Resilience in low-income African American women living and aging with HIV

Women are living with HIV into middle and older age and are likely to face multiple comorbidities and stressors as they age. This study focused on understanding how women who experience multiple forms of oppression and ongoing adversity are still able to adapt and stand strong. Using a theoretical framework of resilience and a feminist research ideology, interviews of eight middle-aged and older African American women living with HIV were analyzed. Despite experiences of HIV-related discrimination, trauma, and violence, these women demonstrated a remarkable ability to adapt and maintain support. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Assisted living, elderly women and sense of self: communicating the impact of reduction of long-standing activities

Through the use of in-depth interviews this study examines elderly women's communication about transitioning to assisted living and personal sense of self. A combination of communication and aging theory and socio historical factors aid in understanding the communication elderly women use to describe themselves within the context of life events prior to and after becoming an assisted living resident. Findings reveal that decrease in long-standing feminine sphere (traditionally female household) tasks due to the transition to assisted living is the major factor leading to the inability to communicate the sense of self. Inability to adjust and accept the downsizing of feminine sphere activities leads to several mental, physical and social implications.     

Resistance and acceptance: Ambivalent attitudes toward the aging body and antiaging practices among older Korean migrants living in New Zealand

ABSTRACT

Using intersectionality as a conceptual framework, this study investigated how older Korean women living in New Zealand perceived their aging bodies, antiaging practices and/or products, and how they used such products. Thematic analysis identified three themes: tension between acceptance of the aging body as an inevitable process and transformation of the aging body into a healthy body, juggling between abstinence and use of antiaging products and practices, and redefining natural aging. The findings challenge binary interpretations between “acceptance” of and “resistance” to the experiences of the aging process and the use of antiaging practices.     

Assisted Living and the Aging Trajectory

ABSTRACT

Assisted living (AL) is a caregiving option between independent living and nursing home placement. This study explores women residents' experience of AL in four Midwestern facilities, using interview and field research methods. We found that most residents wanted to stay in AL rather than move to a nursing home; they looked backward nostalgically toward home, and complied with staff rules and directives in order to remain in place. In contrast to nursing homes, AL allows residents to experience continuities with self and home: a private room, some of their own belongings, and access to relationships and activities associated with self and home. Given the expanded lifespan and growing popularity of AL, it is becoming a new stage in the trajectory of women's aging.     

Birth trajectory under changing fertility conditions

An initially stable population of women is assumed to shift its reproductive behavior to a different level either abruptly or in a prescribed gradual fashion. A closed-form solution which is exact up to about 30 years after the reproductive adjustment is found for the resulting birth trajectory. Exact expressions are also found for the long-time asymptotic behavior of both the birth trajectory and the total population size when the shift in reproductive behavior is to bare replacement level. Accurate approximations to these asymptotic results are then derived and used to illustrate why a growing population continues to grow even after shifting to bare replacement reproductive behavior.     

Emigration and living standards in Ireland since the Famine

Ireland experienced dramatic levels of emigration in the century following the Famine of 1845–1849. The paper surveys the recent cliometric literature on post-Famine emigration and its effects on Irish living standards. The conclusions are that the Famine played a significant role in unleashing the subsequent emigration; and that emigration was crucial for the impressive increase in Irish living standards which took place during the next 100 years.Revised version of a paper read at the ESF Research Conference on Migration and Development, Aghia Pelaghia, Crete, Greece, October 7–12, 1994. I am grateful to Cormac Ó Gráda, Jeffrey Williamson and Klaus F. Zimmermann for comments and suggestions, and especially to three anonymous referees, as well as Tim Hatton and Alan Taylor who suggested the quantitative exercise to be found towards the end of Sect. 3.     

Age-distribution dynamics and aging indexes

I analyze the dynamics of the age distribution as some vital rates change. When the fertility or mortality rate declines, the age distribution often manifests a dynamic stochastic-dominance relationship. I also propose some alternative indexes for measuring population aging. These indexes are closely connected with the age-distribution dynamics and contain more refined information about the distribution of age among the old.     

Population aging and PAYG pensions in the OLG model

This paper shows the effects on a pay-as-you-go pension system of the demographic change in the standard overlapping generations model. Firstly, we consider a setting with exogenous fertility and then a model with endogenous fertility. In both cases, population aging due to increased longevity implies a reduction in pensions payouts.     

Social security,social welfare and the aging population

This study examines the effects of pay-as-you-go social security programs in aging economies when the middle-aged both educate their dependent children and subsidize the retirement of the old. Using an overlapping generations framework in which agents are three-period lived but timing of death in the third period is uncertain, we analyze the effects of social security tax schemes, under various demographic assumptions, on capital accumulation, education expenditures, social welfare, and economic growth. We find that in many cases social security crowds out education, and reduces economic growth and social welfare. Received: 29 April 1998/Accepted: 3 March 1999     

Adding aging and gender to the women's health agenda

The complex interaction of medical, social, and economic factors that affect women's wellness as they age requires a new paradigm that bridges the gap between those who are concerned about aging issues and those concerned about women's health. In this article, we begin this endeavor by advancing three interrelated themes: (1) there is a gendered relationship between socioeconomic structures and health over time; (2) there are gender-specific implications of health care financing and policy; and (3) there are health consequences to the gendered nature of caregiving.     

Population aging and endogenous economic growth

We investigate the consequences of population aging for long-run economic growth perspectives. Our framework incorporates endogenous growth models and semi-endogenous growth models as special cases. We show that (1) increases in longevity have a positive impact on per capita output growth, (2) decreases in fertility have a negative impact on per capita output growth, (3) the positive longevity effect dominates the negative fertility effect in case of the endogenous growth framework, and (4) population aging fosters long-run growth in the endogenous growth framework, while its effect depends on the relative change between fertility and mortality in the semi-endogenous growth framework.     

Women, aging, and schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a psychiatric disorder of unknown etiology that typically has an onset in early adulthood and persists for the remainder of the lifespan. For most affected individuals, the illness is recurrent with psychotic symptoms that tend to be episodic in nature. The illness has pervasive and disruptive effects on many life domains; for example, women with schizophrenia are less likely to marry, bear children, and raise their own children than are women in the general population. The age of onset of schizophrenia is later on average in women then men, and women are over-represented among those who develop the illness after the age of 45. Among younger patients with schizophrenia, women tend to have less severe symptoms than men and better outcomes; however, there are fewer gender differences among older patients with schizophrenia. Older women with schizophrenia are vulnerable to problems of both schizophrenia and aging. Schizophrenia symptoms typically continue in later years and include ongoing psychotic symptoms. Problems of aging such as cognitive decline and chronic medical conditions may be exacerbated by schizophrenia and the disorder is associated with premature mortality. Older women with schizophrenia are at risk for neglect of psychiatric and other health needs that are further compounded by limited social support and low socioeconomic status. More research and clinical attention is needed to the problems of older women with schizophrenia.     

Cognitive functioning and aging in women

Deficits in cognitive function may impact one's ability to attend to stimuli, think clearly, reason, and remember. Impaired cognitive function is a common complaint among older women presenting for treatment in both mental health and medical care settings, and differential diagnosis of type and extent of cognitive impairment is important for appropriate treatment planning and prognosis. Although overall gender differences in prevalence of cognitive dysfunction are minimal, it is important when treating older women to take into account unique challenges they face in the aging process that impact the cause, type and extent of cognitive complaints with which they present in clinical settings. The current paper provides an overview to guide accurate diagnosis, particularly in women, of different types of cognitive impairment under the broad category of dementias, including Alzheimer's, Lewy Body Disease, Vascular Dementia, and due to general medical conditions such as coronary artery bypass surgery, head injury, menopause, hypothyroidism, breast cancer treatment, Fibromyalgia, and chronic fatigue. In addition, emotional factors such as depression in older female patients complicate differential diagnosis of cognitive impairment and must be addressed. Given the multiplicity of causes of cognitive difficulties for women across the life span, careful assessment is crucial; the current paper reviews assessment strategies to prepare an integrated, biopsychosocial strategy for identifying particular cognitive deficits and related psychological and medical problems. In addition, prognostic indicators and treatment planning are discussed to help the practitioner organize an empathic, reasoned and multifaceted treatment approach to maximize recovery, minimize deterioration, and manage symptoms for older women in the context of their social support system and living environment.     

Population aging and legal retirement age

This paper analyzes the effects of population aging on the preferred legal retirement age. What is revealed is the crucial role that the indirect ‘macro’ effects resulting from a change in the legal retirement age play in the optimal decision. Two social security systems are studied. Under a defined contribution scheme, aging lowers the preferred legal retirement age. However, under a defined pension scheme, the retirement age is delayed. This result shows the relevance of correctly choosing the parameter affected by the dependency ratio in the design of the social security programme.

What can homosexual aging studies contribute to theories of aging?

Key concepts in sociological theories of aging are reviewed on the basis of data drawn from earlier sociological studies of aging homosexual men and from a 4-year longitudinal study of 47 homosexual men ranging from 50 to 80 years of age, particularly regarding their happiness. The article explores the question of whether or not successful weathering of the coming-out crisis provides homosexual men stamina unavailable to aging heterosexuals. Finally, it examines allied and aversive relationships of young and old gay men.