scholarly journals Successful Aging: Re-Conceptualized

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 655-655
Author(s):  
Alexander Eustice-Corwin ◽  
Rachel Missell ◽  
Silvia Sörensen
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Successful Aging ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Active Engagement ◽  
Confirmatory Factor ◽  
Human Functioning ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Aging Factor

Abstract A review of the aging literature yields 105 operational definitions of “successful aging” in use. These theoretical discrepancies have caused some investigators to question the utility of the concept (Cosco et al., 2014). Investigators who remain committed to the concept acknowledge its conceptual messiness, but have found no consensus for resolution. We propose a revised concept of successful aging, combining a life-course perspective (Rowe & Kahn, 2015) with a neo-Aristotelian theoretical framework. Such a framework justifies certain changes to the definition of “successful aging;” it situates our concept of successful aging within a broader view of human development, is more inclusive, and suggests empirically adequate research questions. Specifically, conceptualizing “successful aging” along neo-Aristotelian lines means defining it as the maintenance of proper human functioning across the life-course and into late adulthood. For Aristotle, proper human functioning entails realizing one’s potential as a “rational social animal,” with rational implying goal-oriented thinking, means-ends reasoning, other forms of instrumental rationality (not excluding emotionality). Social suggests active engagement in a community, within the limits of an individuals’ comfort and ability. These two criteria determine “success” in older age. Recent research on successful aging reveals that absence of disease and disability does not appear to be a constituent of “successful aging.” Therefore, physical health is neither necessary nor sufficient for “success.” Our re-conceptualization of “successful aging” could be tested using confirmatory factor analysis, with social and reasoning/problem-solving factors loading onto a second order Successful Aging factor. This understanding allows for greater empowerment of older adults.

scholarly journals ”Man får hjälp då man behöver” - äldre närståendevårdtagares vårdval ur ett livsloppsperspektiv

Gerontologia ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 102-114
Author(s):  
Sarah Åkerman ◽  
Fredrica Nyqvist ◽  
Mikael Nygård
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Informal Care ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Demographic Development ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
Care Recipients ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
The Relationship

Den demografiska utvecklingen leder till omorganiseringar inom den finländska äldreomsorgen. Privatisering, marknadisering och närståendevård ökar med konsekvenser för vårdbehövande och deras anhöriga. Temat för den här artikeln är närståendevård. Tidigare forskning har fokuserat i större utsträckning på vårdarna, trots att också vårdtagaren är en aktiv part i vården. Enligt livsloppsperspektivet ses åldrande som en livslång process. En individs livslopp påverkas av de begränsningar och möjligheter som styr hennes val och handlingar i en specifik historisk och social kontext. I den här studien har sju vårdtagare intervjuats med kvalitativa semistrukturerade intervjuer. Syftet var att studera äldre närståendevårdtagares vårdval ur ett livsloppsperspektiv. Studiens frågeställningar var: hur kan bakgrunden till närståendevårdtagarnas vårdval förstås ur ett livsloppsperspektiv? Vad har vårdtagarna för tankar om framtiden? Resultaten visade att valet av närståendevård påverkades av den personliga bakgrunden och relationen till närståendevårdaren, men även av delvis negativa attityder till formell äldreomsorg. Vårdtagarna oroade sig för framtida vårdarrangemang. ”You receive help when you need it” – older informal care recipients’ care choice from a life course perspective Demographic development leads to increasing privatization, marketization and informal care in Finnish eldercare. The theme for this study is informal care. Previous research has focused on caregivers, even though the recipient is also an active part in care. According to the life course perspective, ageing is a lifelong process that takes place in a historical and social context. Seven older informal care recipients have been interviewed using qualitative semi-structured interviews. The aim was to study older informal care recipients’ care choice from a life course perspective. The research questions were: how can the background of the recipients’ care choice be understood from a life course perspective? What are the recipients’ thoughts on the future? The results showed that the care recipients’ choice was affected by personal reasons and the relationship with the caregiver, but also by partly negative attitudes towards formal eldercare. The care recipients worried about future arrangements.

scholarly journals The Experience of Aging and Perceptions of “Aging Well” Among Older Migrants in the Netherlands

2019 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 270-278 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nina Conkova ◽  
Jolanda Lindenberg
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Successful Aging ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Older Migrants ◽  
Aging Well ◽  
Subjective Views ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Key Aspects ◽  
The Life Course

Abstract Background and Objectives In this study, we examine the experience of aging and subjective views of what it means to age well among older adults with a migrant background in the Netherlands. We embed the study within the successful aging debate and tackle two of its most persistent critiques: the failure to adequately include subjective views in the definition of aging well and the failure to recognize that the process of aging is culturally determined. Research Design and Methods The research draws on qualitative data collected through eight focus-group discussions with the six largest migrant groups in the Netherlands, namely Indo-Dutch and Moluccans, and migrants with Western, Surinamese, Antillean, Turkish, and Moroccan background. Results The study findings show that in general older migrants experience aging more positively than commonly assumed. Nevertheless, some negative aspects of aging were also mentioned. These together with fears about the future underpin participants’ perceptions about aging well. Key aspects of successful aging include remaining healthy, independent, and engaged. Differences between and within groups exist in the meaning given to these concepts and the extent to which other specific aging-related wishes were mentioned. These differences are rooted in participants’ experiences of the migration event, employment history, and their current socioeconomic conditions. Discussion and Implications We conclude that the life course perspective is essential in understanding migrants’ aging process and their views on successful aging, and suggest that policies and interventions which promote disease prevention and tackle social exclusion will be beneficial for older adults with a migration background.

Social Models of Aging

1995 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 12-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor W. Marshall
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Social Structure ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Social Models ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Life Course

ABSTRACTSocial Models of aging deal with changes over the life course. Using a loose definition of model, this paper reviews models under the following classification: Allocation models; Construction of the Life Course models; Personality and Socialization models; and Negotiation models. Differences between and within these models are explored, with particular reference to the issue of determinism and the conceptualization of social structure. The life course perspective is recognized as hegemonic in contemporary theorizing about aging, but it is seen as itself embracing diverse models.

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>

scholarly journals "If i had known our couple turned that way, i would not have stopped working" a biographical account of labour force participation and conjugal love

2013 ◽  
pp. 29-49
Author(s):  
Eric D. Widmer ◽  
Manuela Schicka ◽  
Michčle Ernst Stahli ◽  
Jean-Marie LeGoff ◽  
René Levy
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Social Stratification ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Subjective Evaluation ◽  
Labour Force Participation ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Evaluation Influence ◽  
Conjugal Love ◽  
Biographical Account ◽  
The Life Course

This study examines how the work trajectories of women and men after childbirth and their subjective evaluation influence conjugal love. Data are drawn from the study, «Social Stratification, Cohesion and Conflict in Contemporary Families» (Widmer et al., 2003). The results show that an interruption of labour force participation increases the risk of feeling less in love for women, especially if the interruption is perceived as a sacrifice. Women's feelings of love also depend on the way in which their male partners consider their own work trajectories. Men's feelings of love are much less sensitive to their own and their partners' work trajectories. The results are discussed within the life course perspective.

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