scholarly journals Education on Old Age and Ageing in School: An Analysis of Students’ Conceptions of Old Age and Ageing and Implications for Teaching

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 307
Author(s):  
Franziska Ginschel ◽  
Kirsten Schlüter
Keyword(s):  
Old Age ◽  
Ninth Graders ◽  
Teaching Approaches ◽  
Individual Interviews ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Negative Images ◽  
Perceptions Of Students ◽  
Age Cohort ◽  
Images Of Old Age

Issues related to old age and ageing are an imperative topic in a society of long life, concerning everyone. Wherever possible, the age-related issues should also be adequately addressed and integrated into school education. This article gives an overview of perceptions of students in regard to external and self-images of old age, as conceptions from students are an important starting point for the development of teaching approaches. So far, there is an insufficient research situation in Germany regrading images of old age of children and adolescents. Guideline-supported individual interviews with 10 ninth graders (Mage = 15.2 years) were conducted and analyzed in order to get an insight into prevalent conceptions of old age and ageing in this age cohort. The students’ ideas result in a comprehensive category system. In summary, our investigation has shown that students do not hold one-sided positive or negative images of old age in general, although some aspects like the physical condition and exercise capacity are seen more negatively than for example the characteristics of older persons. Teaching approaches for biology lessons and other subjects, deducted from the students’ perceptions, are given in the discussion.

scholarly journals Understanding diversity in later life through images of old age

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Friederike Enßle ◽  
Ilse Helbrecht
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Older Individuals ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Conceptual Debate ◽  
Micro Level ◽  
Images Of Old Age

Abstract This article aims to enhance the conceptual debate on diversity in old age by exploring the interplay of diversity in later life and images of old age. We argue that the analysis of images of old age on the micro-level is a fruitful methodology in order to unravel the meaning of diversity in later life. Drawing on findings from qualitative research in Berlin, we explore how new and diverse imaginations, experiences and lifestyles of old age emerge. The conceptual focus on images of old age enables us to investigate further what diversity in later life comprises and how it simultaneously fosters the genesis of new images of old age. The manifold new images we found in our research suggest that prevalent societal discourses about old age on the macro-level are rather deceptive and represent mostly stereotypes such as ‘active agers’ or ‘frail and dependent elders’. We offer three explanations why alternative images of old age are currently barely present in public discourse: (a) the actors transmitting images of age; (b) the institutionalisation of the images; and (c) the challenge to communicate complexity. We conclude by suggesting that images of old age are a promising starting point to explore and make visible both the diversity of social groups within the older generation as well as the heterogeneity of older individuals.

scholarly journals Increasingly capable at the ripe old age? Cognitive abilities from 2004 to 2013 in Germany, Spain, and Sweden

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (7) ◽  
pp. e0254038
Author(s):  
Julia Grasshoff ◽  
Johannes Beller ◽  
Beatrice G. Kuhlmann ◽  
Siegfried Geyer
Keyword(s):  
Old Age ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Cognitive Aging ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Good Health ◽  
Cohort Effects ◽  
Educational Systems ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Life Years ◽  
Starting Point

Background Life expectancy is increasing in most high-income countries, but gains in life years are maximized if spent in good health and if cognitive abilities are maintained until old age. Age-related decline of cognitive abilities does nevertheless occur, but the pace of decline is decisive. This was the starting point for our study that aims to examine cohort effects of cognitive aging in women and men in Germany, Spain and Sweden by analyzing changes from 2004 to 2013 by estimating cohort effects within age groups starting from the age of 50 years. Methods A cohort study was conducted that was based on data of the surveys 2004 (N = 6,081) and 2013 (N = 8,650) from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). The analyses were based on data of female and male respondents aged 50 years and older. Age-specific means of verbal fluency and delayed recall from the German, Spanish and Swedish samples were the cognitive domains considered in the study. Results In both domains of cognitive ability the achievements in the later surveys were higher than in the earlier ones. This was found in all countries, abut achievement levels increased markedly in the German and the Spanish samples, while the scores of the Swedish samples were not significantly different. While the highest scores were found for Sweden, Germany ranked in the middle and the lowest scores were found in the Spanish samples. Over time, the scores of the German samples approached those of Sweden. Conclusions From the first to the second survey, improvements of older adults’ cognitive abilities were found for all countries considered. This may indicate improvements of the underlying educational systems, but also increasingly stimulating general living conditions.

Aging, evolution and individual health span: introduction

Genome ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 361-367 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Cinader
Keyword(s):  
Life Span ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Reverse Genetics ◽  
Inbred Mice ◽  
Sandhoff Disease ◽  
Demographic Changes ◽  
Degenerative Diseases ◽  
Health Span ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Starting Point

The effect of autologous and environmental wear and tear on genes and gene products will be considered in systems renewed by self-replicating stem and precursor cells as well as in systems that do not have the capacity for self-renewal. Aging will be discussed in terms of speciation and in terms of health-span differences between individuals of the same species. The analysis of speciation involves early as well as late-acting genes. The intraspecies analysis is primarily concerned with the second half of life and thus is not affected by selective pressures. Analysis of individual aging is concerned with health span, qualified by identification of the particular system that is responsible for the limit of health span in subpopulations; it depends on a subset of allelic products of many genes and their relative functional capacity. The identification of such alleles can provide the starting point for reverse genetics. Results will be presented, which have been obtained by analysis of age-related events in inbred mice, where regulation, involved in degenerative disease of old age, can be studied in groups of individuals with a relatively constant genetic background. It should be possible to identify appropriate probes for degenerative diseases of old age that can be used for detection of corresponding human genes. Worldwide demographic changes have created the need for a new type of public health policy. To respond to this need, we should learn how to identify individuals at risk from degenerative diseases of old age and how to treat them preventively.Key words: evolution of aging – demographic changes, life-span – health span, chromosome fragility, muscular dystrophy, Sandhoff disease, end cell and aging, hibernation and life-span, degenerative diseases of old age.

Caring Masculinities and Flexibilisation of Labour Markets: Fathers in Precarious and Managerial Employment in Slovenia

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Majda Hrženjak ◽  
Živa Humer
Keyword(s):  
Gender Relations ◽  
Labour Markets ◽  
Identity Change ◽  
Flexible Work ◽  
Limited Participation ◽  
Work Arrangements ◽  
Individual Interviews ◽  
Young Fathers ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Managerial Positions

The starting point of this article is that transition from breadwinning to involved fathering is not only a matter of men’s identity change, but is profoundly shaped by broader societal structures, among which labour markets appear as crucial. Given that in Slovenia flexibilisation of the labour markets is a salient issue, this qualitative study, based on explorative, in-depth, semi-structured, individual interviews with fathers in precarious and managerial employment, analyses how insecure and flexible work arrangements shape fatherhood practices, impact on chances for being an involved father and structure gender relations. Narratives of fathers in managerial positions point to the persistence of the breadwinner model of fathering with limited participation in childcare, expressed as “weekend fatherhood,” but also to a more egalitarian share of childcare mainly among young fathers in managerial positions. Though the experiences of fathers in precarious employment point to their pronounced involvement in childcare, some cases in our sample indicate that precarious working relations can also, in a peculiar way, lead to the strengthening of the breadwinner model and re-traditionalisation of gender relations.

IC-P-100: Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Study of Age-Related Shrinkage in the Superior,Middle and Inferior Frontal Gyrus in Old and Very Old Age

2010 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. S40-S40
Author(s):  
Olof E. Lindberg ◽  
Carl-Henrik Ehrenkrona ◽  
Linnea Engström ◽  
Leif A. Svensson ◽  
Eva Öhrndahl ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Very Old ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Very Old Age

Morphological differences of the fallopian tube ampoule in young and old age

2022 ◽  
pp. 857-862
Author(s):  
И.А. Баландина ◽  
А.М. Некрасова ◽  
А.А. Баландин
Keyword(s):  
Old Age ◽  
Cross Section ◽  
Fallopian Tube ◽  
Morphological Study ◽  
Morphological Variability ◽  
Young Age ◽  
Muscle Membrane ◽  
Fallopian Tubes ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Morphological Differences

Работа основана на морфологическом исследовании ампул маточных труб 130 рожавших женщин молодого и старческого возраста. Применены макрометрический, гистологический, иммуногистохимический и микрометрический методы исследования. Выявлены закономерности возрастной морфологической изменчивости ампулы маточной трубы, проявляющиеся в уменьшении параметров их длины, а также наружных диаметров в середине ампулы и в местах перехода перешейка в ампулу и ампулы в воронку от молодого возраста к старческому возрасту. Гистоархитектоника ампул маточных труб у женщин в старческом возрасте характеризуется уплощением эпителия слизистой оболочки, образующей обилие близлежащих утолщенных складок, формирующих неравномерное сужение просвета ампулы. Определяется истончение мышечной оболочки с разрастанием вместо нее соединительной ткани и скоплением адипоцитов в подсерозной основе. В старческом возрасте отмечается более выраженная экспрессия виментина, прослеживающаяся не только в эндотелии и субэндотелиальном слое кровеносных сосудов, включая капилляры, но и в отдельных фибробластах. Установлено, что особенности микрометрических характеристик ампул маточных труб заключаются в уменьшении внутреннего периметра эпителиальной выстилки и площади просвета, наряду с увеличением площади их стенки при срединном сечении, в старческом возрасте в сравнении с молодым. The work is based on a morphological study of ampoules of the fallopian tubes of 130 young and senile women who gave birth. Macrometric, histological, immunohistochemical and micrometric methods of investigation were applied. The regularities of age-related morphological variability of the fallopian tube ampoule are revealed, which are manifested in a decrease in the parameters of their length, as well as external diameters in the middle of the ampoule and at the places of transition of the isthmus into the ampoule and ampoule into the funnel from young age to old age. Histoarchitectonics of ampoules of the fallopian tubes in women in old age is characterized by flattening of the epithelium of the mucous membrane, which forms an abundance of nearby thickened folds that form an uneven narrowing of the lumen of the ampoule. The thinning of the muscle membrane is determined with the growth of connective tissue instead of it and the accumulation of adipocytes in the subserose base. In old age, there is a more pronounced expression of vimentin, which can be traced not only in the endothelium and subendothelial layer of blood vessels, including capillaries, but also in individual fibroblasts. It was found that the features of the micrometric characteristics of the fallopian tube ampoules consist in a decrease in the inner perimeter of the epithelial lining and the lumen area, along with an increase in the area of their wall at the median cross-section in old age compared with young age.

Concrete and Formal Operational thought Processes in Young Adulthood and Old Age

1976 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 237-245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vivian Clayton ◽  
Willis F. Overton
Keyword(s):  
Old Age ◽  
Living Arrangements ◽  
Fluid Intelligence ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Thought Processes ◽  
Crystallized Intelligence ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Concrete Operational ◽  
Fluid And Crystallized Intelligence

A study was conducted to examine the role of concrete and formal operations in a young and old population. In addition, the present study explored the relation between operational thought and Cattell's concept of fluid and crystallized intelligence, as well as the role of differential living arrangements in maintaining operational thought. Eighty females from three age groups (18–20 years, 60–70 years and 70–80 years of age) were tested on a series of Piagetian tasks and indices of fluid and crystallized intelligence. The findings supported the notion that age-related performance differences occur in the area of formal operational thought prior to the time they occur in concrete operational thought. Except for the young sample, the operational tasks were found to be unrelated to fluid intelligence at the age levels represented in this study. Living independently as opposed to living in an old age home did not appear to be a significant factor in maintaining operational thought. Discussion focused on the necessity of identifying those factors which influence the developmental course of formal operational thought across the life span.

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