scholarly journals Influence of Social Connections on Smoking Behavior across the Life Course

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mieke Beth Thomeer ◽  
Elaine Hernandez ◽  
Debra Umberson ◽  
Patricia Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Smoking Status ◽  
Smoking Behavior ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Social Connections ◽  
Quit Smoking ◽  
Demographic Patterns ◽  
The Life Course

Although we know much about demographic patterns of smoking, we know less about people’s explanations for when, how and why they avoid, develop, or alter smoking habits and how these explanations are linked to social connections across the life course. We analyze data from in-depth interviews with 60 adults aged 25-89 from a large southwestern U.S. city to consider how social connections shape smoking behavior across the life course. Respondents provided explanations for how and why they avoided, initiated, continued, and/or quit smoking. At various times, social connections were viewed as having both positive and negative influences on smoking behavior. Both people who never smoked and continuous smokers pointed to the importance of early life social connections in shaping decisions to smoke or not smoke, and viewed later connections (e.g., marriage, coworkers) as less important. People who quit smoking or relapsed tended to attribute their smoking behavior to social connections in adulthood rather than early life. People who changed their smoking behavior highlighted the importance of transitions as related to social connections, with more instability in social connections often discussed by relapsed smokers as a reason for instability in smoking status. A qualitative approach together with a life course perspective highlights the pivotal role of social connections in shaping trajectories of smoking behavior throughout the life course.

scholarly journals Influence of social connections on smoking behavior across the life course

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
pp. 100294 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mieke Beth Thomeer ◽  
Elaine Hernandez ◽  
Debra Umberson ◽  
Patricia A. Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Smoking Behavior ◽  
Social Connections ◽  
The Life Course

scholarly journals A Longitudinal Study of Allostatic Load in Later Life: The Role of Sex, Birth Cohorts, and Risk Accumulation

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 (5) ◽  
pp. 419-442 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ioana van Deurzen ◽  
Bram Vanhoutte
Keyword(s):  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Allostatic Load ◽  
Later Life ◽  
The Body ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Birth Cohorts ◽  
Wear And Tear ◽  
The Life Course

Are challenging life courses associated with more wear and tear on the biological level? This study investigates this question from a life-course perspective by examining the influence of life-course risk accumulation on allostatic load (AL), considering the role of sex and birth cohorts. Using biomarker data collected over three waves (2004, 2008, and 2012) of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing ( N = 3,824) in a growth curve framework, AL trajectories over a period of 8 years are investigated. Our results illustrate that AL increases substantially in later life. Men have higher AL than women, but increases are similar for both sexes. Older cohorts have both higher levels and a steeper increase of AL over time. Higher risk accumulation over the life course goes hand in hand with higher AL levels and steeper trajectories, contributing to the body of evidence on cumulative (dis)advantage processes in later life.

scholarly journals Flexicurity in a life-course perspective

2004 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 282-299 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ute Klammer
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Time Allocation ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Main Section ◽  
The Third ◽  
Life Course Approach ◽  
Part Time ◽  
The Life Course

This article extends the analysis of flexicurity to take account of the life-course perspective; in the international flexicurity debate such an approach has so far not been systematically taken. The article focuses on the question of what options will be needed for time allocation in different phases of life and over the whole life of an individual, and what financial resources could be combined to finance those phases. The first section discusses methodological and conceptual issues related to flexicurity and the life course. In the second section, longitudinal data from Germany is presented to illustrate some of the relevant patterns of, and changes within, life courses. The third and main section deals with policy implications. Four crucial objectives of a flexicurity policy based on a life-course approach are identified, and a range of options to improve flexibility and security over the lifetime are discussed. These options include measures to increase time sovereignty, subsidised part-time schemes for care and lifelong learning, the use of accumulated pension savings to finance other activities during the course of working life, and the role of minimum provision in social security schemes.

scholarly journals New Perspectives on Loneliness: From Micro Qualitative to Macro Quantitative Cross-National Comparisons

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 609-609
Author(s):  
Marja Aartsen
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Ecological Model ◽  
Longitudinal Research ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Effective Prevention ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Longitudinal research revealed a number of micro-level drivers of loneliness, such as widowhood, exclusion from the wider society, ill health and migrant status, but a number of questions are still unanswered. For example, the prevalence of loneliness varies substantially across countries, but we do not know precisely what causes these differences. It may be due to differences in the composition of the populations, it may also be caused by macro-level drivers, or by variations in the impact of risk factors between countries. For example, losing a spouse may be loneliness provoking in countries where living with a partner is the norm, but less so in countries where living alone is more valued. Also how early childhood and events over the life course affect the level of loneliness in later life is still under-researched. The aim of our symposium is to address this gap by presenting different perspectives on loneliness and social isolation. The first presenter interprets five-year follow-up information from qualitative interviews with a life course perspective. The second investigates the role of trust as factor producing social integration, which leads to variations in loneliness. The third compares and discusses loneliness in three different continents, based on an ecological model of contexts. The forth presenter critically discusses ways to measure loneliness in societies that are culturally distinct from western cultures. The last presenter discusses the dynamics between loneliness and material deprivation in Europe. The findings provide a new lens through which we can understand loneliness and inform about effective prevention.

Developmental and Life-Course Criminology

2018 ◽  
pp. 2-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lila Kazemian ◽  
David P. Farrington ◽  
Alex R. Piquero
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Developmental Approach ◽  
Life Course Criminology ◽  
Focal Concerns ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Life Course Framework ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Desistance From Crime

This chapter provides a brief overview of developmental and life-course criminology. These approaches are concerned with the study of the development of offending over the course of one's life, from onset to persistence and, eventually, desistance. Although these two theoretical approaches share many common features, they have distinctive focal concerns. Stemming from the field of sociology, the life-course perspective focuses attention on social structure and life events. The developmental approach, on the other hand, stems from the field of psychology and generally emphasizes the role of individual and psychological factors in the explanation of developmental processes. Moreover, the developmental approach investigates the onset of offending as well as the role of early risk and protective factors in the explanation of future offending. Meanwhile, the life-course framework examines the influence of turning points in offending trajectories and in the process of desistance from crime.

scholarly journals TRANSITIONS TO RETIREMENT: PERCEPTIONS OF PORTUGUESE OLDER MEN

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 37-51
Author(s):  
Sandra T. Valadas ◽  
Carla Vilhena ◽  
António Fragoso
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Transition Process ◽  
Older Men ◽  
Learning Processes ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Number Of Factors ◽  
Southern Portugal ◽  
The Life Course

In this paper we present results based on the project Old Guys Say Yes to Community. We interviewed 90 men in southern Portugal between 60 and 93 years of age. Our main aim was to understand how older men experienced their transitions from work to retirement. We clarify the concept of transition and the models that explain transitions in the life course perspective. There are a number of factors to consider during the processes of retirement. Also, not much is known about the role of education and learning during the transition process. We try to contribute to the field, reflecting on the learning processes that result from this transition. Our findings show that work is one of the most crucial dimensions to consider in transitions to retirement (despite the fact that we identify many others). But education and learning do have an immense impact on the lives of older adults, either negative or positive.

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.

scholarly journals Body size throughout the life-course and incident benign prostatic hyperplasia-related outcomes and nocturia

BMC Urology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Saira Khan ◽  
K. Y. Wolin ◽  
R. Pakpahan ◽  
R. L. Grubb ◽  
G. A. Colditz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Prostate Volume ◽  
Late Life ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Normal Weight ◽  
Prostatic Hyperplasia ◽  
The Life Course

Abstract Background Existing evidence suggests that there is an association between body size and prevalent Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH)-related outcomes and nocturia. However, there is limited evidence on the association between body size throughout the life-course and incident BPH-related outcomes. Methods Our study population consisted of men without histories of prostate cancer, BPH-related outcomes, or nocturia in the intervention arm of the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial (PLCO) (n = 4710). Associations for body size in early- (age 20), mid- (age 50) and late-life (age ≥ 55, mean age 60.7 years) and weight change with incident BPH-related outcomes (including self-reported nocturia and physician diagnosis of BPH, digital rectal examination-estimated prostate volume ≥ 30 cc, and prostate-specific antigen [PSA] concentration > 1.4 ng/mL) were examined using Poisson regression with robust variance estimation. Results Men who were obese in late-life were 25% more likely to report nocturia (Relative Risk (RR): 1.25, 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 1.11–1.40; p-trendfor continuous BMI < 0.0001) and men who were either overweight or obese in late-life were more likely to report a prostate volume ≥ 30 cc (RRoverweight: 1.13, 95% CI 1.07–1.21; RRobese: 1.10, 95% CI 1.02–1.19; p-trendfor continuous BMI = 0.017) as compared to normal weight men. Obesity at ages 20 and 50 was similarly associated with both nocturia and prostate volume ≥ 30 cc. Considering trajectories of body size, men who were normal weight at age 20 and became overweight or obese by later-life had increased risks of nocturia (RRnormal to overweight: 1.09, 95% CI 0.98–1.22; RRnormal to obese: 1.28, 95% CI 1.10–1.47) and a prostate volume ≥ 30 cc (RRnormal to overweight: 1.12, 95% CI 1.05–1.20). Too few men were obese early in life to examine the independent effect of early-life body size. Later-life body size modified the association between physical activity and nocturia. Conclusions We found that later-life body size, independent of early-life body size, was associated with adverse BPH outcomes, suggesting that interventions to reduce body size even late in life can potentially reduce the burden of BPH-related outcomes and nocturia.

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