显与潜：试论社会资本功能的发挥与农村老年人的养老问题

本文通过对社会资本相关研究的回顾,以中国转型期为背景,以转型效应对乡村社会家庭造成的冲击为线索．分析了乡村老年人在家庭外部关系网络的流失和家庭内部关系网络出现危机的情形下,老年人自身社会资本功能的发挥与老年人的养老之间的关系问题。     

Looking back . . . looking forward: addressing the lives of lesbians 55 and older

This study explored the life course experiences of older lesbians and their concerns and needs as they age. Interviews with sixty-two lesbians, age 55 and older, living in the three west coast states, revealed common themes related to coming out, family and partner relationships, sources of support, aging-related concerns, personal accomplishments, and hopes for the future. Implications for research with older lesbians and for appropriate social work practice and service delivery with this aging population are discussed.     

Friends as a Source of Informal Support for Older Women with Physical Disabilities

This paper uses data from self-constructed social support networks and friendship-focused life reviews to examine the friendship support situations of a small group of older women with physical disabilities. The focus is on how the women have experienced and responded to the friendship changes that commonly occur in later life. Changes in both the form and content of friendship relationships and also in how form and content intermesh are examined. The general finding is of diverse but active involvement in response to the changes such that friends continue to make important support contributions. In some cases friendship support was found to be playing a major, even crucial, role in personal well-being.     

Empowerment-Oriented Social Work Practice: Impact on Late Life Relationships of Women

SUMMARY

Empowerment interventions promote egalitarian, strengths-based relationships through education, self-help, mutual support, consciousness raising, and social action activities. In this paper we describe the influence of empowerment-oriented group intervention on the relationships of older women. We conducted qualitative interviews with the women who participated in the group and the social workers who staffed the intervention activities. The findings suggest that, in addition to other empowerment outcomes, the older women participants developed sustaining relationships with each other and often seriously considered the nature of their other late life relationships. Thus, empowerment-oriented interventions can enhance the quality of life for older women, including the development and support of meaningful interpersonal relationships.     

Ageing, Leisure, and Social Connectedness: How could Leisure Help Reduce Social Isolation of Older People?

This study investigates the relation between leisure activities and the social status of the elderly based on a heterogeneous sample of the Dutch population. Close relationships are also analyzed to identify which people could serve as successful stimulators of leisure participation. The social profile confirms that older people have fewer social contacts and often feel lonely. This study shows that leisure activities explain a significant part of older people’s social connectedness. Voluntary work, cultural activities, holiday, sports, reading books, hobbies and shopping are found to be successful predictors for social connectedness of older people. Watching TV, listening to the radio, and spending time behind the computer (passive activities) were not associated with social connectedness. Friends correlate positively to participation in leisure activities. Partners play a role in participation in cultural activities and sports; parents play a role in participation in voluntary work and holidays; siblings play a role in voluntary work and sports; and children play a role in cultural activities, reading books, and shopping. Local communities can use these close relationships and develop special programs to increase social connectedness and hence improve quality of life for older adults.     

Worry and Bother: Factors in Rural Women’s Health Decision Making

This exploratory study examined older rural women’s health decision making. Thirty-three rural women were recruited to participate in semistructured qualitative interviews. Major themes emerged that focused on rural women’s comments regarding their concerns about not worrying or bothering their children with personal health matters. Themes were discussed in the context of an ethic of care. Results suggest that it is important for mental health professionals, family physicians, social workers, and other practitioners to be aware of the sense of worry and concern for others that older rural women bring to bear in decision making about personal health issues.     

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.     

The effects of social capital and social pressure on the intention to have a second or third child in France, Germany, and Bulgaria, 2004-05

This study investigates the importance of the effect of an individual's web of informal relationships with family and peers on the intention to have a second or third child. Drawing on sociological theories of social capital (help with childcare, emotional support) and social pressure, the study extends existing research by evaluating cross-national differences (between France, Germany, and Bulgaria) in the impact of personal network and institutional circumstances. It tests a non-linear relationship between social capital and fertility intentions. Social pressure and social capital are highly institutionally filtered, with the impact of personal network stronger where institutions are less family-supportive.     

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.     

Birth rates decline as neighbors learn from one another how to control fertility

This article refers to a recent article (by Population Council demographer John Bongaarts and University of Pennsylvania sociology professor Susan Cotts Watkins) on strategies for promoting future global fertility decline. The article emphasizes the importance of the process of social interaction as a powerful force that accelerates the pace of demographic transition. The force of social interaction is frequently overlooked. Social interaction operates through personal networks that connect individuals; national channels of interaction connecting social and territorial communities within a country; and global channels connecting countries. Empirical evidence finds that the most important interaction for fertility change occurs in exchanges between personal networks of small communities. When innovative fertility behavior is adopted by a group within a community, then changes are communicated in an ever widening band. It is expected that countries with multiple channels of linked transportation and communication networks and extensive media facilities would experience more rapid fertility decline. Bongaarts and Watkins argue that the extent of a country's links with a global society help determine the timing of its transition to lower fertility. All countries are connected to some extent by ideas, information, or social influence and are at some level of development. When some countries in a region begin their fertility transition, neighboring countries soon follow. Fertility transition occurs even at low levels of development. Fertility decline can occur rapidly, even if socioeconomic development is modest, once the onset of the transition has occurred.     

Impact of Social Changes and Birth Cohort on Subjective Well-Being in Chinese Older Adults: A Cross-Temporal Meta-analysis, 1990–2010

Over the past several decades, the proportion of older adults in the Chinese population has steadily increased during a period of substantial social change; the effect of these changes on older adults warrants examination. The present study explored changes in subjective well-being (SWB) in older adults by birth cohort and the social factors influential in these changes. We performed a cross-temporal meta-analysis using data from 20,713 adults over 60 years of age; data were obtained from 61 studies that used the Memorial University of Newfoundland Scale of Happiness. The dynamics of SWB in older adults were evaluated as a function of time. The mean SWB score decreased by 4.98 over the measured period, indicating a decrease of .52 standard deviations between 1990 and 2010. In addition, SWB in older adults was significantly correlated with high social connectedness and low overall threat. Specifically, urbanization level, Gini coefficient, personal medical expenditure, and birth rate were strong predictors of SWB. Our research demonstrates that social connectedness and overall threat contribute to SWB in Chinese older adults. As SWB is significantly related to the mental and physical health of older adults, the present study may serve as a useful reference for health care agencies and policy-makers.     

Nextext

Gay men who are marked as "sexual outlaws" have unique and tense relationships with social regulatory forces, and for the porn star, the tensions are exacerbated. Surveillance, attraction, seduction, repulsion, authority, and discipline mark the communicative dynamics between the bodies of subject/object, performer/spectator, image-maker/imagined. This essay, which is a follow-up to "Sextext," is a fictional account of a porn star who navigates personal and social relationships in the context of a culture that averts overt discussions of carnal desire.     

Assessing the Efficacy of a Self-Help Support Group Program for Older Women

Social systems of support are considered crucial in providing a buffer against the negative consequences of aging. Given the significance, in particular, of natural helping networks for bolstering the personal lives of older persons, this paper reports on a study which assesses the efficacy and identifies the most likely beneficiaries of a formal self-help delivery model charged with reconstructing an older woman's social support system. Original data were collected from 225 older women (mean age = 76.1 years) participating in a large network of single gender, self-help groups in the Philadelphia metropolitan region. The average group was comprised of 13.5 members, met on a weekly basis, and had been operational 4.4 years. Multiple regression analysis identifies those variables serving as significant predictors of these women's comfort in sharing, group involvement, and social, intellectual, and emotional gain. Results lead to recommendations for promoting effective self-help programming for older women.     

Economic development and labor force participation of older persons

The effect of economic development on labor force participation rates of older men and women is examined using national data for 134 countries. The analysis provides new insights into the evolution of retirement patterns with rising personal income, slowing population growth, the aging of the population, and shifts in the composition of employment. The analysis indicates a negative relationship between per capita income and labor force participation rates. This relationship is stronger for older men than for older women and is most apparent among middle income countries. An older population is associated with lower participation rates for older men and higher widow rates produce higher participation rates among older women. Industrial changes such as a decline in the proportion of the labor force employed in agriculture lower the proportion of older persons in the labor force. Finally, national social security policies are shown to impact the proportion of older persons that remains in the labor force.     

流行病学转变--人口变化的流行病学理论的形成和发展

本文主要综述了流行病学转变理论的形成和发展,重点介绍了流行病学转变理论的四个基本概念,流行病学转变与人口和社会变化之间的关系,流行病学转变的机理,流行病学转变的影响因素及其在转变中的作用.     

Living Productively with Sensory Loss

As the avenues for fully perceiving and experiencing life, our sensory organs are the bridge between Self and the outside world. Of the many disorders affecting the senses of the older woman, those that affect vision and hearing have the greatest potential for disrupting her activities of daily living, and diminishing her quality of life and level of independence. While adapting to and coping successfully with sensory loss may require significant effort and adjustment on the part of the afflicted older woman, strategies designed to maximize the older woman's function, her sense of personal control, and her social support system can mediate the negative effects of the sensory loss.     

“You Can't Spend Years with Someone and Just Cast Them Aside”: Augmented Identity in Older British Widows

Widowhood forces women to reconstruct their identities. This article discusses how this reconstruction occurs. Interviews were conducted with 65 older widows exploring their experiences: Of those, 81% spoke about identity. This reconstruction can be understood in terms of continuing bonds with the deceased, loosening bonds, and personal growth. Women discussed these transitions in four ways: personal struggle, resistance to social expectations, empowerment, and using rhetoric. The reconstructed identity is not that of wife but rather that of an augmented identity of wife/widow. The tensions between how the widows see themselves, and how society sees them are explored.     

Which Aspects of Elderly Living Conditions are Important to Predict Mortality? The Complex Role of Family Ties at Home and in Institutions

Social Indicators Research - Besides health and socio-economic status, the social relationships maintained during elderly play an important role in shaping the living conditions at older ages. In...     

中国老年人闲暇活动参与状况及其影响因素分析

闲暇活动是老年人的重要生活内容,对提高老年人的身心健康有着显著作用。利用中国老龄科研中心在2000年和2006年实施的＂中国城乡老年人口状况一次性抽样调查＂数据和＂中国城乡老年人口状况追踪调查＂数据,本文重点分析了我国老年人闲暇活动的参与状况及其影响因素。分析结果表明：我国老年人在闲暇活动的参与上明显表现出活动内容单一和追求＂解脱＂的特点;人口因素、社会经济因素、健康因素、设施环境因素对老年人的闲暇活动参与状况有着显著影响;在提高老年人的闲暇活动参与上,要强调生命历程的观点,并要在加强老年文化活动设施建设的基础上,进一步针对老年群体的特点丰富相应的活动内容。