Impact of senior center friendships on aging women who live alone

Elderly women who live alone are considered at greater risk for loneliness, depression, and decreased mobility. This paper examines the influences of late-life friendships and senior center activities on the health and well-being of aging women living alone. Based on the findings from 274 women living alone it was found that the senior center is an excellent environment where new supportive friendships can easily be formed. These friendships and other center activities have positive mental and physical outcomes. Using a comparison group of 171 elderly women living with their spouses, it was discovered that women who lived alone participated in center activities more frequently and, as a result, also created a social network that extended outside of the center environment.     

“The shock of widowhood”? Evidence from an Italian population (Parma, 1989–2000)

The purpose of our study is to assess the influence of socio-demographic factors on overall and cause-specific mortality of elderly people of Parma aged 65. In particular, the paper aims at exploring the relation between mortality and living arrangement in association with marital status. Data were obtained from the General Registry Office of Parma and from the death certificates issued by the Local Health District from 1989 to 2000. A logistic regression was performed using longitudinal data. In the male population, living alone and being never married appears to be the worst condition, while living with the wife repsresents a caring situation. In the female population, the major risk of death is associated to living with others than a spouse, while a reduced risk was detected for widows living alone. This was a common and shared result for both overall mortality and many of the causes of death here considered. The condition of widows and widowers living alone does not appear to constitute a particularly serious risk among the elderly population of Parma. Yet, in the female population the association between living alone and the status of widow seems playing a protective role. This result should be interpreted in the light of the social policy of services and support for the elderly pursued by local authorities.     

Shared journeys,linked lives: a relational-biographical approach to mobility practices

This paper innovatively extends existing practice-theoretical mobility research by examining biographical aspects of people’s everyday mobility that capture and reflect their social relations. Drawing on nine qualitative interviews with couples who live in/near Vienna without a private car, the paper demonstrates the promising potential of retrospective forms of social research for uncovering the dynamics of mobility practices across the life course. It conceptualises individuals as inherently social and mutually interconnected mobility practitioners whose complex and dynamic interactions with others make up more or less mobile households and families. The paper thus treats social relations as a major connector between the constitutive social and material elements of (mobility) practices, making an explicitly relational contribution to current practice-theoretical debates in mobility research.     

An Exploratory Study on the Quality of Life of older Chinese People Living alone in Hong Kong

This study successfully interviewed 109 randomly selected Chinese people aged 60 and over living alone in two public housing estates in an urban area of Hong Kong. The results show that mental health status, number of days staying in hospital, life satisfaction, age, and self-esteem are significant factors in predicting the life quality of older Chinese respondents living alone. The explanatory power of this model is 56.4. The results of this study are consistent with previous findings reported in the west and in Hong Kong. A subgroup analysis of those older Chinese respondents living alone who have offspring also living in Hong Kong shows that belief in childrens’ support in old age, good walking ability, and better self-reported health status via life satisfaction as the mediating variable, better self-reported health status and satisfactory self-reported financial status via self-esteem as the mediating variable, are crucial predictors of quality of life. This model explains 64.2% of the variance in quality of life from a subset of the predictor variables.     

An Exploratory Study on the Quality of Life of older Chinese People Living alone in Hong Kong

This study successfully interviewed 109 randomly selected Chinese people aged 60 and over living alone in two public housing estates in an urban area of Hong Kong. The results show that mental health status, number of days staying in hospital, life satisfaction, age, and self-esteem are significant factors in predicting the life quality of older Chinese respondents living alone. The explanatory power of this model is 56.4. The results of this study are consistent with previous findings reported in the west and in Hong Kong. A subgroup analysis of those older Chinese respondents living alone who have offspring also living in Hong Kong shows that belief in childrens support in old age, good walking ability, and better self-reported health status via life satisfaction as the mediating variable, better self-reported health status and satisfactory self-reported financial status via self-esteem as the mediating variable, are crucial predictors of quality of life. This model explains 64.2% of the variance in quality of life from a subset of the predictor variables.     

上海高龄独居老人研究

本文根据相关调查数据和资料,分析了上海高龄独居老人的现状、趋势及其特征。同时通过绘制老年人独居比例曲线,结合老年人家庭结构变化,本文提出了老年人渐进式独居的变化过程。最后,从保护高龄独居老人生命安全、建设高龄独居老人社会支持体系等方面,本文提出了改善高龄独居老人生活质量的对策建议。     

Experiencing undesired daily life events, instrumental functioning, social support and well-being of Israeli elderly women: comparison between caregivers/non-caregivers for adult children with mental retardation

The purpose of the study was to examine the extent to which 160 mothers who care for an adult child with mental retardation differ in respect to undesired daily life events, instrumental functioning, social support and well-being from a comparably matched group of age peers. Findings indicated that caregivers for adult children with mental retardation reported more undesired daily life events in comparison to the matched group. However, no differences were found in respect to their instrumental functioning, social support and well-being. A detailed analysis showed significant variations in measures of undesired daily life events and social support.     

Living Arrangement and Life Satisfaction of the Elderly in South Korea

With a rapid aging population in South Korea, the elderly living alone has received particular attention from researchers and stakeholders. Although previous research has found that living alone negatively affects life satisfaction of the elderly, much remains unclear about how life satisfaction of the elderly changes over time as their living arrangement change. To advance knowledge on life satisfaction of the elderly, using the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging we tested the association between life satisfaction (overall life, health, and financial) of the elderly and their living arrangement. Our longitudinal research found that the elderly living with family had significantly higher life satisfaction compared to those living alone between 2006 and 2016. In addition, individuals who had a superior economic profile and maintained physical activity and social relations showed higher life satisfaction than their counterparts. Our findings suggest that to improve the life satisfaction of the elderly living alone, both material and psychological support programs are needed. Future research is needed to account for the multi-faceted nature of life satisfaction.

     

Operationalizing De-commodification and De-familization Outcomes via the Relative Poverty Approach: An Application to Western European Countries

This article develops an approach with which to operationalise the outcomes of de-commodification and de-familisation processes. Since the de-commodification and de-familisation concepts share an emphasis on ‘a socially acceptable standard of living for individuals’ with the notion of relative poverty, the income-poverty indicator has been adopted to develop pertinent national rates. In particular, since de-commodification outcomes concern people with a socially acceptable standard of living independently of sale of their labour power, the national proportions of individuals with an equivalised disposable income above the poverty threshold who have stopped working have been accounted for. On the other hand, given that de-familisation outcomes regard individuals with a socially acceptable standard of living aside from family relationships, the national percentages of persons who actually live alone, or simulated as living alone, with an equivalised disposable income above the poverty threshold have been considered. Moreover, exploiting the equivalised disposable income computation, pertinent micro-simulations are developed to capture the role of the state and the family in de-commodification outcomes, and the contribution of the market and the state to de-familisation outcomes. On the basis of the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions, an empirical application of this approach is then provided. Specifically, data for 16 European countries were used to compute the above-mentioned national rates. Furthermore, we checked whether our outcome figures exhibited any correspondence with the country-groups deriving from the classic welfare regime typologies or more in general with the measures resulting from the social policy structure.     

Experiencing Undesired Daily Life Events,Instrumental Functioning,Social Support and Well-Being of Israeli Elderly Women: Comparison Between Caregivers/Non-Caregivers for Adult Children with Mental Retardation

ABSTRACT

The purpose of the study was to examine the extent to which 160 mothers who care for an adult child with mental retardation differ in respect to undesired daily life events, instrumental functioning, social support and well-being from a comparably matched group of age peers. Findings indicated that caregivers for adult children with mental retardation reported more undesired daily life events in comparison to the matched group. However, no differences were found in respect to their instrumental functioning, social support and well-being. A detailed analysis showed significant variations in measures of undesired daily life events and social support.     

Household structure and consumption insurance of the elderly

This paper examines the role of household formation in providing consumption insurance to the elderly. Using data from the Consumer Expenditure Surveys, raw tabulations of per adult equivalent consumption indicate that the elderly who live alone have higher levels of well-being relative to those who live with others. This is misleading, however, because the decision to live alone is clearly endogenous. The empirical estimation accounts for this endogeneity using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. The results provide evidence that household formation plays a significant role in maintaining consumption levels. Without the opportunity to live with others, the welfare gap measured by the difference between per adult equivalent consumption levels of dependent and independent livers would be even larger. These findings suggest that co-residing with others effectively supplements social security, pensions, and private savings and helps the elderly to smooth consumption in old age.

城市老年人社会活动参与对其健康的影响--基于CHARLS 2011年数据

基于2011年“中国健康与养老追踪调查”全国基线调查数据,研究城市老年人社会活动参与对其健康的影响。研究结果发现社会活动参与对老年人日常生活活动能力、抑郁情绪均有显著影响。社会活动参与越多的老年人,在日常生活活动能力方面表现得越好;抑郁情绪也越少。可见,社会活动参与能有效改善老年人的健康水平。本文的研究结论支持了活动理论的观点,即老年人参与社会活动,可以增进他们的身体和心理健康水平。此外,本文还发现性别、年龄、婚姻状况、医疗保险、吸烟、喝酒等变量均对老年人健康有显著影响。     

Residential preferences and population distribution

Public opinion research has revealed decided preferences for living in rural areas and small towns, and proponents of population deconcentration have interpreted this as support for their policies. This study, based on a national sample, yielded similar results, but when we introduced the additional possibility of a preference for proximity to a larger city, then the rural areas preferred were found, for most respondents, to be those within the commuting range of a metropolitan central city. Although persons wishing to live near large cities were found to be looking for the same qualities of living sought by those who prefer a more remote location, these findings are not, in general, consistent with the argument that public preferences support strategies of population dispersal into nonmetropolitan areas. Instead they indicate that most of those who wish to live in a different location favor the peripheral metropolitan ring areas that have, in fact, been growing rapidly by in-migration.     

The Study on the Satisfaction of the Elderly People Living with Their Children

In today’s society, with the aging population, the satisfaction of the elderly people is highly connected with the social sustainability. This article used the data of the Chinese Health and the Pension Follow-up Survey from CHARLS in 2013 to analyze the relation between the elderly people’s satisfaction and their living arrangement. Based on the control of the influential factors on the individual, family and the regional level, this article used ordinary least square regression method to find out that the elderly people’s satisfaction will be deceased because of living with their children. However, the elderly people’s dissatisfaction will be vanished along with the growth of the age of the elderly. Therefore, the elderly people’s living arrangements have been changed, to maintain the satisfaction of the elderly in China, the appropriate health care and other activities should be redesigned and developed for the elderly who live by themselves.     

Structural and Cognitive Aspects of Social Capital and All-Cause Mortality: A Meta-Analysis of Cohort Studies

Social capital covers different characteristics such as social networks, social participation, social support and trust. The aim of this study was to explore which aspects of social capital were predictive of mortality. Criteria for inclusion in the meta-analysis were: population based observational cohort studies (follow-up ≥5 years); study sample included the adult population; parts of social capital as the primary exposure variable of interest; reported a mortality outcome; and sample size >1,000 individuals. Twenty studies provided eligible data for the meta-analyses. A random effect model was used to estimate the combined overall hazard rate ratio effects of structural social capital such as social participation and social networks, and cognitive social capital including social support and trust in relation to mortality. The results showed that social participation and social networks were negatively associated with mortality. The impact of social networks attenuated somewhat when controlling for gender and age. While trust also appeared to be negatively associated with mortality, we remain cautious with this conclusion, since only two studies provided eligible data. Perceived social support failed to show a significant impact upon mortality. The findings suggest that people who engage socially and report frequent contacts with friends and family live longer.     

Does Society Matter? Life Satisfaction in the Enlarged Europe

Life satisfaction is quite heterogeneously distributed across countries of the enlarged European Union. Previous research has shown how living conditions within individual countries, such as access to material and emotional resources, are important for personal well-being, but it has been less successful in explaining differences between countries. This article investigates whether it matters in which political and economic circumstances people live, as well as whether their particular perception of the quality of their societal environment plays a role. People are well aware that the institutional and cultural settings in which their lives are embedded create opportunities and limitations: within individual countries, perceptions of society influence life satisfaction outcomes irrespective of access to resources. However, their importance for well-being differs across Europe: perceptions of societies are highly decisive in countries that provide only a minimum of social security and in which the reliability of political institutions is poor. In rich and stable countries, the impact is weaker and private social support becomes more important. In addition to these country-specific weights of life satisfaction determinants, life satisfaction variations between countries can be explained to a large extent by taking into consideration the economic performance, the social security level, and the political culture in a country—all in all, general conditions that enable people to live a respectable life.     

Gender, Social Change, and Living Arrangements Among Older Egyptians During the 1990s

We compare older Egyptian women’s and men’s propensities to live with unmarried children only, any ever-married children, and alone, and we assess “kin-keeping” versus “modernization” hypotheses about the effects of social change on living arrangements during 1988–2000. Socioeconomic differences among women and men accounted for much of their crude differences in living arrangements during the period. Propensities to live with any ever-married children declined, and propensities to live alone or with unmarried children only rose. Compared to men, women continued to live more often with any ever-married children and less often with unmarried children only, and the 1988 gender gap in solitary residence disappeared by 2000. Increasing coresidential demands from unmarried dependent children, less frequent coresidential support from ever-married children, and rapidly increasing rates of solitary living especially among older men suggest emerging needs for non-coresidential instrumental support, especially among older Egyptians who are economically disadvantaged.

Social Problem Solving as a Predictor of Well-being in Adolescents and Young Adults

Social problem solving is the cognitive-affective-behavioral process by which people attempt to resolve real-life problems in a social environment, and is of key importance in the management of emotions and well-being. This paper reviews a series of studies on social problem solving conducted by the authors. First, we developed and validated the Chinese version of the Social Problem-Solving Inventory Revised (C-SPSI-R) which demonstrated very good psychometric properties. Second, we identified the scope of stressful social situations faced by young adults and their self-efficacy in facing such situations (N = 179). Young adults were generally confident about their basic social skills but found it much more stressful to relate to family members, handle conflicts, handle negative behaviors from others, self-disclose to others, and to express love. Third, in two separate studies, we found that social problem solving was closely linked to measures of depression (n = 200), anxiety (n = 235), and family well-being (N = 1462). Measures of anxiety and depression were found to be significantly related to aspects of social problem solving in expected directions and expected strength. In another study, higher parental social problem solving behavior and lower avoidance behavior were found to be related to indicators of family well-being, including better overall family functioning, and fewer parent–adolescent conflicts.     

中国老年人口的养老意愿及其城乡差异——基于中国老年社会追踪调查数据的分析

老年人的养老意愿是建立养老服务体系必须考虑的重要方面.文章根据中国人民大学2014年"中国老年社会追踪调查"数据,分析我国老年人的养老意愿及其影响因素.采用多分类Logit回归模型比较城市和农村老年人的居住意愿.分析发现城市老年人的居住意愿受个体、家庭、社区三类因素的共同影响,呈现多元化特点,而对农村老年人居住意愿有显著影响的因素则基本集中于家庭因素.结果表明城市老年人更趋向于独立居住或入住养老机构,而农村老年人对社会养老服务的需求更取决于家庭成员的态度和支持程度.     

Personality correlates of positive identity and relationship involvement in gay men

Six personality variables (social anxiety, trait anxiety, locus of control, sensitization, depression, and self concept) were correlated with variables relevant to a positive gay identity (degree of communication about sexual preference and degree of comfort being gay) and to relationship involvement (being in a gay relationship, number of months in a gay relationship, and living with a partner) in a volunteer, nonclinical sample of 51 gay males. Men who informed others of their sexual preference were low on trait anxiety, sensitization, and depression and high on self concept. Men comfortable with their gay identity were low on social anxiety, sensitization, and depression and high on self concept. Men involved in long-term relationships were low in trait anxiety, had an internal locus of control, and were low in depression. Men living with a partner had a higher self concept than men not living with a partner. Results are discussed in terms of previous studies of gay male relationships.