Reliability and Validity of the IPAQ-L in a Sample of Hong Kong Urban Older Adults: Does Neighborhood of Residence Matter?

This study examined reliability and validity of the Chinese version of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Long Form (IPAQ-LC) in Chinese seniors, including moderating effects of neighborhood walkability and socioeconomic status (SES) on reliability and validity. The IPAQ-LC was interviewer-administered (n = 96), accelerometer and 7-day walk-diary data were collected (n = 94), and the IPAC-LC was readministered (N = 92). Acceptable reliability was found for all measures of physical activity (PA) overall and across different types of neighborhood. Participants from highly walkable neighborhoods were more reliable at estimating walking for transport. Participants from low-SES areas were less reliable at estimating leisure-time PA and sitting but more reliable at estimating transport-related walking. IPAQ-LC walking was significantly related to light- but not moderate-intensity accelerometry-based PA. It was moderately to strongly related to a 7-day diary of walking. The data imply slow-paced walking, probably due to age, climate, and terrain. The findings suggest that the IPAQ-LC's reliability and validity are acceptable in Chinese seniors.     

Neighborhood residential segregation and physical health among Hispanic Americans: good, bad, or benign?

Although considerable evidence shows that residential segregation is deleterious to the health of African Americans, findings regarding segregation and health for Hispanic Americans are inconsistent. Competing hypotheses regarding the effects of neighborhood segregation on health are tested with data from Puerto Rican and Mexican American residents of Chicago. Multilevel analyses reveal that segregation is associated with more health problems for Puerto Rican Americans but not for Mexican Americans. In addition, the relationship between segregation and health was conditioned by generational status for Mexican Americans: Second- or later-generation Mexican Americans living in highly segregated neighborhoods had better health than first-generation Mexican Americans in such neighborhoods. These findings reveal that residential segregation has differential effects across Hispanic groups and suggest that a high degree of contact with Mexican Americans promotes health by facilitating flow of informal health resources and social support.     

“Being Grounded”: Benefits of Gardening for Older Adults in Low-Income Housing

This study reports the findings of a qualitative evaluation of gardening programs for low-income minority older adults living in senior housing. A total of 20 individuals from three senior housing buildings participated in focus groups to discuss the benefits of and motivations for community gardening. The nine main themes of why seniors choose to participate in gardening were mental health benefits, the end product (fruits and vegetables), continuation of a past life, something to do/responsibility, beauty and connection to growth, connecting with others, physical health, learning something new, and helping each other out. These findings are placed in the context of theoretical perspectives and past studies. Implications for policy and relevance to senior housing are offered.     

“It’s a Lifestyle”: Social Class,Flexibility, and Young Adults’ Stories About Defining Adulthood

Abstract

In discussions of how social class matters during the transition to adulthood, the simultaneous importance of both class origins and future class trajectories is underexplored. In this paper, I use interviews with 60 emerging adults in the United States to investigate their stories about progress towards adulthood during the emerging adult years. I find that regardless of class backgrounds and trajectories, participants agree on three subjective criteria—identity exploration, learning responsibility, and gaining control—as most important to the project of becoming an adult. However, personal stories about living up to these subjective criteria diverge by future class plans. While those on class-advantaged (middle- and upper-middle-class) tracks draw heavily from traditional, concrete markers of adulthood to explain the accomplishment of subjective expectations, those on class-disadvantaged (working-class and poor) tracks stress the importance of “flexibility” as important in their stories about becoming an adult. While emerging adults use subjective criteria to explain reaching adulthood, this subjectivity also helps conceal the ongoing importance of access to material resources and opportunities for transitioning to adulthood along a normative path. Subjectivity also allows for individualization in emerging adults’ stories, which helps obscure broader patterns of inequality.     

Democracy,Minority Rights and Plural Societies: Plus ça Change?

For more than a century, it was assumed that plural societies were unconducive to democratic government and assimilation a necessity. The end of the Cold War reopened the question of self-determination and the concomitant issue of minority rights not only in Europe but also worldwide. As a result, minority rights and multiculturalism are emerging as the consensus position on democracy in plural societies. But it would be inaccurate and potentially unwise to regard this pluralist perspective as a universal remedy for the problems of diversity. Instead, the history of academic debate and public policy in this area as surveyed here is testimony to the fact that there can be no categorical imperatives when addressing problems of democratic governance in plural societies; both academics and policy-makers would do well to remember that crucial fact.     

“Falling into a Place”: Reading for Renewal as Queer Pedagogy

This essay explores reading for renewal as queer pedagogy. Within the context of lesbian and gay literature courses, professors can teach students and themselves how to pull stories—beautiful, celebratory stories—out of the bits and pieces of stones of self-hatred and of suffering. If readers of gay and lesbian texts are to resist homophobic discourse, then they must not only train themselves to recognize signs of queerness within even the most oppressive of narratives, but also seek out those texts whose discussions of narrative theory and identity politics promote queer visibility. Reading for renewal—that is, locating a place of transformative possibility either within the text or within the experience of reading the text within the classroom—is, the author argues, integral to practicing a queer pedagogy.     

“Live in Israel. Live the Dream”: Identity,Belonging, and Contemporary American Jewish Migration to Israel

Most current sociological literature on migration examines international moves to the United States and internal migration. Scant research addresses religious migration out of the United States. Utilizing in-depth, semi-structured interviews, we explore motivations behind recent American Jewish migration to Israel and how Jewish identity plays a role in the decision to move. We find that a combination of religious and cultural factors, Zionism, social networks, and the desire for a new start play a major role in motivating migration to Israel. Jewish identity is a common thread across these motivations. Many participants created a strong bond between their Judaism and Israel, viewing their connection to Israel as a way to belong to a larger community and demonstrate their attachment to Judaism. We discuss the implications for studying religious emigration from the United States that move beyond traditional economic models.     

The gentrification of “Boerum Hill”: Neighborhood change and conflicts over definitions

The article presents a case history of a gentrifying neighborhood, with special reference to the interplay between cultural artifacts and the forces of the political economy. In Boerum Hill, a neighborhood in Brooklyn, newly arriving middle-class homeowners used various political and cultural methods, including changes in nomen-clature, house tours, manipulation of boundaries and an attempt to secure historic landmark status, in order to enforce their definition of what the neighborhood should be. A countermovement then emerged on the part of older residents, who, using a different set of cultural referents (based on the notion of ethnic pride), sought to enforce a different definition. The author proposes that while the neighborhood is a socially constructed entity, the resources with which this construction takes place are unequally distributed. Moreover, as the notion of neighborhood has become increasingly politically salient in recent years, the author suggests that cultural conflicts over the definition of neighborhoods have become a feature of urban politics.     

Overcoming “Crisis”: Mobility Capabilities and “stretching” a Migrant Identity among Young Irish in London and Return Migrants

We bring into dialogue the migrant identities of young Irish immigrants in the UK and young returnees in Ireland. We draw on 38 in-depth interviews (20 in the UK and 18 in Ireland), aged 20–37 at the time of interview, carried out in 2015–16. We argue that “stretching” identities – critical and reflective capabilities to interpret long histories of emigration and the neglected economic dimension – need to be incorporated into conceptualizing “crisis” migrants. Participants draw on networks globally, they choose migration as a temporary “stop-over” abroad, but they also rework historical Irish migrant identities in a novel way. Becoming an Irish migrant or a returnee today is enacted as a historically grounded capability of mobility. However, structural economic constraints in the Irish labour market need to be seriously considered in understanding return aspirations and realities. These findings generate relevant policy ideas in terms of relations between “crisis” migrants and the state.     

Sexuality in Older Adults (65+)—An Overview of the Literature,Part 1: Sexual Function and its Difficulties

Objectives: The aim of the current article was to provide an overview of literature on sexual function and sexual difficulties in older adults. Method: The authors conducted a narrative review of papers published in English between January 2005 and July 2015 based on an extensive search in PsycINFO. Results: The review showed that although common biological changes may adversely affect sexual function in old age, sexual experience seems to also be affected by psychological and interpersonal factors. Conclusions: Greater life expectancy and better medical care will result in older individuals with chronic diseases living longer. The need for help to cope with changes in sexual health is likely to increase in older adults, as sexuality may be negatively affected through several pathways.     

Sex,violence, and drugs among Latin American and Caribbean adolescents: Do engaged parents make a difference?

This paper uses data from the Global School-based Student Health Survey to investigate the prevalence of health risk behaviors—in particular, substance use, risky sexual behavior, and violence—among adolescents in 15 Latin American and Caribbean countries. Using logit regressions and meta-analysis, we find that having parents engaged in raising their children is associated with significantly reduced problem behaviors in adolescents. That said, in the Caribbean the prevalence of health risk behaviors in adolescents is higher and engaged parents is lower than in Latin America, and the correlation between engaged parenting and reduced risk behaviors is generally weaker. Nonetheless, for both subgroups of countries, engaged parents do appear to make a difference.     

What Is “Elder Abuse”? Voices From the Margin: The Views of Underrepresented Canadian Older Adults

We know relatively little about the definitions and perceptions of elder abuse held by marginalized groups of older adults in Canada. The current study used focus group methodology to explore perceptions of elder abuse among marginalized groups such as Aboriginal persons, immigrants, refugees, and lesbians. We found both similarities and differences in perceptions of elder abuse across groups. Groups identified traditional forms of elder abuse (i.e., physical, sexual, psychological/emotional, financial abuse, and neglect) as well as less frequently identified types of abuse such as disrespect and government or systemic abuse. Groups also discussed issues related to immigrant sponsorship arrangements and abuse in nursing homes.     

“A Black Benefit”: Racial Prejudice Among White Welfare Recipients in a Low-Income Neighborhood

Welfare has been stigmatized as a benefit for poor African-Americans, in particular for blacks accused of sexual promiscuity and a weak work ethic. Stigma has been found to demoralize welfare recipients, alienate middle-class voters who resent tax expenditures for public assistance, and fuel conservative support for legislation limiting welfare. This article describes another aspect of the stigmatization of welfare as a “black benefit”—the belief by some poor whites that they have experienced racial discrimination when trying to access cash assistance and other benefits. Drawing on data gathered as part of a larger, 18-month qualitative study, this article examines how impoverished whites in Philadelphia view welfare receipt and race. Ugly racial epithets and stereotypes were typically used when describing frustration over lack of access to welfare and other social services.     

Sexuality in Older Adults (65+)—An Overview of The Recent Literature,Part 2: Body Image and Sexual Satisfaction

Objectives: the aim of the paper is to provide an overview of the literature published 2005-2015 on sexual satisfaction and body image in older adults. Method: A narrative literature search using the PsycINFO database was conducted. Results: Although women in general seem less satisfied with their bodies than men, particularly in sexual contexts, older women appear to be less vulnerable to body-related dissatisfaction than younger women. Despite the age-specific dynamics of sexual satisfaction and sexual well-being, which parallel age-related decrease in the frequency of sexual activity, research findings from different countries show that substantial proportions of aging men and women are satisfied with their sex life. There is some limited evidence that this proportion may be increasing across cohorts. Gender differences in factors that influence sexual satisfaction among older adults appear marginal. Conclusion: Older age can affect sexual satisfaction on individual, interpersonal, and culture-related levels. Future research in older adults' sexuality should focus on sexual well-being in women who are without partners, sexual satisfaction among aging lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals and couples, the relationship between religiosity and sexual satisfaction, and employ a comparative, cross-cultural approach.     

Older adults' frequent visits to a fast-food restaurant: Nonobligatory social interaction and the significance of play in a “third place”

How might older adults' nonobligatory social interactions in a “third place” be described and interpreted? The ethnographic methodology, primarily participant observation, was used to gather data from a naturally occurring group of older adults who frequent a fast-food restaurant. Emerging themes include the concept of sociability, play, and laughter. Findings suggest that: (a) older adults congregate at this fast-food restaurant to be with their buddies “to play”; (b) the group is fun for members and there are lots of laughter; (c) group membership in this “third place” provides structure, meaning, and opportunities for these older adults to engage in personal expression; and (d) the members are sociable, but relatively little social support is exchanged.     

“I Didn't Recognize It as a Bad Experience until I was Much Older”: Age,Experience, and Workers’ Perceptions of Sexual Harassment

Analyzing interview data from 33 women and men, we examine how perceptions of sexual harassment are linked to age, experience, and historical context. Participants described workplace experiences from adolescence into their late twenties. Three themes emerged. First, as adolescents, respondents perceived some of the sexualized interactions they experienced at work as fun. Second, while participants did not define some of their early experiences as sexual harassment at the time, they do so today. Finally, participants suggested that prior work experiences changed their ideas about workplace interactions and themselves as workers. In sum, we find age is a fundamental dimension of power shaping individuals’ perceptions of sexualized interactions at work.     

“Younger People Want to Do it Themselves” - Self-Actualization,Commitment, and the Reinvention of Community

Qualitative Sociology - Current research indicates that younger Americans, driven by socioeconomic shifts and cultural trends prioritizing self-actualization, are increasingly disinclined toward...     

“I'm in this world for a reason”: Resilience and recovery among American Indian and Alaska Native two-spirit women

ABSTRACT

American Indian and Alaska Native sexual minority (two-spirit) women are vulnerable to substance misuse and mental health challenges due to multiple minority oppressed status and exposure to stress and trauma. Yet, these women find pathways toward healing and wellness. We conducted a qualitative data analysis of interviews derived from a national health study and gained an understanding of 11 two-spirit women's resilience and recovery patterns. Emergent from the data, a braided resiliency framework was developed which elucidates multilayered abilities, processes, and resources involved in their resiliency. We recommend that resilience-promoting strategies be incorporated into substance misuse and mental health interventions.