Aging in precarious times: Exploring the role of gender in shaping views on aging

ABSTRACT

The present study explores views on aging and how these differ according to gender and precariousness status. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 10 men and 10 women with secure and insecure pensions. Themes like fear of illness and health decline were more present in men, while fear of losing their attractiveness in old age more present among women. For all participants, loss of autonomy and social roles represented a negative view of old age, while activity in the form of work, volunteering, or leisure represented positive views. Differences in views on aging were related to pension security and less to gender. Women with insecure pension plans displayed the most negative views of aging. Implications for practice and policy to prevent health and gender inequalities are discussed.     

The Standard of Living of the Workers in a Spanish Industrial Town: Wages,Nutrition, Life Expentancy and Heigth in Alcoy (1870–1930)

This is the first study that empirically examines how migration influences migrants’ time use patterns in China, utilizing a mixed-method approach. We systematically estimate the migration effects on weekly hours on working, leisure, personal care and domestic responsibilities, based on data from the nationally representative 2010 Chinese Family Panel Studies. We then supplement these analyses with in-depth interviews conducted in Beijing to further understand the underlying mechanisms. Compared with urban locals, rural-to-urban migrants have longer work hours and less leisure time. The largest differences are found among men. On average, migrant men work 5 h longer and have 7 fewer hours of leisure per week than urban local men. These differences are moderated by migrants’ and their parents’ socioeconomic status, and their family responsibilities. The in-depth interviews reveal that the busier work schedules are largely motivated by the transient nature of most rural-to-urban migration and the overwhelming economic pressures for household establishment and career development.     

Gender differences in physical activity and walking among older adults

Older women are generally more sedentary and less active than older men, but little is known about the specific factors underlying the differences between the genders in physical activity (PA). The purpose of this study was to compare men and women regarding their household leisure time PA, walking activity, and personal and environmental factors related to physical activity. Self-administered questionnaires were completed by 276 older adults recruited from senior centers. Findings revealed that women were less active overall but more involved in household activities. The women's personal and environmental factors represented poor conditions for PA, and as a result they engaged in lower levels of PA than men.     

Veblen in Reverse: Evidence from the Multinational Time-Use Archive

This paper explores the historical change in the work-leisure balance using time-diary evidence. Much of the recent discussion of this balance in the developed world has focused on paid work alone. What follows takes a different approach, considering the balance of all work time (paid plus unpaid) against leisure time and observes a tendency over recent decades for leisure to decline relative to work in this broad sense. Much is changing, in employment, family and consumption terms over this period. One possibility is that the relative increase in work time reflects the reversal of the status/leisure gradient: the financially privileged classes, which once had more leisure than others, now have less. But the paper closes with the speculation that this increase in work time for both men and women may be indirectly connected with the phenomenon of the women’s “dual burden”, via an unconsidered but nevertheless important principle of fairness in the distribution of work within households.     

Perceived Sexual Orientation of Men and Women with Eating Disorders and Obesity

ABSTRACT

The present study explores the perceived sexual orientation of hypothetical men and women with various eating disorders and obesity. Undergraduates were randomly provided with one vignette describing a male or female with anorexia nervosa (AN), bulimia nervosa (BN), binge-eating disorder, or obesity and were asked about the target’s likely sexual orientation. Significant differences emerged between male and female targets with AN and BN on the forced-choice question, with a greater percentage of participants indicating that the male targets were probably non-heterosexual. On continuous items, participants rated the female targets as significantly more likely to be heterosexual and significantly less likely to be homosexual than male targets. The general public may be more likely to perceive men with eating disorders as gay or bisexual relative to females with eating disorders. Perceived sexual orientation might be an important factor to consider when exploring the potentially unique perspectives of men with eating disorders.     

Overtime in Relation to Blood Pressure and Mood During Work, Leisure, and Night Time

This study examined the association between characteristics of the workplace and overtime. A sample of 117 women and 126 men were assessed over 24 hours of a working day by means of a computerized diary and ambulant monitoring of blood pressure. Of the total sample, 178 participants had a contractual weekly working time of 40 hours. Of these, 106 participants worked overtime (OT) and 72 worked regular time (RT). Contrary to expectations, a significant association was found between the amount of OT and the quality of task design (e.g., high decision latitude, high level of freedom). Men and women working OT had less leisure time, and men also reported less obligatory time (e.g., time for household, childcare etc.) than those working RT. Women, but not men, working OT had a higher systolic and diastolic blood pressure during work than those working RT. Significantly more participants in the group of men and women working OT were found to have a disturbed ability to recover and to display clinically relevant sleep disturbances than in the group working regular hours. Furthermore, working OT was associated with less positive affect after work (obligatory and leisure time) in men, and with more negative affect during work and before going to bed in men and women. The results imply the need for jobs that can be finished within regular working hours and that give employees opportunities for job control. Such jobs enable a balance to be found between work load and recovery and represent a prerequisite for occupational health and well-being.     

The Time-Crunch Paradox

Previous research has shown little difference in the average leisure time of men and women. This finding is a challenge to the second shift argument, which suggests that increases in female labor market hours have not been compensated by equal decreases in household labor. This paper presents time-use and leisure satisfaction data for a variety of western European countries, and shows that accounting for socio-economic factors that differ between men and women is vital for understanding gender differences. We find that working mothers have leisure levels that are much lower than those of working fathers and singles. Working mothers are also most likely to report the least satisfaction with free time. Finding that time stress and leisure time are positively correlated within socio-demographic groups suggests that the second shift argument is still valid, and that feelings of time stress are indeed associated with the lack of leisure time.     

Left Out? Lesbian,Gay, and Bisexual Poverty in the U.S.

This paper analyzes the risk of poverty for self-identified lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) people from mid-2013 through 2016 in the National Health Interview Survey, a nationally representative survey of households that includes a sexual orientation question based on identity (n = 112,143). The study tests the role of family structure—living with a spouse or partner and having children—on the risk of poverty for LGB and heterosexual respondents. After controlling for education, demographic, and health measures in a probit model, lesbians and gay men are as likely to be poor as similar heterosexuals, but bisexual women and men are significantly more likely to be poor, regardless of relationship status. Single and childless gay men are also more likely to be poor than single heterosexual men. Being in a relationship reduces the likelihood of poverty for people of all sexual orientations, but the data show evidence of a gender composition effect: married male same-sex couples are less likely and unmarried female same-sex couples more likely to be poor than their married counterparts. Marriage reduces gay men’s poverty risk more and children increase their poverty risk less than for heterosexual men.     

Attitudes toward items of time budgets as predictors of time uses: The case of men-v-women

This study explores the impact of attitudes that men-v-women hold toward work and leisure activities on time spent on these activities in order to determine whether which sex shows a higher level of relationship. An empirical data survey using mail questionnaires was undertaken in Montréal and in Toronto with five socio-economic strata. Results show that women's attitudes are better predictors of time spent on leisure than men's attitudes, that women's time spent at work and home chore is higher than men's counterpart and that gender explain significantly more variance in time spent at work and on leisure than attitudes. In order to assess the sole effects of gender, the variance attributable to other socio-demographic variables (age, culture, education, profession and income) was cancelled through regressions on these variables and further statistics of the residuals of these regressions. It is concluded that the deterministic view that exogenous variables explain time budgets is more adequate than the voluntaristic views; that women work more and attribute more value to leisure than men.     

The wage gap and the leisure gap for double-earner couples

Empirical research has consistently shown that, on average, men are paid higher wages than women. Moreover, men enjoy more leisure time than women. We develop a noncooperative model of the private provision of family public goods to analyze whether the wage gap and the leisure gap are related. Simultaneous and sequential decision-making structures within a couple lead to different empirical hypotheses. Our estimates based on the German Socio-Economic Panel data show that husbands enjoy, other things equal, more leisure time than their wives. This advantage can be explained if the husband is the Stackelberg leader in a sequential private provision game.      

Gender Difference in Sleep Problems: Focused on Time Use in Daily Life of Korea

Korea is well-known as one of the most sleepless country on the globe. Given the fact that sleep is closely connected with various health outcomes, we examined which group is more likely to experience sleep disorder problems within the context of time use. This study sets out to describe the differences in sleep disorder patterns between Korean men and women. In this study, we also tried to identify important socio-demoraphic factors and wake activity time use factors that might account for the sleep problem (short sleep/oversleep) and gender differences in sleep. Data from the original 2004 Korean Time Use Survey were used for this study (n = 16,958). Fifty-two percent of the respondents were women; the age range of the sample was 25–59 years. Results showed us that there was no gender differences found in dimension of short sleep. Still, women were less likely to be over sleeper rather than men, implying the existence of gender inequality in rest/free time. Results from the multinomial regression model showed that, although there were similarities in the impact of relevant factors, men’s sleep was more likely to be disturbed by their work role, while women’s sleep was affected by their work and family role. In this study, it was found that the gender difference in sleep problems was associated with time use, and especially the social roles that men and women occupied.     

提前退休模式与行为及其影响因素——基于中国综合社会调查数据的分析

文章基于2008年中国综合社会调查数据,对城镇人口提前退休模式与行为及其影响因素进行了分析。主要结论是:(1)提前退休模式与行为存在显著的性别差异,女性比男性距离法定退休年龄更近时退休,表现出较为明显的集聚特征,法定退休年龄对女性退休模式与行为的影响更大;(2)随着中国家庭子女数量的减少,劳动力市场灵活性的逐步增强,人们劳动参与意愿和可能性都会显著提升,提前退休的可能性越来越小,而且不断提高的受教育程度也会使女性提前退休的可能性减小;(3)中国的社会保障制度对男性提前退休有显著影响,对女性则不显著。与养老保险制度相比,医疗保险与失业保险制度对男性提前退休的影响更大,基本医疗保险制度的完善会增加提前退休的可能性,失业保险制度的完善更有可能增强男性的工作意愿,降低提前退休的可能性。     

The influence of age and gender on the driving patterns of older adults

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influences of age and gender on the driving patterns of 300 older adults. Odds of driving less than every day increased significantly with age and female gender. However, no differences were found in the reduction of overall driving. Females were more likely than men to have stopped or reduced driving under certain adverse conditions and for elective purposes. The driving patterns of today's cohort of older females suggest that the gender gap may be narrowing. Social and cultural issues such as security, safety, and identity with driving may explain existing gender differences.     

The Gendered Double Standard of Aging in US Marriage Markets

Using data on marriages collected in most US states between 1970 and 1988, we show that the older men are when they marry, the more years senior to their brides they are, whether it is a first or higher‐order marriage. While older men with more education marry down in age slightly more than less educated older men, the pattern of men marrying further down if they marry later holds strongly for all education groups. We consider several possible explanations for the tendency of men to marry further down in age if they are older at marriage. While we have no direct measure of physical attractiveness, we argue that the most compelling interpretation is that men, more than women, evaluate potential spouses on the basis of appearance. Because the prevailing standard of beauty favors young women, the older men are when they marry, the less they find women their own age attractive relative to younger women, leading them to marry further down in age if they are older at marriage. The consequence for women of men's preference for youth is more often that they remain unmarried than that they end up married to much older or less educated men.     

Quality of Life and Leisure Activities: How do Leisure Activities Contribute to Subjective Well-Being?

The quality of life is determined with objective factors and also with subjective perception of factors which influence human life. Leisure activities play a very important role in subjective well-being because they provide opportunities to meet life values and needs. Through participation in leisure activities people build social relationships, feel positive emotions, acquire additional skills and knowledge, and therefore improve their quality of life. In this report we will explore how leisure activities improve subjective well-being. We will try to distinguish among different types of leisure activities and find those which contribute more to the subjective well-being. Particularly, we will explore which leisure activities contribute to the subjective well-being of women and men of different age. Our study is based on data from a representative sample of Croatian citizens (N = 4,000), who estimated their subjective well-being and participation in various leisure activities. First, we will describe the subjective well-being of various groups of people who differ by gender and age. Afterward, we will identify important leisure activities which determine subjective well-being across age and gender groups. Overall, our results show that engagement in leisure activities contributes to subjective well being, while the pattern of important leisure activities somewhat varies across different age and gender groups.     

Changes in assortative mating: The impact of age and education, 1970–1890

Data from the U.S. Census and Current Population Survey are used to examine trends in the propensity to marry or to cohabit by the age and educational attainment of potential partners. Marriage rates declined sharply across all age and educational combinations between 1970 and 1980 and declined more sharply for less-educated persons between 1980 and 1990. The rise in cohabitation compensated somewhat for the decline in marriage rates, but the compensation was unequally spread among age and educational combinations. Highly educated men were more likely, and highly educated women were no more or less likely, to marry than to cohabit with less-educated partners in 1970 and 1980. By 1990, however, educational assortative-mating patterns between these two types of unions were similar. In 1990, marriages and cohabitations involving women who were better educated than their partners were more common than those involving women who were less educated than their partners. In addition, men and women in their early 20s tend to have partners better educated than themselves, but persons in their 30s tend to cross the less-than-high-school/ more-than-high-school educational barrier when partners differ in educational attainment.     

Catholicism and marriage in the united states

This study examines the effects of a Catholic background on age at first marriage, the odds of never marrying, and the odds of ever divorcing. Estimates using Catholic upbringing are compared with estimates using Catholic at the time of the survey. A case is made that if the latter measure of Catholicism is used, serious selection bias problems occur in some cases because this measure excludes defectors and includes converts. Further, it is shown that a Catholic upbringing generally has no effect on men’s age at first marriage and has a positive effect on the age when women marry. It is also shown that older Baptist men are substantially more likely than Catholic men to experience a divorce. Older Catholic women are somewhat less likely to experience a divorce than non-Baptist Protestant women. There is no Catholic effect on the odds that younger men and women will divorce.     

Marital Status and Mothers’ Time Use: Childcare,Housework, Leisure,and Sleep

Assumptions that single mothers are “time poor” compared with married mothers are ubiquitous. We tested theorized associations derived from the time poverty thesis and the gender perspective using the 2003–2012 American Time Use Surveys (ATUS). We found marital status differentiated housework, leisure, and sleep time, but did not influence the amount of time that mothers provided childcare. Net of the number of employment hours, married mothers did more housework and slept less than never-married and divorced mothers, counter to expectations of the time poverty thesis. Never-married and cohabiting mothers reported more total and more sedentary leisure time than married mothers. We assessed the influence of demographic differences among mothers to account for variation in their time use by marital status. Compositional differences explained more than two-thirds of the variance in sedentary leisure time between married and never-married mothers, but only one-third of the variance between married and cohabiting mothers. The larger unexplained gap in leisure quality between cohabiting and married mothers is consistent with the gender perspective.     

Women,Marital Status,and Symptoms of Depression in a Midlife National Sample

ABSTRACT

Previous studies of the correlates of depression among women have not generally been based on adequate midlife samples or precision in the specification of marital status categories. The present analysis is designed to address these deficiencies and is based on data from the Health and Retirement Survey-Wave 1 (i.e., respondents 51 to 61 years old). Results indicate that married women are less likely to report symptoms of depression than their unmarried counterparts. The mental health benefits of marriage are greater for men than for women. Moreover, other variables, such as marital satisfaction, self-rated health, and employment status are more powerful predictors of emotional well-being in midlife than marital status per se. The quality of marriage affects depressive symptoms more strongly for women than men.     

A Population-Based Study of Coupling and Physical Activity by Sexual Orientation for Men

ABSTRACT

Research has suggested that men in relationships are more physically active than men who are single. This study provides a weighted analysis of physical activity by coupling status for men of different sexual orientations. Aggregated data from the United States 2013–2014 National Health Interview Survey were used to conduct multivariate logistic regression analyses. Compared to straight men (n = 29,926), gay men (n = 623) were less likely to be in a relationship (AOR 0.32, CI: 0.25–0.41). Coupled gay men did more physical activity than coupled straight men and were 1.62 (CI: 1.05–2.50) times more likely to be active, 1.67 (CI: 1.10–2.51) times more likely to be high active, 1.89 (CI: 1.24–2.89) times more likely to engage in muscle-strengthening activities, and 2.00 (CI: 1.28–3.11) times more likely to meet aerobic and muscle-strengthening recommendations. Coupling facilitates physical activity for men. However, more research is needed to help explore underlying mechanisms for differences by sexuality.