Elderly Women,Exercise and Healthy Aging

The persistent view of old age as a time for accepting an inevitable decline in health and vigour continues to shape the exercise patterns of elderly women, despite rapidly accumulating evidence that what has formerly been perceived as "normal aging" is, in part, the deficit of disuse and inactivity. While the risks associated with increased physical activity are not to be overlooked, more attention is being given to the overwhelming benefits of adequate exercise for the elderly, both in terms of short and long-term contributions to enhanced physical, social and emotional well-being. Conditioned to believe that being old and female is a sort of "double jeopardy" requiring restraint in physical activity, elderly women have been slow to respond to the new view of exercise as a crucial part of healthy aging. So long as elderly women do not readily perceive the advantages to be accrued from regular exercise patterns and do not believe they are capable of vigourous physical activity, government policies and plans to disseminate information about health and exercise are unlikely to generale large scale action toward health promotion.     

Excessive Individualism Today Threatens Liberty Tomorrow: Sustainable Use of the Planet

In no period of human history has the exercise of perceived individual rights been so extreme, especially in developed countries such as the United States. These perceived rights might have been tolerable in a frontier society (although it is questionable whether the exercise of perceived individual rights to overhunt was tolerated) with vast per capita resources and space, but not on a planet where resources are being fully (or over) utilized, billions are malnourished, and the range from the poorest to the most affluent in material and energy terms is the greatest in human history. Sustainable use of the planet requires some curtailment of individual rights as they are now perceived, not only for the well-being of future generations but for more equitability and fairness at present. In short, sustainability requires a new ethos (a set of guiding beliefs) substantively different from the current practices: (1) an intergenerational equity and fairness in the use of the planet's ecological life support system, (2) an intolerance of the possible high risk associated with human practices that may result from seriously altering the ecological life support system when the consequences of doing so are highly uncertain, and (3) a compassion and esteem for other species and other humans who are now living or yet to live—this should result from tempering often aggressive insistence on individual rights.     

The Role of Life Satisfaction in the Relationship between Authoritative Parenting Dimensions and Adolescent Problem Behavior

Research examining environmental factorsassociated with adolescents' life satisfaction(LS) has revealed that familial variables(e.g., parent-child conflict, familystructure) are crucial correlates. Thepurpose of the current study was to identifyparticular dimensions of authoritativeparenting (strictness-supervision, socialsupport/involvement, and psychological autonomygranting) that are related to LS during early,middle, and late adolescence, as well as toexplore the hypothesis that LS serves as amediator between authoritative parenting andadolescent internalizing and externalizingbehavior. A sample of 1201 middle and highschool students completed self-report measuresassessing these constructs. Results indicatedstatistically significant relationships betweeneach authoritative parenting dimension andadolescent LS. Although all three parentingdimensions were positively related to LS,perceived parental social support emerged asthe strongest correlate. Importantdevelopmental differences were revealed,including the finding that the associationbetween parenting behaviors and adolescents' LSchanged as children aged. Last, LS fullymediated the relationship between socialsupport and adolescent problem behavior andpartially mediated relationships between theremaining authoritative parenting dimensions(i.e., strictness-supervision, psychologicalautonomy granting) and maladaptive adolescentbehavior.     

A Theory of Life Satisfaction Dynamics: Stability,Change and Volatility in 25-Year Life Trajectories in Germany

An adequate theory of life satisfaction (LS) needs to take account of both factors that tend to stabilise LS and those that change it. The most widely accepted theory in the recent past—set-point theory—focussed solely on stability (Brickman and Campbell, in: Appley (ed) Adaptation level theory, Academic Press, New York, pp 287–302, 1971; Lykken and Tellegen in Psychol Sci 7:186–189, 1996). That theory is now regarded as inadequate by most researchers, given that national panel surveys in several Western countries show that substantial minorities of respondents have recorded large, long term changes in LS (Sheldon and Lucas in The stability of happiness, Elsevier, Amsterdam, 2014). In this paper we set out a preliminary revised theory, based mainly on analysis of the LS trajectories of the 2473 respondents in the German Socio-Economic Panel who reported their LS for 25 consecutive years in 1990–2014. The theory entails three sets of propositions in which we attempt to account for stability, change and also volatility. First, it is proposed that stability is primarily due to stable personality traits, and also to parental influence on LS. The second set of propositions indicates that medium and long term changes are due to differences and changes in personal values/life priorities and behavioural choices. Differences in the priority given to pro-social values, family values and materialistic values affect LS, as do behavioural choices relating to one’s partner, physical exercise, social participation and networks, church attendance, and the balance between work and leisure. Medium term change is reinforced by two-way causation—positive feedback loops—between values, behavioural choices and LS. The third set of propositions breaks new ground in seeking to explain inter-individual differences in the volatility/variability of LS over time; why some individuals display high volatility and others low, even though their mean level of LS may change little over 25 years.     

A selective review of prenatal exercise guidelines since the 1950s until present: Written for women,health care professionals,and female athletes

BackgroundTraditional society values have long-held the notion that the pregnant woman is construed as a risk to her growing fetus and is solely responsible for controlling this risk to ensure a healthy pregnancy. It is hard to ignore the participation of pregnant women in sport and exercise today, especially in high-level sports and popular fitness programs such as CrossFit™. This challenges both traditional and modern prenatal exercise guidelines from health care professionals and governing health agencies. The guidelines and perceived limitations of prenatal exercise have drastically evolved since the 1950s.AimThe goal of this paper is to bring awareness to the idea that much of the information regarding exercise safety during pregnancy is hypersensitive and dated, and the earlier guidelines had no scientific rigor. Research is needed on the upper limits of exercise intensity and exercise frequency, as well as their potential risks (if any) on the woman or fetus.DiscussionPregnant women are physically capable of much more than what was once thought. There is still disagreement about the types of exercise deemed appropriate, the stage at which exercise should begin and cease, the frequency of exercise sessions, as well as the optimal level of intensity during prenatal exercise.ConclusionResearch is needed to determine the upper limits of exercise frequency and intensity for pregnant women who are already trained. Healthy women and female athletes can usually maintain their regular training regime once they become pregnant.     

The causal relationship between female labor supply and fertility in the USA: updated evidence via a time series multi-horizon approach

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the causality between female labor supply and fertility in the presence of auxiliary variables such as education, female wages, and male relative cohort size. We employ annual time series data spanning the period 1948 to 2007 for both an aggregate and an age-specific group. Our econometric specification follows closely the concepts and procedures proposed by Dufour and Renault (Econometrica 66(5):1099–1125, 1998) and Dufour et al. (J Econom 132:337–362, 2006) in that we conduct multi-horizon causality tests that allow for direct and indirect effects to take place. The sign and economic importance of our results is assessed via the estimation of impulse response functions. Our results establish bidirectional indirect causality between female labor supply and fertility and suggest interesting causal chains among the system variables. Causality effects are stronger for the age-specific group.     

Explaining Low Subjective Well-Being of Persons with Disabilities in Europe: The Impact of Disability, Personal Resources, Participation and Socio-Economic Status

Persons with chronic disabilities report the lowest subjective well-being (SWB) in many countries. The gap in SWB compared with the non-disabled population is smaller in some countries than in others. Data from the European Social Survey were analysed in order to: (1) describe the inequality in SWB in 21 European countries; and (2) identify the main determinants of this inequality in SWB. Data on a range of topics of a total of 40,605 persons, including 2,846 persons with serious chronic disabilities, were used of the European Social Survey. SWB was measured using multi-item scales for ‘emotional well-being’ and ‘satisfying life’. Variables on disability, socio-demographics (age, gender, household composition), socio-economic status (level of education, net household income), participation (paid work, voluntary work, social contacts), and personal resources (supportive relationships, social cohesion, vitality, optimism, resilience, perceived autonomy, perceived accomplishment, perceived capacity, perceived engagement, perceived meaning and purpose) were entered stepwise in regression models of SWB. The results show that persons with disabilities are in a disadvantaged position in terms of SWB in all countries. In the Northern countries, the gaps between disabled and non-disabled persons are smaller than in Eastern European countries. In all countries inequality in SWB is explained mostly by personal resources and not by the level of disability, socio-economic status or level of participation in work. The implications of these findings for policy and practice (e.g. social cohesion and physical exercise programs) are discussed.     

中国乡村劳动力转移、资本存量与全要素生产率之间格兰杰因果关系的研究

本文通过对中国乡村劳动力转移和资本存量、乡村劳动力转移和全要素生产率之间协整关系、因果关系进行检验,检验结果表明,他们之间存在长期稳定的协整关系,并且资本存量和乡村劳动力转移存在单向的因果关系,乡村劳动力转移是促进全要素生产率增长的原因。由于资本存量对全要素生产率的增长起间接作用,因此根据索罗余值法,将资本存量完全独立于全要素生产率,可能低估资本存量对经济持续增长的作用。     

Perception of Job Instability in Europe

The perception of job instability is an important measure of subjective well being of individuals, because most people derive their income from selling their labour services. The study explores the determination of perception of job instability in Europe. The study is based on a large-scale survey from the year 1998. There are evidently large differences in the amount of perceived job instability from country to country. The lowest level of perceived job instability is in Denmark (9%). In contrast, the highest level of perceived job instability is in Spain (63%). Perceived job instability increases with age and an earlier unemployment episode. An increase in educational level, on the other hand, leads to a decline in the perception of job instability. In addition, a temporary contract as such does not yield an additional increase to the perception of job instability. The perception of job instability is more common within manufacturing industries and there is some evidence for the view that it increases according to the size of the firm.     

Working off the farm: Impacts on quality of life

The purpose of this paper is to determine the effects of off-farm employment on perceptions of quality of life. Data collected on 311 Western Ontario male and female farmers revealed that although most indicated satisfaction with their lives, some differences are apparent. Women employed off the farm report more areas of lower satisfaction than their male counterparts and men and women working solely on the farm. Low levels of satisfaction with time issues, leisure and exercise were most evident for employed women. Men employed off the farm report the most effects from time issues, satisfaction with the farm business, income and the environment. People working off the farm feel their farms are less successful and are more concerned with their environment. Whereas the farm family's pluriactivity enables many to hold on to herished aspects of the farming lifestyle for a while, its burdens are perceived to fall neaviest on female farmers especially if they have young children. The magnitude of their concerns about the quality of their environment and not being able to farm successfully suggests that many of these farmers would improve their quality of life by peeding up the transition out of farming before all their farm's equity is lost.     

Development of Life Satisfaction in Old Age: Another View on the "Paradox'

Empirical evidence of no age-related decline in life satisfaction (LS) in old age contrasts with frequently observed declines in the objective quality of elder people's lives and has therefore been labelled a "paradox' and interpreted in terms of stability of LS in the respective gerontological discussion. However, as this evidence was mainly derived from cross-sectional age group comparisons, it does neither clearly indicate the absence of age-related mean level change, nor intra-individual stability of LS. Thus, the development of LS in middle and late adulthood was analysed longitudinally by using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel. Based on single item measures of LS across 16 repeated panel waves with one per annum (1984–1999), autoregressive (quasi-Markov) structural equation models were used to estimate true score variances and intra-individual true score stability in one-year intervals. Research questions concerned (a) "monotonic' stability and variance in a subsample of old respondents (born before 1925) as compared to the total sample and (b) change in stability and variances in old age. Results indicate high "monotonic' true score stability of LS over the whole adult life span, whereas mean levels declined slightly in old age. No striking evidence for age-related changes in variance or stability was found.     

Can Corruption Erode Confidence in Political Institutions Among European Countries? Comparing the Effects of Different Measures of Perceived Corruption

The purpose of this study is to analyze the effects of corruption on institutional confidence through testing alternative perceptions-based indexes of corruption. Scholars who have investigated this topic have often employed only indicators of corruption based on experts’ surveys. In this article we also consider a new index of corruption developed aggregating citizens’ perceptions. The first part of the paper explores the levels of corruption perceived by the citizens of EU member states, stressing the differences with the experts’ opinions. The second part tests, through a multivariate analysis, the impact of citizens’ and experts’ perceptions-based indexes of corruption on institutional confidence. The main results show that experts and citizens tend to express similar opinions on the extent of corruption in EU member states though, especially in some countries, these actors present some noticeable differences. Nevertheless, irrespective of the indexes used, more corrupt countries are characterized by lower levels of confidence in parliament and government. This relationship holds even controlling for the presence of reverse causality between corruption and confidence.     

Environmental change and out-migration: evidence from Nepal

Scholars and activists have hypothesized a connection between environmental change and out-migration. In this paper, we test this hypothesis using data from Nepal. We operationalize environmental change in terms of declining land cover, rising times required to gather organic inputs, increasing population density, and perceived declines in agricultural productivity. In general, environmental change is more strongly related to short- than long-distance moves. Holding constant the effects of other social and economic variables, we find that local moves are predicted by perceived declines in productivity, declining land cover, and increasing time required to gather firewood. Long-distance moves are predicted by perceived declines in productivity, but the effect is weaker than in the model of short-distance mobility. We also show that effects of environmental change vary by gender and ethnicity, with women being more affected by changes in the time required to gather fodder and men by changes in the time to gather firewood, and high-caste Hindus generally being less affect than others by environmental change.     

Environmental Change and Out-Migration: Evidence from Nepal

Scholars and activists have hypothesized a connection between environmental change and out-migration. In this paper we test this hypothesis using data from Nepal. We operationalize environmental change in terms of declining land cover, rising times required to gather organic inputs, increasing population density, and perceived declines in agricultural productivity. In general, environmental change is more strongly related to short- than long-distance moves. Holding constant the effects of other social and economic variables, we find that local moves are predicted by perceived declines in productivity, declining land cover, and increasing time required to gather firewood. Long-distance moves are predicted by perceived declines in productivity, but the effect is weaker than in the model of short-distance mobility. We also show that effects of environmental change vary by gender and ethnicity, with women being more affected by changes in the time required to gather fodder and men by changes in the time to gather firewood, and high caste Hindus generally being less affect than others by environmental change.     

LGB Identity and Eudaimonic Well Being in Midlife

Eudaimonic well being refers to personal growth and having purpose and meaning in life. High levels of eudaimonic well being facilitate a positive life experience. The National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS) data was used to test a model predicting eudaimonic well being as a function of sexual identity. Reporting a lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) identity was associated with lower eudaimonic well-being scores. Results also indicated that perceived daily discrimination, being female, and having less education were associated with lower eudaimonic well being; racial/ethnic minority status was associated with increased eudaimonic well being. These results are discussed in light of recent scholarship on understanding and promoting the well-being of sexual minority individuals.     

Is There a Link Between Poverty and Food Security?

The study examines cointegration and causal relationship between FDI, terrorism and economic growth in Pakistan using quarterly frequencies for the period 1988–2010. For empirical analysis data is divided into two sub-periods i.e. pre 9/11 (1988–2001) and post 9/11 (2002–2010) periods. The results show that long run cointegration holds between FDI, terrorism and economic growth. Granger causality results indicate that there is bidirectional short and long run causality between economic growth and FDI for both sub-samples. These findings are supported by variance decomposition and impulse response analysis. The findings suggest applicability of modernization theory to explain FDI and economic growth relationship. The results also reveal that terrorism has a deteriorating impact on FDI.     

Perceived Climate in Physical Activity Settings

This study focused on the perceived climate for LGBT youth and other minority groups in physical activity settings. A large sample of undergraduates and a selected sample including student teachers/interns and a campus Pride group completed a school climate survey and rated the climate in three physical activity settings (physical education, organized sport, exercise). Overall, school climate survey results paralleled the results with national samples revealing high levels of homophobic remarks and low levels of intervention. Physical activity climate ratings were mid-range, but multivariate analysis of variation test (MANOVA) revealed clear differences with all settings rated more inclusive for racial/ethnic minorities and most exclusive for gays/lesbians and people with disabilities. The results are in line with national surveys and research suggesting sexual orientation and physical characteristics are often the basis for harassment and exclusion in sport and physical activity. The current results also indicate that future physical activity professionals recognize exclusion, suggesting they could benefit from programs that move beyond awareness to skills and strategies for creating more inclusive programs.     

Economic Stress, Quality of Life, and Mortality for the Oldest-Old in China

China??s oldest old population is estimated to quadruple by 2050. Yet, poverty rate for the oldest old has been the highest among all age groups in China. This paper investigates the relationship between economic stress, quality of life, and mortality among the oldest-old in China. Both objective economic hardships and perceived economic strain are examined. We base our investigation on data drawn from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey conducted between 2000 and 2005. Our sample includes 10,972 men and women between the ages of 80 and 105 in 2000. The data show that about 16% of these oldest-old lived under economic stress in 2000. The risk factors that make one vulnerable to economic stress include age, being male, being widowed or never married, being a minority member, having no education, having no living children, and not having children as main source of income, and having no pension. Economic stress is negatively associated with indicators of quality of life, such as the quality of medical care and mental well-being. The poor quality of life contributes to the higher mortality rate for the oldest old who are under economic stress. Results also show that perceived economic strain increases the risk of mortality by 42% in rural areas, even after controlling for basic demographic characteristics, life style factors, and major health events.?For the rural oldest-old, having children as a main source of income and having access to pension alleviates the negative impact of economic hardship on mortality hazard by 23 and 66% respectively. However, in urban areas, economic stress has no direct impact on the hazard of mortality.     

Older Women and Beliefs About Exercise Risk:

Preliminary research suggests that some active older women perceive that the personal benefits of exercise far outweigh the risks. This study aimed to identify sociodemographic and lifestyle explanations for variations In older women's risk perceptions for six fitness activities. A convenience sample of 43 women aged 52 to 73 responded to a survey questionnaire. Multiple regression analysis controlling for age, hearth, and education indicated that those women who were-mothers held lower levels of perceived risk for late life exercise than women who had never experienced the motherhood role. The motherhood variable, along with current activity level, accounted for some 40% of the variance In risk perceptions, an unexpected finding which will require future confirmation. Several possible explanations for this result are presented.