scholarly journals Gerontology at the Intersection of Religion and Families: Honoring the Legacy of Vern Bengtson

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 657-657
Author(s):  
Alex Bishop ◽  
Merril Silverstein ◽  
Monika Ardelt
Keyword(s):  
Family Relationships ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Religious Practice ◽  
Religion And Spirituality ◽  
Family Networks ◽  
Temporal Continuity ◽  
Behavioral Gerontology ◽  
Harmonious Family

Abstract The topic of religion and spirituality in later life has received intermittent but regular attention in the field of social and behavioral gerontology over the past few decades. To the extent that religion and spirituality have been linked to better health, improved well-being, and harmonious family functioning has renewed interest in this area of scholarly inquiry. Along with these positive outcomes, religion has also been examined as the basis for family conflict, as well in terms of its inverse in the transmission of secularity across generations. This symposium will communicate empirical results, theoretical insights, and conceptual developments inspired by the career contributions of Dr. Vern Bengtson, whose landmark studies have enriched the field of gerontology in the areas of intergenerational solidarity, spirituality in later life, the transmission of religion across generations, and life-course approaches to the study of family relationships. Five eminent scholars whose work touches on these areas will be represented in this symposium. The paper by Linda George compares intergenerational religious socialization and moral development. The paper by Robert Taylor and Linda Chatters examines the role of supportive church and family networks among older African-Americans. The paper by Ellen Idler addresses aging and religious in a context of secularization. The paper by Andy Achenbaum considers spiritual dimensions of friendship and meanings of aging. The paper by Merril Silverstein integrates intergenerational and temporal continuity in religious practice and identity. The discussant Monika Ardelt has contributed important scholarly work in the areas of religion, spirituality, and wisdom in later life. Religion, Spirituality and Aging Interest Group Sponsored Symposium.

scholarly journals Bane or Boon? The Role of Spirituality, Religion, and Well-Being in Later Life Across Diverse Older Populations

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 677-678
Author(s):  
Holly Nelson-Becker
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Religious Faith ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Religious Practice ◽  
Religion And Spirituality ◽  
Religiously Affiliated ◽  
The Uk

Abstract Older adults tend to be religiously-affiliated to a greater extent than any other generational cohort (ARDA,2018; Koenig, King & Carson,2012; George et al.,2013; Nelson-Becker,2018). However, their level of engagement varies across cultural and national contexts. Complex life course trajectories related to spirituality and religion mean that these domains often interface with both challenges and a search for well-being. Individuals may align with spiritual and/or religious values to a greater or lesser extent at different periods in their lives becoming more spiritual/religious, less spiritual/religious, or differently so. These papers address diverse perspectives on spirituality, religion, and well-being using samples primarily from the UK, Europe, the US, and Canada. The first paper by Christina Victor sets context by comparing the role of religion, and spirituality in well-being across three separate older adult data sets, touching on loneliness and dementia. Holly Nelson-Becker discusses results from an online international survey of older persons who walked the ancient Camino de Santiago pilgrimage regarding their motivations and learning from the experience. Michael Thomas considers the complex role of spirituality and sexuality for older LGB couples who may choose to remain in or leave their religious faith as they integrate expanding views. Keith Anderson explores perceptions of belief changes among religious and spiritual older adults across the life course. Together, these papers will address benefit and harm from formal religious practice and the advancing roles of spirituality as well as nonspirituality (the “nones”) in global societies.

scholarly journals Religion, Spirituality, and Well-Being: An Underexplored Aspect of Growing Older in the United Kingdom?

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 678-678
Author(s):  
Christina Victor ◽  
Ruth Lamont ◽  
Isla Rippon ◽  
Linda Clare
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Religious Practice ◽  
The United States ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Religion And Spirituality ◽  
People With Dementia ◽  
The Uk

Abstract There is a rich literature from The United States looking at the importance of religion and spirituality in the lives of older adults where it is positively linked with wellbeing. Despite the increased interest in wellbeing in the UK comparatively little interest has been show in the role of religion and spirituality in promoting wellbeing including quality of life, life satisfaction and loneliness. In this paper we explore these issues using three data sets: the European Social Survey (ESS), the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) and the IDEAL cohort of people with dementia and their carers to examine (a) the variation in religious practice by older adults, those aged 50+, across Europe; (b) the epidemiology of religious practice among older adults within England and (c) using both ELSA and IDEAL consider the relationship between religion and wellbeing in later life.

scholarly journals Meaning Making in a Retirement Migrant Community: Religion, Spirituality, and Social Practices of Daily Lives

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenni Spännäri ◽  
Hanne Laceulle
Keyword(s):  
Meaning In Life ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Social Practices ◽  
Religion And Spirituality ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
The Social ◽  
Role Of Religion

Meaning in life has also been seen as crucial to well-being, and especially, in later life. This study focused on the social complexity of meaning making processes and the role of religion and spirituality in them, by finding out the following: (1) How are meaning-making practices connected with religion and spirituality for Finnish retirement migrants of the boomer generation? (2) What does the role of religion and spirituality in meaning-making practices teach us about the relationship between individual and social aspects of meaning making? This was done by examining a particular group of older persons: Finnish retirement migrants aged 60 or over in Costa del Sol, Spain. The material for this study consists of 58 texts (written correspondence, dataset 1, year 2009), 10 semi-structured interviews (dataset 2, year 2011), and 30 completed online surveys with open-ended questions (dataset 3, year 2019). Key findings include that religion and spirituality are present in the lives of our informants in a variety of ways, playing a significant role in their meaning making, and that they appear as intertwined and not so easy to separate. A variety of religious and non-religious forms of spirituality exist in this population, and all of these forms can be relevant factors in meaning making. Also, the engagement in meaning making, contrary to what has been suggested in some of the literature about meaning in later life, not only occurs in response to confrontations with health issues, death, or other major life events. Instead, we found that meaning making occurs as a process that is often inherent to daily activities which may seem “trivial,” but in fact turn out to be important sources of purpose, values, and connectedness. Contrary to the dominant modern ideal of the authentic, self-sufficient human agent, which is based on a problematically atomistic and individualistic anthropology, for our respondents, their authentic subject position is embedded in the social practices of their daily lives, which nourish their individual spirituality and are vital to making meaning.

Pateicības izpausmes folklorā psiholoģiskā kontekstā

2021 ◽  
pp. 42-53
Author(s):  
Ieva Ančevska
Keyword(s):  
Family Relationships ◽  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Emotional Health ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Psychological Research ◽  
Neuroscience Research ◽  
Health And Well Being

The article examines the depiction of gratitude and related events in Latvian folklore through comparative evaluation. Gratitude is considered in a psychological context, comparing the attitude expressed in folklore with the findings of modern scientific research. Gratitude is a concept that is usually associated with a relationship or a benefit, it is most often aimed outwards, dedicated to someone else, but at the same time, it creates a pleasant feeling within the person. In modern psychology, gratitude is receiving more and more attention from researchers because its manifestations stimulate the formation of positive emotions and contribute to the improvement of the person’s overall well-being. Research and clinical studies in psychotherapy confirm that gratitude plays an important role in improving mental health and reducing depressive, destructive feelings. In turn, neuroscience research shows the potential of a grateful and positive attitude in strengthening psycho-emotional health and well-being in general. In Latvian folklore, gratitude is depicted as an important part of ritual events, which helps to ensure a positive, balanced connection with the forces of nature, gods, and society. In folklore, the importance of gratitude is emphasised more when building family relationships or accepting various situations and occurrences in life. In both psychological research and the practice of systemic therapy, as well as in folklore, gratitude appears as one of the most important values of interpersonal connection, which promotes the formation of harmonious relationships. Similar to the opinions of psychology, the folk world views emphasise the motivational role of gratitude in improving the quality of human life and health in general.

African American Women Seeking Strength in Romance and Family Relationships

2017 ◽  
pp. 193-211
Author(s):  
Maudry-Beverley Lashley ◽  
Vanessa Marshall ◽  
TyWanda McLaurin-Jones
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
African American Women ◽  
Family Relationships ◽  
Synergistic Effects ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Family Interactions ◽  
Family Dynamic ◽  
American Women ◽  
Mental Well Being

Family interactions play a central role in creating relationships. The dynamic roles of intersectionality and biopsychosocial factors including culture, race, gender and environments stimulate the synergistic effects of relationships. Sociocultural contexts provide meaning to individual lives. The mechanisms within a family dynamic impact the formation of life decisions and overall health, spiritual and mental well-being. The purpose of this chapter is to explain and expand on how many African American women and LGBTQ couples create and interpret family dynamics and romantic relationships; specifically investigating the influential impact of kinship support, the role of the sandwich generation and the occupation of the Black woman as a primary caregiver.

scholarly journals EXPANDING SOCIAL TIES AS A GOAL IN LATER LIFE: THE ROLE OF SOCIAL NETWORK CHARACTERISTICS

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S175-S175
Author(s):  
Danielle Oleskiewicz ◽  
Karen Rook
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Social Ties ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Support Provision ◽  
Network Characteristics ◽  
Network Composition

Abstract Older adults often winnow their social ties to focus on emotionally rewarding ties (Charles & Carstensen, 2010). Some older adults, however, have small social networks that preclude much winnowing or aversive social ties from which disengagement is difficult. These individuals might be motivated to expand, rather than contract, their social ties. The current study sought to extend knowledge regarding potential links between social network characteristics and older adults’ interest, effort, and success in creating new social ties. We expected that small social networks and negative social ties might motivate interest and effort directed toward forming new social ties but that positive social ties might foster success in efforts to form new ties. In-person interviews were conducted with participants (N = 351, Mean age = 74.16) in a larger study of older adults’ social networks and well-being. The interviews assessed participants’ social networks, as well as their interest, effort, and success in making new social ties. Participants’ social network composition, rather than size, was associated with greater motivation to establish new social ties. Negative social ties were associated with greater interest and effort directed toward forming new social ties. Positive social ties were related to greater success (due, in part, to their support provision) and, unexpectedly, were also related to greater interest and effort directed toward forming new ties. Older adults sometimes seek to expand, rather than contract, their social ties, and characteristics of their social networks appear to play a role in fueling and influencing the success of such efforts.

The Role of Spirituality in Integrative Preventive Medicine

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary E. Schwartz
Keyword(s):  
Preventive Medicine ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Religious Practice ◽  
Paradigm Change ◽  
Life After Death ◽  
Spirituality And Health ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Near Death Experiences

Substantial research documents a positive association between religious practice and improved health and well-being. Research on the relationship between spirituality and health is less developed but also positive. Generally speaking, Western science and medicine explain these positive associations via psychological and social mechanisms rather than spiritual (or “metaphysical”) ones. However, contemporary theory and research in consciousness science, including research on near-death experiences and life after death, are pointing to a profound paradigm change in science, shifting from conventional materialist models of nature and the cosmos to postmaterialist models. This chapter introduces the reader to the emerging postmaterialist paradigm in science and considers some of its important implications for understanding and applying spirituality in integrative preventive medicine.

scholarly journals Exploring the role of family in enhancing the well-being of patients with developmental disorders

2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (6) ◽  
pp. 721-734 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paula Lam ◽  
Constanza Bianchi
Keyword(s):  
Family Relationships ◽  
Personal Growth ◽  
Developmental Disorders ◽  
Qualitative Methodology ◽  
Family Members ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Service Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Therapy Services

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate how family members co-create value and improve the well-being of patients with chronic developmental disorders, such as Asperger syndrome (AS) that undertake permanent therapy services. Design/methodology/approach Qualitative methodology is used to identify family value co-creation activities and well-being outcomes. Extensive interviews with family members and professional therapists of AS patients were conducted as the main data collection method. Findings Drawing from previous conceptualizations of value co-creation activities in health contexts, the findings of this study identify the specific value co-creation activities held by family members that influence the different dimensions of well-being for AS patients and their families: co-learning, combining therapies, changing ways of doing things, connecting, co-operation and co-production, managing daily life, motivating, protecting, regulating and establishing roles. The findings also reveal improvements in the following dimensions of patient well-being: autonomy, self-acceptance, purpose in life, positive relationships with others, control of the environment and personal growth. In addition, value co-creation activities also improve family relationships at home and the well-being of patient family members. Originality/value This study contributes to the services literature and addresses a gap in transformative service research by exploring the value co-creation activities of family members for improving well-being outcomes of patients with chronic developmental disorders. People with chronic developmental disorders engage in permanent therapy services and tend to have below-average well-being scores, which also extends to their family members.

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