children and families in general. However, missing in these examinations has been an understanding of how the CSG is contested in contexts of parental absence due to internal labour migration. Through a thematic content analysis of qualitative interviews with members of migrants’ families, this article illustrates that in the context of internal labour migration, family responsibilities shift in ways that make unemployed grandmothers who do not receive the Old Age Grant vulnerable. This vulnerability is manifested through a tension in familial relationships. This tension stem from the contestation of the CSG by young labour-migrant mothers, the guardian (grandmother), and the beneficiaries of the CSG. The article concludes that these tensions result from continuing socio-economic struggles experienced by poor households.

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Unskilled, Foreign, and Old

GeroPsych ◽

10.1024/1662-9647/a000146 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 29 (2) ◽

pp. 93-103 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Anika Liversage ◽

Vibeke Jakobsen

Keyword(s):

Social Security ◽

Life Course ◽

Old Age ◽

Host Country ◽

Qualitative Interviews ◽

Late Life ◽

Turkish Immigrants ◽

Older Immigrants ◽

Poverty Levels ◽

Do So

Abstract. In order to increase our understanding of the financial disparity between older immigrants and their host-country peers, this article combines a cumulative dis/advantage analysis of immigrant life-course experiences while also attending to larger-scale, socioeconomic processes. The article combines qualitative interviews with quantitative register data from a cohort of older Turkish immigrants and compares their situation with that of their host-country peers. The analysis shows considerable inequalities in old age: While 1% of the ethnic majority live below OECD poverty levels, 29% of the immigrants do so. Their financially disadvantaged situation in late life results partly from the accumulation of a lifetime of disadvantages. Also important are the national rules that tie full social security pensions to length of residence in Denmark.

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ADHD symptoms across the lifespan in a population-based Swedish sample aged 65 to 80

International Psychogeriatrics ◽

10.1017/s1041610212002050 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 25 (4) ◽

pp. 667-675 ◽

Cited By ~ 32

Author(s):

Taina Guldberg-Kjär ◽

Sally Sehlin ◽

Boo Johansson

Keyword(s):

Old Age ◽

Attention Deficit ◽

Attention Deficit Disorder ◽

Rating Scale ◽

Population Based ◽

Adhd Symptoms ◽

Older Individuals ◽

Swedish Version ◽

Hyperactivity Disorder ◽

Swedish Sample

ABSTRACTBackground: The purpose of the study was to examine the attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptomatology across the lifespan by comparing older individuals’ self-reports about current ADHD symptoms and symptoms in childhood.Methods: The 25-item Wender Utah Rating Scale (WURS) was initially administered in a population-based sample of 1,599 persons aged 65–80 years. We also asked about current health, memory, and problems in childhood. Based on their WURS scores (below and above 36), we randomly drew two subsamples, each with 30 individuals. They were followed up by the Wender Riktad ADHD Symtom Skala (WRASS)-scale, a Swedish version of the Targeted Attention Deficit Disorder Rating Scale (TADDS).Results: Our main finding was that higher WURS scores were significantly related to higher scores on the WRASS scale, indicating persistence of self-reported ADHD symptoms over the whole lifespan. Among those with a WURS score of 36 or more, 16 (53.3%) individuals scored 70 or more; the clinical cut-off used in Sweden. None of the individuals with a WURS score below 36 scored higher than 70 on the WRASS scale.Conclusions: Our findings support the idea of a significant persistence of ADHD symptoms from childhood to old age. The results encourage studies of ADHD using a lifespan perspective, particularly in examining ADHD symptoms in old age.

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The Interplay Between Poly-Victimization and Sexual Assault in Late Life in the Context of Life Course Perspective

Violence Against Women ◽

10.1177/10778012211012092 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 107780122110120

Author(s):

Sagit Lev ◽

Dovrat Harel ◽

Hadass Goldblatt ◽

Tova Band-Winterstein

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Sexual Assault ◽

Life Course ◽

Old Age ◽

Health Care Professionals ◽

Qualitative Interviews ◽

Late Life ◽

Marital Relationships ◽

Life Course Perspective ◽

The Life Course

The aim of this article is to explore the interplay between poly-victimization and sexual assault against women in late life (SAWLL) according to the life-course perspective. Two themes emerged from qualitative interviews with 18 experienced welfare and health care professionals who intervened in cases of SAWLL: sexual assault by a spouse co-occurring with other types of abuse within marital relationships, and sexual assault and other types of abuse by two or more perpetrators along the life course. In many cases, SAWLL is an expression of a broader experience of poly-victimization, which relates to vulnerability in old age.

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’Successful Ageing’ in Practice: Reflections on Health, Activity and Normality in Old Age in Sweden

Culture Unbound Journal of Current Cultural Research ◽

10.3384/cu.2000.1525.124481 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 4 (3) ◽

pp. 481-497 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Åsa Alftberg ◽

Susanne Lundin

Keyword(s):

Old Age ◽

Qualitative Interviews ◽

Cultural Beliefs ◽

Individual Responsibility ◽

Critical Examination ◽

Successful Ageing ◽

Old People ◽

Active Lifestyle ◽

Social Constructs ◽

Health Promoting

This article aims to contribute to the critical examination of the notions of health and activity, and to discuss how these cultural and social constructs have impact on elderly people’s lives. An ethnographic perspective gives fruitful inputs to explore how old people deal with the image of old age as one of decay and decline, while they simultaneously relate to the normative idea of so-called successful ageing. The focus is thus on how elderly people create meaning, and how they manage and make use of the contradictory cultural beliefs that are both understood as normality: old age as a passive period of life involving decline and disease, and activity as an individual responsibility in order to stay healthy. The study sample is created with two different methods, qualitative interviews and two different questionnaires, and the majority of the respondents are 65+ years old. The article demonstrates the intersection between old age and a health-promoting active lifestyle. The notion of activity includes moral values, which shape the beliefs and narratives of being old. This forms part of the concept of self-care management, which in old age is also called successful ageing. The idea that activities are health promoting is the framework in which activities are performed, but significance and meaning are rather created from practice.

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Dyadic Experiences of Love in Late-Life Repartnering Relationships

Journal of Family Issues ◽

10.1177/0192513x211031520 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 0192513X2110315

Author(s):

Chaya Koren

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Old Age ◽

Qualitative Interviews ◽

Late Life ◽

Parental Love ◽

Analysis Methodology ◽

Partner Relationships ◽

Interview Analysis

Love is desired at any age and has many meanings. Formulating new partner relationships later in life includes love as a motivation. However, experiences of love as a concept within such relationships have yet to be examined. Such an investigation could contribute to further understanding the meaning of love within new relationships formulated later in life. Thirty-eight semi-structured, qualitative interviews with older adults (19 couples) who entered a new relationship at old age after widowhood or divorce following a long-term marriage were conducted and transcribed verbatim. Dyadic interview analysis methodology was used. Unique experiences of love were identified: (1) Kinds of love: (a) pleasant love—not heated, (b) parental love—deep and quiet, and (c) sibling love; (2) phases of love: (a) being in love, (b) partial love, and (c) falling out of love yet caring. The discussion addresses late-life repartnering love as exclusive and as shifting from passion to compassion.

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‘As long as it's good’: An intergenerational family perspective of bridging gaps between reality and ideality of second couplehood as a problem and as a solution

Ageing and Society ◽

10.1017/s0144686x14001482 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 36 (4) ◽

pp. 716-740 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

CHAYA KOREN ◽

SHIRAN SIMHI

Keyword(s):

Grounded Theory ◽

Life Expectancy ◽

Family Structure ◽

Old Age ◽

Qualitative Interviews ◽

Ageing Process ◽

Dyadic Analysis ◽

Multigenerational Families ◽

Family Perspective ◽

The Family

ABSTRACTSecond couplehood in old age following widowhood or divorce is a phenomenon developing with the increase in life expectancy and is yet to be accepted as part of the normative ageing process. The aim of this paper is to examine how family members of three generations perceive second couplehood in old age as a new phenomenon within a changing society and a dynamic family structure. The multigenerational families of 19 second-couplehood dyads (a total of 38 multigenerational families) were recruited using criterion sampling. The second-couplehood dyads were composed of men who repartnered at age 65+ and women at 60+, with children and grandchildren from a lifelong marriage. We tape recorded and transcribed verbatim 107 semi-structured qualitative interviews with older partners, their adult children and grandchildren. Analysis was based on grounded theory and dyadic-analysis principles adapted to families. Two main themes were found that presented gaps between reality and ideality experienced by the participants regarding second couplehood: as a problem through its disadvantages, and as a solution through its advantages. The gaps in both themes were bridged by the account: ‘as long as it's good’. Findings are discussed in the context of modernisation theory, the lifecourse and the family lifecycle perspectives relating to changes in family structure and ambivalence and how to deal with them on the macro, mezzo and micro levels.

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