Informal Support Networks of Low-Income Senior Women Living Alone: Evidence from Fort St. John,BC

Within the context of an aging Canadian rural and small-town landscape, there is a growing trend of low-income senior women living alone. While there is a perception that rural seniors have well-developed social networks to meet their daily needs, some research suggests that economic and social restructuring processes have impacted the stability of seniors' support networks in small places. While much of the research on seniors' informal networks focuses upon small towns in decline, booming resource economies can also produce challenges for low-income senior women living alone due to both a higher cost of living and the retrenchment of government and service supports. Under such circumstances, an absence of informal supports can impact seniors' health and quality of life and may lead to premature institutionalization. Drawing upon a household survey in Fort St. John, British Columbia, we explore informal supports used by low-income senior women living alone in this different context of the Canadian landscape. Our findings indicate that these women not only have a support network that is comparable to other groups, but that they are also more likely to draw upon such supports to meet their independent-living needs. These women rely heavily on family support, however, and greater efforts are needed to diversify both their formal and informal sources of support as small family networks can quickly become overwhelmed.     

Friendships Among Old Women

Because of widowhood, divorce, retirement, and prejudice against them, old women are in special need of friendships with other women. Old women's friendships have many valuable functions. It is dangerous to depend on just one friend. There are impediments to making friendships in old age including projection of negativity about again on other old women, lack of resources and transportation, fears of loss, invasion of privacy, obligations, and preference for males. Some women settle for paid therapists as friends or for self help groups. Communities can provide activities fostering friendships, and women themselves can learn how to make connections.     

中国高龄老年人精神失调状况及其影响因素分析

为分析中国高龄老年人的精神失调状况,探讨中国高龄老年人是否健康的度过晚年,本文利用了2000年中国长寿老年人的健康状况的调查数据,从中随机抽取了1006个样本,用logistic回归方法进行了分析。结果显示中国高龄老年人表现出精神失调症状的占48.9%,老年人的心态,人格,婚姻状况,经济状况对老年人精神失调症状都有显著影响,并且发现年龄,性别,对精神失调的影响不显著。中国长寿老年人的精神健康状况需要引起重视。负向心态,离婚,独居和跟家人在一起对精神失调症状影响非常显著;正向心态,自评健康状况好,有偶,住养老机构相比较而言更有利于缓解长寿老人的精神失调症状。     

Understanding Communication and Aging: Developing Knowledge and Awareness,by Jake Harwood

In this study, theoretical views previously used to explain health service utilization by the elderly are extended to explain how predisposing (age, race, education, and marital status), enabling (income, employment status, health status, and transportation), and need (loneliness and livin arrangement) factors influence elderly women's participation in vof :u ntary organizations and senior centers. Hypotheses are tested using a nationwide probability sample, of elderly women who are 65 and above. The major findings ind~catet hat age, race, and health status influence participation In voluntary organizations and senior centers. Elderly widows are also more likely to participate in voluntary organizat~onst han married women. Loneliness has a positive impact on senior center participation of these women.     

Determinants of adults’ solo living in Canada: a longitudinal perspective

We examine the demographic, socio-economic and socio-cultural factors that underlie solo-living at mid-adult ages. Both individual and community level factors are analysed. The analysis is based on the longitudinal panel data of the Canadian Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics in 1996–2001, 1999–2004, 2002–2008 and 2005–2010, and census data at the Census District level for 1996, 2001 and 2006. A two-level discrete-time survival model is used within a 6 year observational window for each panel. The analysis starts with persons aged 35–59 who were living alone at the outset of a given panel and follows their departure from this status over the following 6 years. For both men and women, the older respondents, those who have been living solo for a longer time, those who are not in the labour force, and those living in apartments, are more likely to continue living alone. Women are more likely to keep their initial one person household status compared to men in general. In particular, women with medium education (non-university post-secondary certification) are more likely to continue living alone, while for men it is those unemployed who are more likely to remain in the solo-living status. Moreover, persons with lower health status are more likely to continue living by themselves, in comparison to those with excellent health status.

     

Productive Activity and Life Satisfaction in Korean Elderly Women

The purpose of this study is to explain the effect of participation in productive activities on life satisfaction and its implications for social evaluation of productive aging. This study uses data collected from 1,250 elderly women living in urban areas. The regression model was used to examine the influence of elderly women's participation in productive activities on their life satisfaction. Elderly women who participate in volunteer work, learning, and social group activities commonly recognized their activities as meaningful, feeling like worthwhile members of society, and evaluated such activities as very positive. In contrast, elderly women who participated in household chores and family care activities expressed a negative life satisfaction. The difference in life satisfaction regarding productive activities stems not only from the physical and environmental differences but also from the gap between the official social value underpinned by the recognition of surrounding people, their support, and the value of productive activities.     

Living Arrangements and Quality of Life Among Chinese Canadian Elders

This paper examines the role of living arrangements in thequality of life of community-dwelling Chinese elders (aged 65 andover) currently residing in Vancouver and Victoria, BritishColumbia. Data are based on a random sample of 830 persons[response rate = 71.5%], who were interviewed in their homes inthe language of their choice in 1995–96. Three dimensions ofquality of life – satisfaction, well-being and social support –are examined for married men and women [living with spouse alonevs. living intergenerationally] and widowed women [living alonevs. living intergenerationally]. Few differences are found formarried persons, especially women; for widows, living alonesignificantly reduces quality of life in a number of areas.Regression analyses indicate that living arrangements are not asignificant predictor of life satisfaction or well-being formarried men and women. For widows, living arrangements determinewell-being but not life satisfaction.Overall, age, health status, and social support (havingfriends/confidante) are better predictors of quality of life forelderly Chinese Canadians than are living arrangements. Findingshighlight the importance of: empirically distinguishing maritalstatus and living arrangements in studying the quality of life ofelders; not homogenizing Chinese Canadian seniors with regard toliving arrangements; and focussing on Chinese elderly widows wholive alone as a group at risk of low well-being.     

Keeping the ball in the air: contact in long-distance friendships

As people continue to be more mobile, maintenance behaviors for long-distance friendships will continue to be a part of the relocation experience. In this qualitative study, 25 women age 45 and over, who had relocated a number of times, were asked to talk about how their friendships had transitioned to being long-distance relationships and what current maintenance behaviors entailed. Communication was a major theme involving electronic mail (e-mail), Christmas cards, telephone calls, and visits. Results from the current study suggest that maintaining the perception of the existence of a well-connected social support system could be accomplished with a single, annual contact. Further, the long-distance friendship biographies explored in this study provided characteristics of friendship maintenance behavior that could be grouped into three main categories forming a proposed typology of long-distance friendship maintenance.     

Tending and befriending: the intertwined relationships of quilters

Using the convoy model of social relations, we explored the contributions of quilting activities to the relationships of middle- and older-aged women in three distinct groups: Amish, Appalachian, and Latter Day Saints. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten women from each group and analyzed qualitatively using McCracken's five-step method for analysis of long interviews. We found that these women had considerable horizontal and vertical connections to others. Specifically, they exhibited generativity by teaching their skills to others, building bonds with grandchildren through quilting, and leaving legacies through their quilts. Many developed friendships with other quilters that provided social support to deal with life challenges. Additional study of the contributions of mid-late life women's leisure activities to their social milieu, personal development, and well-being is needed.     

生计策略对农村留守妇女婚姻满意度的影响①——性生活质量的调节作用

构建性生活质量调节下的生计策略对婚姻满意度影响分析框架,利用安徽巢湖问卷调查数据,本文以非留守妇女和准留守妇女为参照,描述了农村留守妇女的生计策略、性生活质量和婚姻满意度现状,并采用有序回归方法对生计策略和性生活质量对婚姻满意度的影响进行了分析。结果表明：家庭再生产策略对非留守妇女婚姻满意度有显著的积极影响;工资性工作和家庭再生产策略对准留守妇女婚姻满意度有显著的消极影响;农业生产策略对留守妇女婚姻满意度有显著的积极影响,家庭经营和工资性工作策略则对留守妇女婚姻满意度有显著消极影响。此外,性生活质量不仅本身对非留守妇女和留守妇女的婚姻满意度有较强的促进作用,同时也在生计策略对婚姻满意度的影响过程中发挥不同的调节作用。上述发现对提高农村留守妇女婚姻福利有重要启示。     

Keeping the Ball in the Air: Contact in Long-Distance Friendships

ABSTRACT

As people continue to be more mobile, maintenance behaviors for long-distance friendships will continue to be a part of the relocation experience. In this qualitative study, 25 women age 45 and over, who had relocated a number of times, were asked to talk about how their friendships had transitioned to being long-distance relationships and what current maintenance behaviors entailed. Communication was a major theme involving electronic mail (e-mail), Christmas cards, telephone calls, and visits. Results from the current study suggest that maintaining the perception of the existence of a well-connected social support system could be accomplished with a single, annual contact. Further, the long-distance friendship biographies explored in this study provided characteristics of friendship maintenance behavior that could be grouped into three main categories forming a proposed typology of long-distance friendship maintenance.     

Older adults in sub-Saharan Africa living with children and grandchildren

Using data from Demographic and Health Surveys, we examine the composition of households containing older adults in 24 countries of sub-Saharan Africa, with a focus on those living with children and grandchildren. Overall, 59 per cent live with a child and 46 per cent with a grandchild. Men are more likely to live in nuclear households and women in extended households and alone. Regression analyses show that individual-level determinants of household composition differ by sex. For example, living with children and grandchildren is tied to living with a spouse for men, but for women the effect is either not significant or in the opposite direction. Households with an older adult and a grandchild, but no adult children, are common. Usually the adult child lives elsewhere, though about 8 per cent of older adults live with a grandchild who has at least one deceased parent. Older adults are more likely to be living with double-orphans in countries with high AIDS-related mortality.     

Quality of Life of Some Under-Represented Survey Respondents: Youth, Aboriginals and Unemployed

Examining an aggregated sample (N=8800) of residents who responded to one of 16 surveys undertaken in Prince George, British Columbia in the period from November 1997 to February 2005, it was found that satisfaction with the quality of life of unemployed residents is lower than that of residents with Aboriginal backgrounds and that satisfaction with the quality of life of the latter is still lower than that of young people. Nevertheless, satisfaction with the quality of life of young people was significantly lower than that of the total sampled population, as well as that of the selected mid-life and retirement groups. Regarding predictors of our three global dependent variables (satisfaction with life as a whole and with the overall quality of life, and happiness) for the three groups (unemployed, Aboriginals and youth) and the total population, we found that the Aboriginal group was most different from all others. Satisfaction with one’s own self-esteem was the most influential predictor of each global indicator for every group except Aboriginal residents. For the latter, self-esteem satisfaction was only the strongest predictor of satisfaction with the overall quality of life. The strongest predictor of life satisfaction for the Aboriginal group was satisfaction with friendships, and there were two domain satisfaction scores tied (friendships and living partner) for most influential predictors of happiness. Self-esteem satisfaction ranked second in strength of influence on Aboriginal happiness and life satisfaction.     

Culture influences demographic behavior: evidence from India

Delhi migrants from low socioeconomic classes were compared based on their home origins in north or south India. The two groups differed in cultural beliefs, attitudes, and practices, but they lived in the same resettlement colony and had the same physical access to services and opportunities. Retrospective data was collected from a sample of ever-married women and household heads. Longitudinal data was collected on households with at least two living children younger than 12 in visits once every two weeks over a six-month period. Information was obtained on children's eating patterns, activities, illnesses, and the treatment of their illnesses. Households from Tamil Nadu in the south were more modern, had greater female autonomy, and were open to new ideas. Uttar Pradesh women from the north were more traditional, secluded, and restricted in economic activities. The results showed lower fertility, higher levels of contraceptive use, and earlier ends to childbearing among Tamil Nadu women, who had had more exposure to ideas about smaller family size, healthful childrearing practices, and positive attitudes about contraceptive use. For every 100 Tamil Nadu children who died, 111 Uttar Pradesh children died. Health care practices differed between groups; the urban slum environment was conducive to the spread of gastrointestinal infections among Uttar Pradesh girls discouraged from using the public water taps and toilet facilities. Among the Tamil Nadu migrants, girls actually had lower childhood mortality rates than boys. 115 girls died for every 100 boys among the Uttar Pradesh. The reason may be due to the avoidance or delay of outside medical attention until too late. The conclusion was that the status of women, and their exposure to and interaction with the outside world and control over decision making at home, explained the differences between the two groups. Policy implications are to make programs culturally sensitive for example, providing at-home care for women traditionally sheltered from contact with strangers.     

Older Women Living in a Continuing Care Retirement Community: Marital Status and Friendship Formation

SUMMARY

Ethnographic observations and interviews with twenty female residents of a new Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC) revealed the patterns of friendship development experienced by older women. Qualitative analyses identified various phases of friendship development and aspects of the social context that facilitated friendship formation in its earliest stages. Marital status was a major factor in the selection of friends within this setting. Friendship styles and strategies for developing friendships varied considerably. Although most women successfully formed new friendships within this setting, certain subgroups seemed at risk for social isolation.     

Experiences of Purpose in Life When Becoming and Being a Very Old Woman

The aim of the study was to illuminate how very old women describe their experiences of purpose in life (PIL) in narratives about becoming and being very old. The participants comprised 30 women selected from 120 women who had answered the PIL test and had been interviewed about their experiences of being very old. The interviews were analyzed with qualitative content analysis, which revealed four themes: having a positive view of life, living in relation to God, having meaningful activities, and simply existing. Our findings show that very old women experience purpose in life both in their daily activities and in their contact with a spiritual world. It seems to be facilitated by a positive view of life. Although the results were dominated by a positive view of life, some of the participants saw their lives in terms of simply existing, and did not experience purpose in life.     

Alone and content: frail seniors living in their own homes compared to those who live with others

This study compared the psychosocial well-being and functioning of frail elderly people who live alone to those who live with others. An exploratory study was conducted with a sample of 5,265 members of a social HMO in Southern California. Those living alone were more likely to be widowed, female, and European American. Elderly people living with others reported higher levels of depression and poorer functioning. Both groups reported having a social support network, but the sources of support varied. This study contradicts older research with its finding that living alone is not synonymous with depression. Further research is recommended.