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 Women's Experience of Child Death Over the Life Course: A Global Demographic Perspective

Demography ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diego Alburez-Gutierrez ◽  
Martin Kolk ◽  
Emilio Zagheni
Keyword(s):  
Child Death ◽  
Adult Child ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
World Population ◽  
Parental Bereavement ◽  
Birth Cohorts ◽  
Older Parents ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Offspring Mortality

Abstract The death of a child affects the well-being of parents and families worldwide, but little is known about the scale of this phenomenon. Using a novel methodology from formal demography applied to data from the 2019 Revision of the United Nations World Population Prospects, we provide the first global overview of parental bereavement, its magnitude, prevalence, and distribution over age for the 1950–2000 annual birth cohorts of women. We project that the global burden of parental bereavement will be 1.6 times lower for women born in 2000 than for women born in 1955. Accounting for compositional effects, we anticipate the largest improvements in regions of the Global South, where offspring mortality continues to be a common life event. This study quantifies an unprecedented shift in the timing of parental bereavement from reproductive to retirement ages. Women in the 1985 cohort and subsequent cohorts will be more likely to lose an adult child after age 65 than to lose a young child before age 50, reversing a long-standing global trend. “Child death” will increasingly come to mean the death of adult offspring. We project persisting regional inequalities in offspring mortality and in the availability of children in later life, a particular concern for parents dependent on support from their children after retirement. Nevertheless, our analyses suggest a progressive narrowing of the historical gap between the Global North and South in the near future. These developments have profound implications for demographic theory and highlight the need for policies to support bereaved older parents.

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.

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 The Persistent Influence of Socio-Economic Background on Family Formation Pathways and Disadvantage in Young Adulthood

2021 ◽  
pp. 61-77
Author(s):  
Jarl Mooyaart
Keyword(s):  
Young Adults ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Transition To Adulthood ◽  
Young Adulthood ◽  
Parental Education ◽  
Family Formation ◽  
Birth Cohorts ◽  
Economic Background ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Over Time

AbstractThis chapter focuses on the linkages between socio-economic background, family formation and economic (dis)advantage and reveals to what extent the influence of parental education on family formation persists over time, i.e. across birth cohorts. The second part of this chapter examines to what extent the influence of socio-economic background persists over the life-course. This part covers: (1) the influence of parental education on union formation over the life-course, and (2) the influence of socio-economic background on income trajectories in young adulthood, after adjusting for the career and family pathways that young adults followed during the transition to adulthood, thereby examining the influence of socio-economic background on income beyond the first stage of young adulthood. This chapter reveals two key insights on the linkages between socio-economic background, family formation and (dis)advantage: (1) Whereas union and family formation patterns have changed across birth cohorts, socio-economic background continues to stratify union and family formation pathways; (2) Although the influence of socio-economic background on family formation and young adults’ economic position decreases throughout young adulthood, socio-economic background continues to have an impact in young adulthood.

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 Selecting life course frameworks to guide and communicate large new cohort studies: Generation Victoria (GenV) case study

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Jing Wang ◽  
Yanhong Jessika Hu ◽  
Susan Clifford ◽  
Sharon Goldfeld ◽  
Melissa Wake
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Feedback Loops ◽  
Knowledge Networks ◽  
Birth Cohorts ◽  
Australian Institute ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Visual Graphic ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Research And Policy

Abstract While birth cohorts are shaped by underpinning life course frameworks, few if any report how they select them. This review aimed to (1) summarise publicly available frameworks relevant to planning and communicating large new early-life cohorts and (2) help select frameworks to guide and communicate Generation Victoria (GenV), a whole-of-state birth and parent cohort in planning in the state of Victoria, Australia. We identified potential frameworks from prior knowledge, networks and a pragmatic literature search in 2019. We considered for inclusion only frameworks with an existing visual graphic. We summarised each framework’s concept, then judged it on a seven-item matrix (Scope, Dimensions, Outcomes, Life course, Mechanisms, Multi-age, and Visual Clarity) to be of high, intermediate or low relevance to GenV. We presented and evaluated 14 life course frameworks across research and policy. Two, nine and three frameworks, respectively, were ranked as high, intermediate and low relevance to GenV, although none totally communicated its scope and intent. Shonkoff’s biodevelopmental framework was selected as GenV’s primary framework, adapted to include ongoing feedback loops through the life course and influence of an individual’s outcomes on the next generation. Because conceptual simplicity precluded the primary framework from capturing the wide range of relevant exposures, we selected the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s person-centred model as a secondary framework. This summary of existing life course frameworks may prove helpful to other cohorts in planning. Our transparent process and focus on visual communication are already assisting in explaining and selecting measures for GenV. The feasibility, comprehension and validity of these frameworks could be further tested at implementation.

scholarly journals Toward Achieving Sustainable Food Consumption: Insights from the Life Course Paradigm

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (13) ◽  
pp. 5359
Author(s):  
George P. Moschis ◽  
Anil Mathur ◽  
Randall Shannon
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Food Consumption ◽  
Sustainable Consumption ◽  
Overweight And Obesity ◽  
Food Demand ◽  
Future Research ◽  
World Population ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Consumption Habits

Trends in world population growth have created an agri-food demand that is unsustainable under the present resource-intensive agricultural systems and expected growth in income levels in many developing countries. As such, research and policy making related to sustainable development have focused on consumption. One major approach to sustainable consumption lies in shaping food demand that would require changes in people’s present food consumption habits that are excessive and unhealthy, leading to overweight and obesity. In order to change food consumption habits, one must understand the factors that lead to their onset and change. This article offers the life course paradigm, which is increasingly used by social and behavioral scientists to study the development and change of various forms of behavior, as a research framework for studying the onset and change in food consumption habits. It shows how the life course approach could help guide future research not only on sustainable consumption, but also on environmental and social sustainability.

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