Functional Capacity and Self–Evaluation of Health and Life of Oldest Old in China

This study is based on survey data from a sample of 8,805 elders aged 80–105 in 22 provinces of China. Rural oldest old are significantly more active in daily living than urban oldest old; adaptation is perhaps the major explanation of this difference. Female oldest old are seriously disadvantaged in functional capacities and self–reported health as compared with their male counterparts. Percentages of being active in daily living, having good physical performance, normal cognitive function and well–being drop dramatically from age 80–84 to 100–105. Proportion reporting satisfaction in current life, however, remains almost constant from age 80–84 to 90–94 and declines slightly afterwards. This may suggest that being more positive in self–feeling of life is one of the secrets of longevity.     

Well–Being: Concepts and Measures

Well–being, or quality of life, is a continuing goal for individuals and a major criterion for the evaluation of governments and societies. As a research concept, however, it has been marked by persisting problems of definition and measurement and by uncertainties about its changing pattern over the life course. In this article, these issues are discussed; the concept of well–being is "unpacked" and a model of stocks and flows is described as applicable to the analysis of well–being. Finally, the concept of resilience is proposed as important for research on well–being in relation to age.     

Well–Being Among Older Adults on Different Continents

Old age represents a new frontier. The number of older people is increasing throughout the world. This changing demography affects individuals, but also families, communities and societies. The focus of this issue is the well–being of older adults on different continents. Scientists from around the world address this issue using a wide array of research designs and methodologies to provide a broad perspective on aging. Five topics are considered: Well–Being Among Older Adults; Social Support; Functional Status, Well–Being and Successful Aging; Cross–Cultural Approaches to the Study of Aging; and Research Perspectives in Aging. This issue clearly demonstrates that scientists have much to contribute to the goal of optimizing the experience of aging and creating a society for all ages.     

Old Age and Widowhood: Issues of Personal Control and Independence

This paper explores the interaction between the circumstances of old age and the demands of adjusting to widowhood. Most widowed individuals, especially women, have much of their life still before them. Three themes are developed: The implications of widowhood for successful aging, the utility of viewing the rest of one's life as a "career" to be planfully and actively pursued, and the increasing amount of heterogeneity among the elderly. These themes are related to issues of personal control and continued independence in old age.     

Alcohol Use and Abuse in Old Age:

Alcohol use and abuse among the elderly is a serious problem surrounded by confusion. Traditionally older problem drinkers have been divided into two categories: Type I, individuals who have drunk excessively throughout life yet survived to old age and Type II, individuals whose problem drinking began late in life. An extensive renew of the research produced some paths to late-onset problem drinking but only a weak profile of the Type II alocholic. Popular situational factors purported to be the triggers for late-onsest abuse have mixed support and no clear causal theory has yet been delineated. A number of alternative theories deserve further attention. Current information does not support the usefulness of the Type II classification or traditional definitions of alcoholism for the late-onset abuser. Research and treatment efforts may need to be redirected to include male-female differences, and family conflicts with less emphasis on the disease model of alcoholism.     

浅析老年女性个案工作的方法与技巧

在老龄化进程中，老年妇女问题在老年问题中慢慢凸显，她们承受着性别与年龄的双重歧视，生活质量普遍比男性老人低。笔者拟从社会工作和社会性别视角来分析老年女性个案工作的方法与技巧，以帮助老年女性树立新的希望，得到更多的支持和理解。充分享受晚年生活。     

Protecting the Old in a Young Economy: Old Age Insurance in the West Bank and Gaza Strip

Taking the West Bank and Gaza Strip as a reference point, this paper looks at social protection in developing economies, which are beset by economic stagnation, widespread poverty and unemployment. If the main breadwinner dies, is unable to work or is an older person, these factors are prime causes of absolute poverty. This is hardly surprising, since private and public systems of social security are totally inadequate in this area in particular. Current thinking on social security suggests that what is needed is the rapid introduction of a comprehensive system of retirement provision, comprising a mandatory capital-funded insurance component, with defined contributions, administered on a decentralized basis; and a state-administered pay-as-you-go basic insurance component with lump-sum transfers to safeguard the poorest. A system of this kind works to prevent poverty in old age by redistributing funds from some individuals to others and ensuring an income for life, and it represents a compromise between a fair return on what people have contributed and a fair distribution over society as a whole. It is thus a major force for stability in society.     

Hardly Silent: Exploring Civic Engagement and Participation among a Panel of Adults Ages 85+

ABSTRACT

The past twenty years have seen a surge of resources for and public attention devoted to civic participation opportunities for older adults in the United States. At the same time, technology has transformed the way information related to political and social issues is spread and shared. As more older adults migrate to using a wider range of communication tools and the internet, technology-mediated forms of engagement represent a new way for the oldest old to participate in society. In this study, a panel of adults ages 85 and older was surveyed to understand their experiences engaging with political and social issues. Responses to a questionnaire (N = 24) and focus groups (n = 22) indicate the oldest old are interested in social and political issues, and there are opportunities for technology to facilitate the oldest olds’ civic and political action. This study identifies roles social workers may play in helping the oldest old engage with social and political issues in their communities.     

城市随迁老人的精神生活与社区融入

随迁老人是指与进城子女一起生活而户籍在农村的老年群体。本文在实地调查的基础上,从闲暇时间利用、社区活动参与、社区情感和心理认同等方面描述老人的精神生活状况,发现该群体精神生活单调、很少参与社区活动、对城市社区的认同度低。要改善随迁老人的精神生活,必须通过社区融入的方法,组织多样化的社区活动,扩大老年人社会交往的范围,帮助他们重新构建一个新的社交网络,从而改善他们的精神生活状态。     

Do young children preferentially trust gossip or firsthand observation in choosing a collaborative partner?

From early on in ontogeny, young children hear things being said about particular individuals. Here we investigate the ways in which testimony with social content, that is, gossip, influences children's decision‐making. We explored whether five‐year‐old (N = 72) and seven‐year‐old (N = 72) children trust gossip or firsthand observation in a partner choice setting. Seven‐year‐old children preferentially trusted what they had seen firsthand over gossip; five‐year‐old children, in contrast, did not differentiate between these two sources of information. However, five‐year‐old children (but not seven‐year‐olds) generally gave negative information more weight, that is, they showed a “negativity bias.” These results suggest that at around school age, young children become more “epistemically vigilant” about gossip.     

Coping with long–term unemployment: economic security, labour market integration and well–being. Results from a Danish panel study, 1994–1999

On the basis of a Danish panel study of the long–term unemployed 1994–1999, the article challenges core premises underlying labour market reforms, assigning too high a priority to work and work incentives, and too little priority to social protection. Economic hardship has become widespread among long–term unemployed even in Denmark, and this is a more serious threat against well–being than unemployment as such. Generous social security, denounced as 'passive support', enables the unemployed to cope with their situation, and there are no signs of any 'dependency culture'. Incentives in terms of economic hardship may stimulate active job seeking but the panel study reveals that it has no positive effect on subsequent labour market integration.     

Family Support for Old People in Rural China

In China the family is still the major welfare provider for old people in rural areas. Although the implementation of this role has varied significantly, in different historical periods, owing to social and economic changes in the rural environment, the core functions of the family have remained the same, that is, the provision of welfare for dependants, particularly for the aged. In the more traditional China, providing care for the aged was indeed assumed to be a paramount function of the family. Whereas, following the founding of the PRC in 1949, the welfare function of the family was reduced, as a result of the collectivization of the rural economy, which meant a part of family responsibilities being shared by collective organizations. However, after more than twenty years' experience of agricultural collectivization, China embarked on a course of further rural economic reform in the early 1980s, replacing the commune system with one of private production based on the family unit. As a result, rural welfare responsibilities were shifted back from the commune to the family, which became solely responsible for providing support for its dependent members. This paper attempts to set out the real situation with regard to family support for rural old people in China. The first section offers a brief introduction to the declining family status of rural old people as a consequence of socio-economic change. The second section reviews the implications of rural economic reform for the (declining) status of old people with regard to family support, focusing on patterns of rural old age dependency and the changing roles of family caregivers. Lastly, cases of family support disputes and community responses are presented, drawing on findings from fieldwork conducted by the author between 1995 and 1996 in three rural localities in China.     

Instability and caregiving in the lives of street‐involved youth from foster care

A large proportion of youth who become street‐involved have experience in foster care, and our sample of 92 street‐involved youth, aged 14–18 years, all had foster care experience. We report on (i) instability of guardians and home from birth to street involvement; (ii) the connection between perceptions about foster care and measures of well‐being; and (iii) the implications of these findings for understanding street‐involved youth and the role of foster care in their life. The average number of transitions per youth from birth to mid‐teens was nine. Youth with experience in permanent care first lived away from biological parents at age 8.5 years, and for those with temporary care experience, it was age 10 years. Foster care was one of many living situations and one of several sources of caregivers. If participants were satisfied with foster care, they were more likely to be currently hopeful and happy. Participants who experienced positive influences from at least one long‐term caregiver tended to have other positive caregiver experiences, and those with negative influences were more likely to also have a positive relationship with a female caregiver. Foster care was one of several ‘way stations’ in their lives, one whose meaning needs further study.     

Researching Quality of Life in Early Old Age: The Importance of the Sociological Dimension

Measurement of quality of life has become a major feature of much social and epidemiological research in health and social care settings. It is seen as an important alternative to more process‐based outcome measures but remains poorly defined. A major weakness is the absence of any coherent theoretical underpinning whether sociological, psychological or philosophical. Into this conceptual vacuum proxies for quality of life have been introduced. Quality of life [QoL] research into older populations has focused on measures of health and illness as equivalents of QoL. This paper argues that this response is inadequate as it reduces old age to a dimension of health, disability and disease. Instead, we argue that it is necessary to create a theoretically based measure of QoL in early old age which relates to those aspects of later life that are not defined by health. We present a model of QoL that is derived from aspects of contemporary social theory as they relate to the ontology of late modernity. In particular, we utilize a model based upon needs satisfaction. The model contains four domains: Control, Autonomy, Pleasure and Self‐realization. The measure consists of a 19‐item scale. The four domains load on to a single latent QoL factor. We argue that the CASP 19 scale offers an approach to QoL that integrates a sociologically based model of quality of life with a meaningful and valid research instrument.     

Predicting the trajectories of emotional well‐being of Chinese community dwelling oldest old adults: urban and rural differences

The paper explores the longitudinal changes of emotional well‐being of Chinese oldest old adults (80 years or older) and discloses significant factors that influence the trajectories, with a focus on the differences between those residing in rural and urban settings. Data were derived from three waves (1998, 2000, and 2002) of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS), which was carried out in 22 of the 31 provinces in China. We used hierarchical linear modelling to examine how the well‐being of 2490 older adults changed over the three waves of the survey. Results indicate that urban residence and greater involvement in social activities predicted an increase in well‐being over time. Participants with lower cognitive functioning and poorer self‐rated health at baseline tended to show improvements in well‐being over time. Rural oldest old adults were found to report decreases in well‐being, in contrast to an increasing trend found for urban oldest old adults. This finding lends itself to an important conclusion that more social services or formal support should be provided for older adults in rural areas in China.

本文探讨了中国的老年人（(80岁或以上)）跨时间的情绪变化，并揭示当中具有影响力的重要因素，尤其是农村和城市之间的差异。数据主要来自三次（(1998年，2000年和2002年)）对中国22个省份进行的中国高龄老人健康长寿基础调查（(CLHLS)。作者用了分层线性模型去研究2490名老年人在三次调查之间的情绪变化。结果发现，居住在城市和积极参与小区活动对老人的情绪有正面的影响。认知功能较低和对自我健康评分较低的研究对象往往随时间的推移表现出有所改善。报告发现农村的老年人认为幸福的愈来愈少，相反，在城市的老年人中则有上升的趋势。这一发现本身的一个重要结论就是应该为中国农村地区的老年人提供更多的社会服务。     

Relationships among financial satisfaction,life satisfaction,and political action: A comparative study of the United States and South Korea

This study explores the potential impact of cultural orientation on the relationship between financial satisfaction, life satisfaction, and political action within the United States and South Korea. The total sample size was 3,432 individuals (United States = 2,232, South Korea = 1,200). 1 confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) model and a path analysis model were assessed using a maximum likelihood estimation. The findings showed a strong positive relationship between financial satisfaction and life satisfaction in both countries. Also, in both countries, more progressive individuals participated in more political actions. When exploring political action, we find an inverse relationship—with greater political action among lower‐income individuals in the United States and greater political action among higher‐income in South Korea. In South Korea (culturally “collectivistic”), middle‐income individuals were also found to participate in political actions that likely benefit larger segments of society. From a cultural dimensions theory perspective, these data suggest political actions in the United States (classified as “individualistic”) were largely conducted by low‐income individuals, potentially as means to enhance their individual well‐being.     

货币之桥上的迷失者：齐美尔论货币与现代性体验

对现代个体生存体验的关注是齐美尔现代性思考的重要特征。随着货币经济在现代社会的日益繁荣,货币逐渐将其自身的品格渗透到现代人的心理层面,影响现代个体行为,塑造独特的现代性体验。可以说,货币成为“货币”的过程,就是现代人获得其现代体验的过程。都市体验是最为典型的现代性体验,都市人是“忧郁的栖居者”,厌腻态度构成了现代人“忧郁”的内核。而在冒险体验与陌生体验中,蕴藏着现代个体保持独特个性、对抗货币逻辑的可能。通过“货币”,齐美尔试图揭示的不仅仅是现代人的生存问题,更是关乎人类终极价值的问题--在看似碎片化的现代性体验与人类的总体存在方式之间,齐美尔提供了一条经由“货币”的解释路径。     

Producing Contradictory Masculine Subject Positions: Narratives of Threat, Homophobia and Bullying in 11–14 Year Old Boys

This paper reports a qualitative analysis of data from a study of masculinity in 11–14 year old boys attending twelve London schools. Forty-five group discussions ( N = 245) and two individual interviews ( N = 78) were conducted. The findings indicate that boys' experiences of school led them to assume that interviews would expose them to ridicule and so threaten their masculinity. Boys were generally more serious and willing to reveal emotions in individual than in group interviews. A key theme in boys' accounts was the importance of being able to present themselves as properly masculine in order to avoid being bullied by other boys by being labeled "gay." The ways in which boys were racialized affected their experiences of school.