scholarly journals KIN NETWORK DYNAMICS OVER THE LIFE COURSE AND HISTORICAL TIME IN 19TH-CENTURY ORKNEY, SCOTLAND

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S175-S175
Author(s):  
Julia Jennings
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
Population Change ◽  
Population Aging ◽  
Descriptive Analysis ◽  
Interesting Case ◽  
Historical Time ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Kin Networks

Abstract Kin are important sources of social, instrumental, and financial assistance for older adults. Support from kin is associated with improved wellbeing and longer lives among this age group, yet few longitudinal studies examine information on the composition and structure of kin networks beyond dyadic relationships, such as those between spouses or parents and their children. This study examines the dynamics of non-dyadic measures of kin networks among adults over age 60 using multiple longitudinal linked data sources from North Orkney, Scotland, 1851-1911. Reconstructed individual life courses (N=4,946) and genealogies, in combination in spatial information concerning the proximity non-coresident kin, are used to examine change in kin availability and propinquity over the life course and across historical time. Orkney provides an interesting case study; as information is available on individual-level change in kin availability with a long period of follow up during a time of population change. The study period covers the early stages of population aging and depopulation of the islands, which began in the 1870s in this community. A descriptive analysis of kin network change is presented. Kin availability is associated with longer lives in this sample. The presence of co-resident kin is associated with economic status, after controlling for other factors. Older adults who receive poor relief are significantly more likely to live alone and less likely to live with kin, and the association is stronger for men than for women.

scholarly journals Women's experience of child death over the life course: A global demographic perspective

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diego Alburez-Gutierrez ◽  
Martin Kolk ◽  
Emilio Zagheni
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Population Change ◽  
Population Aging ◽  
Child Death ◽  
Adult Child ◽  
World Population ◽  
Birth Cohorts ◽  
Death Of A Child ◽  
Demographic Regimes ◽  
The Life Course

Recent population change has seen increases in life expectancy, reductions in family size, and postponement of fertility to older ages. We analyze the effect of these dynamics on the experience of child death over the life course for the 1950-1999 annual birth cohorts of women around the world. The paper draws on age-specific fertility and mortality rates from the UN World Population Prospects 2019 (estimates and projections) to assess trends in the frequency and timing of child death using formal demographic methods. We discuss the variation in woman's exposure to offspring mortality according to the demographic regimes prevailing in different world regions. Our analyses predict a global reduction in the overall frequency of child death over a woman's life course. We expect the largest improvements in regions of the Global South where child death is still common for women. In spite of persisting regional inequalities, we show evidence of a global convergence towards a future where the death of a child will become ever more infrequent for women. We anticipate that global population aging will be accompanied by an aging of generational relationships where life events such as the death of a child are experienced at older ages. Given these results, it seems likely that `child death' will increasingly come to mean the death of an adult child for younger generations of women.

scholarly journals Social Support From Kin and Mortality Risk Among Older Adults in a Historical Aging Population

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 414-415
Author(s):  
Julia Jennings
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Cause Of Death ◽  
Population Aging ◽  
Interesting Case ◽  
Specific Analysis ◽  
Specific Mortality ◽  
The Life Course

Abstract Family are often sources of social, instrumental, and financial support for older adults. However, in many types of survey and archival data, details on the provision of support are lacking. This study examines the association between kin availability and cause-specific mortality among adults over age 60 using multiple longitudinal linked data sources from North Orkney, Scotland, 1851-1911. This study explores the relationships between cause of death and kin availability, as certain ailments may be amenable to interventions related to social support in this period while others may not. This approach will aid in interpreting the effects of social support that may be transmitted through kin networks. Reconstructed individual life courses (N=4,946) and genealogies, in combination with data on the proximity non-coresident kin, are used to examine kin availability and propinquity over the life course. Cause of death is available from death records and has been coded into the ICD. Orkney provides an interesting case study as longitudinal information is available on mortality and kin availability during a time of population aging. Kin availability is associated with longevity in this sample, while cause-specific analysis allows us to evaluate the role of social support in promoting longevity net of this association.

Population Aging, Intracohort Aging, and Sociopolitical Attitudes

2007 ◽  
Vol 72 (5) ◽  
pp. 812-830 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas L. Danigelis ◽  
Melissa Hardy ◽  
Stephen J. Cutler
Keyword(s):  
Older People ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Survey Data ◽  
Population Aging ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Civil Liberties ◽  
General Social Survey ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Sociopolitical Attitudes ◽  
The Life Course

Prevailing stereotypes of older people hold that their attitudes are inflexible or that aging tends to promote increasing conservatism in sociopolitical outlook. In spite of mounting scientific evidence demonstrating that learning, adaptation, and reassessment are behaviors in which older people can and do engage, the stereotype persists. We use U.S. General Social Survey data from 25 surveys between 1972 and 2004 to formally assess the magnitude and direction of changes in attitudes that occur within cohorts at different stages of the life course. We decompose changes in sociopolitical attitudes into the proportions attributable to cohort succession and intracohort aging for three categories of items: attitudes toward historically subordinate groups, civil liberties, and privacy. We find that significant intracohort change in attitudes occurs in cohorts-inlater- stages (age 60 and older) as well as cohorts-in-earlier-stages (ages 18 to 39), that the change for cohorts-in-later-stages is frequently greater than that for cohorts-inearlier-stages, and that the direction of change is most often toward increased tolerance rather than increased conservatism. These findings are discussed within the context of population aging and development.

scholarly journals Harmonisation and Between-Country Differences of the Lifetime of Experiences Questionnaire in Older Adults

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valentin Ourry ◽  
Natalie L. Marchant ◽  
Ann-Katrin Schild ◽  
Nina Coll-Padros ◽  
Olga M. Klimecki ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Cognitive Reserve ◽  
Leisure Activities ◽  
International Comparisons ◽  
Education Systems ◽  
Promising Tool ◽  
Behavioural Determinants ◽  
Country Differences ◽  
The Life Course

Background: The Lifetime of Experiences Questionnaire (LEQ) assesses complex mental activity across the life-course and has been associated with brain and cognitive health. The different education systems and occupation classifications across countries represent a challenge for international comparisons. The objectives of this study were four-fold: to adapt and harmonise the LEQ across four European countries, assess its validity across countries, explore its association with brain and cognition and begin to investigate between-country differences in life-course mental activities.Method: The LEQ was administered to 359 cognitively unimpaired older adults (mean age and education: 71.2, 13.2 years) from IMAP and EU-funded Medit-Ageing projects. Education systems, classification of occupations and scoring guidelines were adapted to allow comparisons between France, Germany, Spain and United Kingdom. We assessed the LEQ's (i) concurrent validity with a similar instrument (cognitive activities questionnaire - CAQ) and its structural validity by testing the factors' structure across countries, (ii) we investigated its association with cognition and neuroimaging, and (iii) compared its scores between countries.Results: The LEQ showed moderate to strong positive associations with the CAQ and revealed a stable multidimensional structure across countries that was similar to the original LEQ. The LEQ was positively associated with global cognition. Between-country differences were observed in leisure activities across the life-course.Conclusions: The LEQ is a promising tool for assessing the multidimensional construct of cognitive reserve and can be used to measure socio-behavioural determinants of cognitive reserve in older adults across countries. Longitudinal studies are warranted to test further its clinical utility.

Time, Scheduling and Cinema-Going

2011 ◽  
Vol 139 (1) ◽  
pp. 88-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Jancovich
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Social Activities ◽  
Historical Time ◽  
Change Over Time ◽  
Time Scheduling ◽  
Consumption Change ◽  
Pass Through ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Over Time

The article considers the ways in which the meanings of film consumption are shaped by their timing or scheduling within people's lives. It begins by considering the ways in which these meanings are shaped in relation to historical time, and how the meanings of film consumption change over time. It then moves on to consider the ‘life course’, or the ways in which meanings of film consumption are affected by the different stages that people pass through across a lifetime. Finally, the article considers more cyclical patterns and routines such as those of the year, week and day. In the process, it seeks to demonstrate that film consumption is about much more than the interpretation of individual programs, and involves a series of social activities that are meaningful within broader social contexts.

scholarly journals KEEPING THINGS, BUT ONLY FOR A WHILE

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S362-S363
Author(s):  
David J Ekerdt
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Material Culture ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Museum Objects ◽  
Entire World ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Aging Adults ◽  
The Life Course

Abstract The life course is accomplished by material culture held as a convoy of possessions, but also sustained by public affordances and amenities that include the artifacts and artworks to be found in museums. In both places—household and museum—objects come and go, but there is mainly keeping. The difference lies in the capacity to keep things indefinitely: it is virtue for museums but a predicament for households of aging adults. Museums model ideals of permanence and responsibility toward things, ideals that, in the long run, households can only faintly attain. For older adults and for gerontologists, preservation is the wrong lesson to take away from the galleries. Rather, what we can learn there is how single, selected things can show, in a thoughtful way, an entire world of ideas and universe of meaning. No need to keep it all—and forever—but we can honor things while we can. ​

Sexy till I die: What applied theatre can offer in approaches to sexual health

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 365-375
Author(s):  
Leah Tidey
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Critical Pedagogy ◽  
Sexual Health ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Social Stigma ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
Sexually Transmitted ◽  
The Social ◽  
Applied Theatre ◽  
The Life Course

Abstract For older adults in Canada, too often shame and silence describe their experiences of sexual health. With more citizens over the age of 65 than ever before and increasing rates of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) in older adults, we are facing a serious issue. Applied theatre offers an innovative approach to deconstructing social stigma in sexuality across the life course, whereby new understandings and perceptions may emerge for people of all ages. The usefulness, gaps and application of three different approaches to sexual health issues are examined to highlight innovations in addressing sexual health and critique ageist, sexist and heteronormative assumptions through a feminist, critical pedagogy lens. The analysis culminates in a proposed outline for an intergenerational, community-based theatre project to address the social stigma of sexuality across the life course entitled You're Doing What?! At Your Age?!

scholarly journals FAMILY-MEMBER LOSS AS A CUMULATIVE BURDEN FOR HEALTH AMONG BLACK AND WHITE OLDER ADULTS

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S604-S604
Author(s):  
Rachel Donnelly
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Family Member ◽  
Functional Limitations ◽  
Black Americans ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Cardiometabolic Health ◽  
Black And White ◽  
Family Loss ◽  
The Life Course

Abstract The health consequences of multiple family member deaths across the life course has received less attention in the bereavement literature. Moreover, recent research shows that black Americans are more likely than white Americans to lose multiple family members. I analyze longitudinal data from the Health and Retirement Study (1992-2014) to assess how multiple family member losses across the life course are associated with declines in health among older adults. Findings suggest that multiple family losses prior to midlife are associated with a number of indicators of poor health (e.g., functional limitations, cardiometabolic health) and steeper declines in health as individuals age. Losses after midlife additionally undermine health declines for older adults. Thus, family member loss functions as a cumulative burden of stress across the life course that erodes health in mid- and later-life. Family loss disproportionately burdens black Americans and serves as a unique source of disadvantage for black families.

scholarly journals Transitions, generations andinformal learning in later life

2012 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 29
Author(s):  
John Field
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Older People ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Demographic Change ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Identity Change ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Life Chances ◽  
The Life Course

The nature of transitions across the lifecourse is changing, as are the ways in which these transitions are understoodand investigated by social scientists. Much earlier debate on older adults’ transitions has tended to be rooted in acco-unts of relatively fixed social roles and age-based social stages. However, while we can detect some tendencies towardsdestandardization and restandardization of the lifecourse in later life, we can also see significant continuities in theinfluences of socio-economic position, gender, and ethnicity, as well as of generational position, that continue to affectpeople’s life chances, as well as the expectations and experiences of transition of older people. The paper examines theinterplay of these complex and contradictory structural positions and cultural locations on transitions, and considersthe ways in which older people use and understand learning, formally and informally, as a way of exercising agencyand recreating meaning. It will draw on recent research into the life histories of adults in Scotland, a relatively smallcountry with a typically European pattern of demographic change. The study was concerned with agency, identity,change and learning across the life course, and this paper will concentrate on the evidence relating to experiences oftransition in later life. It will particularly focus on the idea of ‘educational generations’ as a key concept that helps usunderstand how adults use and interpret learning in later life.

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