scholarly journals Do Social Timing and Gender Matter to Parental Depression Aroused by Traumatic Experience of Child Bereavement? Evidence from China

Author(s):  
Dan Chen ◽  
Yuying Tong

Child loss is a rare but traumatic life event that often has a detrimental effect on parental wellbeing. However, parents’ resources and strategies in coping with the stressful child bereavement event may depend on timing of the event. This study intends to examine how parental depression could be aroused by the occurrence and timing of child bereavement, and how the influences vary by child gender. Drawing on the theoretical framework of the stress and life course, and using three waves of data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, we find that both the occurrence and timing of child bereavement are significantly associated with parental depression in later life. Bereaved parents are more likely to report depression than non-bereaved parents. Child bereavement in children’s young adulthood is more likely to spark off parental depression than that occurring in children’s midlife or later. Further analysis confirms that the timing effect of child bereavement differs by child gender. Parents whose son died during young adulthood are more likely to report depression than their counterparts whose daughter died. Future studies need to address how to build up a specific social welfare program targeting child bereavement groups in different life stages.

2021 ◽  
pp. 026921632110017
Author(s):  
Cherith J Semple ◽  
Eilís McCaughan ◽  
Esther R Beck ◽  
Jeffrey R Hanna

Background: When a parent of dependent children (<18 years old) is at end of life from cancer, this has a profound impact on the family. Children less prepared for the death of a parent are more susceptive to poorer psychosocial adjustment in later life. There is a lack of understanding from the literature surrounding what support parents require, and how they navigate this end of life experience. Aim: To explore bereaved parents’ experience and needs for families when a parent is at end of life from cancer with dependent children. Design: In-depth, semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with 21 bereaved mothers and fathers, identified from the general public, a family support service and hospice. Data were analysed thematically. Results: Parents often live in ‘parallel worlds’ throughout the end of life period. In one world, ‘living in the moment’, cherishing the ordinariness of family life, remaining hopeful treatment will prolong life, whilst adapting as the illness unfolds. The other world presents as ‘intermitted glimpses that death is approaching’, shadowed with painful emotional concerns surrounding their children and the future. At the end, death rapidly approaches, characterised as suddenly ‘falling off the cliff’; placing significant demands on the well-parent. Conclusions: Amidst challenges, clinicians should provide parents with clear information surrounding a poor prognosis, so families can plan and prepare for parental death. There is a need for healthcare professionals to engage, encourage and equip parents, as they prepare their children throughout the end of life experience for the inevitable death of a parent.


2018 ◽  
Vol 40 (5) ◽  
pp. 594-612 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cliff McKinney ◽  
Erica Szkody

Parental depression has been associated with psychological problems in offspring. It was hypothesized that harsh parenting would mediate this relationship and that gender differences would suggest moderated mediation. Emerging adults ( N = 490) reported on their current perceptions of parental depression, harsh parenting, and their own psychological problems. The indirect effects of parental depression on emerging adult psychological problems in the context of parent–child gender dyads were examined. All variables shared positive free correlations across gender, whereas direct and indirect effects were influenced heavily by gender. Parental depression was directly related to male and female depression, and harsh parenting was only directly and indirectly related to female depression. Further research should focus on the complexity of harsh parenting and environmental predictors on child psychological problems. Addressing parental depression may indirectly and directly improve children’s internalizing and externalizing problems.


2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (10) ◽  
pp. 1693-1702 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anke Bonnewyn ◽  
Ajit Shah ◽  
Ronny Bruffaerts ◽  
Koen Demyttenaere

ABSTRACTBackground:Death wishes are not uncommon in older persons, and to date, several risk factors have been identified. The presence of these risk factors is insufficient to fully understand why some older people, who are exposed to them, develop a wish to die and why others do not. The purpose of the study was to explore whether Purpose in Life as well as other life attitudes are associated with a death wish in older males and females.Methods:The sample comprised 113 older inpatients (from a psychiatric and somatic ward) with a mean age of 74 years. Psychiatric diagnoses were assessed by the SCID-II. Logistic regression analyses estimated the unique contribution of (the interaction between) life attitudes and gender to the wish to die, controlling for sociodemographic variables, depressive disorder, and somatic symptoms.Results:We observed a statistically significant relationship between life attitudes and the wish to die. Purpose in Life and the Purpose in Life*Gender interaction explained significant additional variance in the prediction of the wish to die. Purposelessness in life might therefore be an important correlate of a wish to die, especially in older men, independently from sociodemographic and clinical features.Conclusions:In assessing a wish to die in older adults, life attitudes need to be taken into account, besides the presence of a depressive disorder and/or somatic health. More specifically, finding or maintaining a purpose in later life might be an important feature in the prevention of the wish to die, especially in male persons.


Author(s):  
Luís M. Fernandes ◽  
Rodrigo D. Diniz ◽  
Telma C. Almeida ◽  
Ana C. Neves ◽  
José Brito

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (24) ◽  
pp. 352 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdalwhab M.A . Zwiri ◽  
Santosh Patil ◽  
Fadi AL- Omair ◽  
Mohammed Assayed Mousa ◽  
Ibrahim Ali Ahmad

Introduction: developmental oral lesions represent a group of normal lesions that can be found at birth or evident in later life. These lesions include fissured and geographic tongue, Fordyce’s granules and leukoedema. Study aims: to investigate the prevalence of some developmental oral mucosal lesions among dental patients wearing dentures who were attending college of dentistry clinics in Aljouf University, and specialized dental center of ministry of health. Methods and subjects: a retrospective design was conducted to collect data from 344 wearing denture dental patients who were attending college of dentistry clinics in Aljouf University, and specialized dental center of ministry of health. A working excel sheet was created for patients and included data related to personal information such as age and gender; and oral developmental lesions. The software SPSS version 20 was used to analyze data. Statistical tests including frequency, percentages, and One way Anova were used to describe data. Significance was considered at alpha level <0.05. Study findings: the majority of participants were males (86%), the mean age was 51.60+ 3.51years. The prevalence of fissured tongue was 10.2%, geographic tongue 11.3%, Fordyce’s granules 7%, and leukoedema 7.3%. Age was significantly associated with fissured tongue (p=0.04), and Fordyce’s granules (p=0.003). Gender was not associated significantly with any of the studied lesions. Conclusion: developmental oral lesions among dental patients wearing dentures exist with varying rates of prevalence as well as it provides valuable basic data about the prevalence of oral mucosal lesions among patients seeking dental care in Aljouf area.


Author(s):  
Woosang Hwang ◽  
Xiaoyan Zhang ◽  
Maria T. Brown ◽  
Sara A. Vasilenko ◽  
Merril Silverstein

We used classification analysis to examine change in religiosity among baby boomers from young adulthood to early old age and how religiosity transition patterns are associated with psychological well-being in later life. In addition, we tested the gender difference in the above association. We applied latent class and latent transition analysis to 392 baby boomers who participated in the Longitudinal Study of Generations in Wave-1 (1971) and Wave-9 (2016). We identified three classes describing religiosity at each wave (strongly religious, doctrinally religious, and weakly religious), and considered five types of change or stability in religious class membership from Wave-1 to Wave-9. Multiple regression with gender interactions revealed that men who stayed strongly religious over the period reported better psychological well-being compared to men who declined in their religiosity; no such pattern was found for women. Our findings suggest that maintaining strong religiosity over the life course was beneficial for baby boom men in later life.


Circulation ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 142 (Suppl_3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda M Perak ◽  
Hongyan Ning ◽  
Sadiya S Khan ◽  
Joshua D Bundy ◽  
Norrina B Allen ◽  
...  

Introduction: Mid-life cardiovascular health (CVH) is strongly associated with risks of later-life CVD and mortality across race and sex groups. Adolescent and young-adult CVH are associated with risk of subclinical CVD, but data are lacking regarding CVD events or mortality. Hypotheses: (1) CVH in late adolescence/young adulthood (18-30y) is associated with risks of premature CVD and mortality; (2) Event rates are uniformly low across sociodemographic subgroups with high baseline CVH. Methods: CVH (defined by AHA’s 7 metrics) was measured at baseline and total CVH scores were categorized as high (12-14 pts), moderate (8-11) or low (0-7). CVD events and cause-specific mortality were adjudicated over 32y of follow-up. We estimated adjusted associations of baseline CVH with outcomes using Cox models and calculated population attributable fractions (PAFs; adjusted for competing risk of death as applicable) and event rates by CVH category. Results: See Table . Among 4836 participants, mean age was 24.9y (SD 3.6), 44.1% were aged 18-24y, 54.8% were female, and 50.5% were black. Baseline CVH was high in 28.8%, moderate in 65.0%, and low in 6.3%. In total, 306 CVD events and 431 deaths occurred. CVH was significantly associated with all outcomes, with similar patterns by age, sex, and race. PAFs for moderate/low (vs high) CVH ranged from 0.42 (all-cause mortality) to 0.63 (CVD) to 0.81 (CVD mortality) overall; PAFs were not significantly different across sociodemographic subgroups. Among individuals with high CVH, event rates were low across all sociodemographic subgroups (e.g., CVD rates/1000 person-yrs: age 18-24y 0.64, 25-30y 0.65, women 0.36, men 1.04, black 0.90, white 0.50). Conclusions: High CVH at age 18-30y was associated with low rates of premature CVD and mortality. Preservation of high CVH to at least age 18y may reduce CVD and mortality burdens and disparities, and adolescent/young-adult CVH may be a valid intermediate outcome for early-life determinants of risk.


2021 ◽  
pp. 143-162
Author(s):  
Walter A. Kukull ◽  
Kumeren Govender ◽  
James Bowen

This chapter presents information for selected neurological conditions by referring to current or classic research papers. Conditions such as headache especially migraines have substantial public health impact because of the high prevalence, age groups affected, the associated lost economic productivity and the increase in disability-adjusted life years. Multiple sclerosis, a relatively common neurological disease, can affect individuals in young adulthood, decrease their productivity, and ultimately make them dependent on others. Traumatic brain injury occurring in youth or young adulthood can cause years of extra medical care in addition to lost productivity among those who survive the immediate event; in addition, repetitive trauma may cause chronic traumatic encephalopathy leading to dementia in later life. Epilepsy may have onset throughout one’s life course. While most causes are unknown, some may result from trauma or may be caused by specific genes, among other causes. While there are intractable forms of epilepsy, great strides have been made in preventing and managing seizures enabling patients to lead relatively full and normal lives. Neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease, are now acknowledged to begin 10–30 years prior to symptom onset. This will influence how risk factor studies are conducted and interpreted, which may offer earlier diagnostic potential. Effective treatments for the resulting clinical dementias that reduce productivity, functional ability, and independence from older individuals have not yet been realized. Without question, neurological diseases have substantial public health as well as grave personal impact.


Author(s):  
Chris Gilleard ◽  
Paul Higgs

This chapter begins by considering the distinction between sex and gender. The latter constitutes the source of the social division between men and women considered as social beings. It serves as both a reflection of division and inequality and a source of difference and identity. The chapter then explores the framing of this division in terms of patriarchy and the inequalities that are organised by and structured within the relations of work and of social reproduction. It focuses next upon the consequences of such a division, first in terms of both financial assets and resources and then in terms of social relational capital, drawing upon Putnam’s distinction between bridging and bonding capital. It then considers other sources of difference that become more salient in later life, in terms of health illness and longevity. The chapter ends with the role of gender in representing later life, and the role of later life in representing gender. It concludes by distinguishing between gender as a structure shaping third age culture, and gender as a constituent in the social imaginary of the fourth age.


Author(s):  
Stella Sandford

Beauvoir was an existentialist philosopher, novelist and writer. Her early philosophical work (including The Ethics of Ambiguity, 1947) attempted to develop an existentialist ethics, rethinking the ideas of freedom, responsibility and action through the prism of the self–other relation. Her work helped to shift existential thought towards a greater emphasis on embodiment and the analysis of oppression. This approach culminated in The Second Sex (1949), an interdisciplinary study of the oppression and situation of women. This is both a historical investigation into the social conditions that cast women as 'Other' and second to men and a philosophical (existential and phenomenological) account of the lived experience of 'feminine' existence. The Second Sex is of outstanding importance for feminist philosophy and the philosophy of sex and gender, as well as being a major influence on the women's movement since the 1960s. Beauvoir is also well known for her philosophical novels and plays, political essays, travel writing and published letters. Her last book, Old Age (1970), is one of very few philosophical works on ageing and old age. She was co-founder (1945) and lifetime editor of the important political and philosophical journal Les temps modernes. As a prominent public intellectual she was an influential supporter of many leftist and, in later life, feminist causes.


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