Aging and Gender:

Social science literature on aging has assumed without empirical basis that women experience greater continuity in their lives than men and that this is beneficial to women in the process of aging. This research explores the issue of continuity in values over the life course and the relationship of values to a sense of meaning attributed to one's life over the life course. Thirty life history interviews of men and women over the age of sixty-nine were conducted. Differences in values were found between men and women. Men experienced less continuity of values, less continuity in sources of meaning in Life, and more dissatisfaction in the process of life review, but for most men the lack of continuity was not a source of dissatisfaction in old age.     

Community Subjective Well-being,Personality Traits and Quality of Life Therapy

In this study, factors that are instrumental in improving individuals' aswell as communities' subjective well-being (SWB) and Quality of Life (QOL)such as positive and negative relationships, personality characteristics ortraits as defined by family members or spouse, perceptions of the future aslooking good, and psychological factors (such as congruency,thriving/resilience personality, belongingness, external and internal powerand psychoallostasis), demographic variables, and religion were examined.The findings indicate that congruency with one's community values andexpectations, belongingness, thriving personality, psychoallostasis andpositive relationships or closeness to people in one's community, and theperception of the future both for the individual and for the community asbright, are important indicators of Quality of life and increased Subjectivewell-being. Additionally, family or spousal ratings of personalitycharacteristics as desirable affected SWB only if the ratings correspondedto the individuals' rating. Path analysis indicate that the high levels ofhappiness experienced by people living in Individualistic-sub-collectivisticcultures such as Appalachia is strongly linked to communal homeostasis andpsychoallostasis lifestyles prevalent in these communities. Implications ofthese findings to Quality of life therapy (QOLT) and healthy psychology atboth the individual level and community level are discussed.     

Life satisfaction among the rural elderly: What do the numbers mean?

Studies of life satisfaction among the elderly are based almost entirely on quantitative data, yet we have little knowledge of whether such data are consistent and valid representations of satisfaction. The present paper addresses this issue through a comparison of quantitative and qualitative data on satisfaction with housing, family, spouse, self-esteem, health, friends and life as a whole. The data were obtained from 15 elderly men and women living in rural Ontario who had participated in both a survey study of life satisfaction and an intensive qualitative study of loneliness, social activities and social relationships. The values selected by participants from scales of satisfaction were found to be fairly similar overall to judgements made by the investigators on the basis of qualitative data from interviews and diaries. But there were also a number of discrepancies across both participants and domains, and these discrepancies were not systematic. The scale values appear to be at best a superficial representation of participants' satisfaction. It is concluded that quantitative approaches are of limited utility in studies of the quality of life, and that they are most appropriately viewed as supplementary to approaches employing qualitative data and analysis.     

Playing with Sims as a Space of One's Own

Studies of women's use of popular media have highlighted how these contested genres may be used by women to create a space of their own. Is this also the case when the media text in question is a digital game and the community around it moves online? Investigated via a netnographic approach, this article analyses the articulated experiences of playing The Sims 2 and The Sims 3 in relation to how the players perceive the activity's function in their everyday lives. Seven emic categories are identified and discussed in the inductive analysis, namely “relaxation and dealing with stress,” “playing according to mood,” “managing and taking control,” “experimentation,” “get what one does not have,” “making something one's own,” and “creative outlet.” A central denominator of these seven categories is the notion of a space of one's own in the widest sense of the phrase. In the discussed accounts playing becomes a way not only to escape other obligations for a while but also in various ways to work with the self and its place in everyday life.     

Gender Differences in Identity Processes and Self-Esteem in Middle and Later Adulthood

ABSTRACT

Gender differences were examined in the identity processes of identity assimilation (maintaining identity despite age changes), identity accommodation (changing identity) and balance (using both processes) and in the relationship of these processes to self-esteem. We tested a community sample of 222 adults (131 females and 91 males) ranging from 40 to 84 years of age (M = 57.5, SD = 12.1). Analysis of variance yielded evidence showing greater use of identity accommodation for women. Identity accommodation was negatively associated with self-esteem for both genders, while identity assimilation was positively associated with self-esteem for women only. For both men and women, identity balance was positively related to self-esteem. Women's use of the identity processes in relation to self-esteem is discussed. Societal views on aging are suggested to impact women, such that they engage in identity accommodation while benefiting from identity assimilation. From these findings, it appears that examining the processes contributing to the maintenance of self-esteem may be a more useful approach to characterizing the aging process and gender differences than focusing on mean differences alone.     

The Crisis of Legacy:

This study examines the life-satisfaction of a group of elderly women religious (Catholic sisters). It focuses on the lifelong development experienced by the women and presents their self erceptions as women aging in a community with few young members. The findings indicate that certain common factors influenced the women's early life decisions to enter the convent, that their worklives are important to their personal development, and their retirement is that of the nontraditional woman. In terms of late-life satisfaction, the women rated hieh in health, family involvements and spiritual achievement. There is concern, however, for the legacy that they leave: this is resolved through passive mastery. Excerpts from the in-depth interviews provide the context for discussion.     

Psychological Adjustment of Elderly Women:

Elderly women are much more likely than elderly men to be admitted to nursing homes. Institutionalization is both a reaction to and a cause of the rupture of women's social support systems. An ecological model of social support is used to explain differences in elderly women's psychological adjustment to communi!' and institutional life. The results of a twelve-month study of 40 el erly women are presented to provide empirical support for this ecological model. It would not be difficult to make institutions more responsive to the psychological and social needs of elderly residents. Several practical suggestions for creating ecologically sound nursing homes are presented.     

Indian elderly women’s experiences of food procurement and preparation

The present study explored the experiences of Indian elderly women in meal preparation and food procurement. Ten elderly women aged 60–72 years residing in a metropolis were interviewed. Thematic analysis identified two overarching themes: “Meal preparation and food procurement are meaningful occupations” and “Meal preparation and food procurement change with age.” The findings suggests that Indian elderly women valued their participation in these activities. They actively adopted alternative strategies and technologies to overcome the challenges experienced while performing these activities. The findings highlight the strong influence of family and financial aspects on the decisions of elderly women with regard to meal preparation and food procurement. The study findings provide salient information on personal and environmental factors that could guide interventions to promote and maintain Indian elderly women’s participation in these meaningful occupations.     

Creating the Self: Exploring the Life Journey of Late-Midlife Women

Studies on aging reflect the losses inherent in the aging process. How the aging process is viewed, either as a loss or as a natural process of living, may affect the adaptation by late-midlife women to life changes. Self-transcendence is a means of broadening one's perspective of the inner being. This article explores the meaning of life transitions, the role of life-course development, self-transcendence, and creativity in the evolution of the inner being as women age.     

The long-term impact of parents' childbearing decisions on children's self-esteem

We examine the long-term impact of parents' childbearing decisions on children's self-esteem. We focus on subjective aspects of the home environment in the creation of children's internalized sense of self-worth. Unique 23-year family panel data combining measures of mothers' childbearing, mothers' childbearing intentions, and children's self-esteem allow us to examine the overall links between parents' childbearing and children's self-esteem. The results demonstrate that parents' childbearing intentions can have a significant long-term impact on their children's self-esteem. Children who were unintended by their mothers have significantly lower self-esteem 23 years later. Our findings indicate that giving birth to an unintended child can have a long-term negative impact on subjective aspects of the child's well-being, at least in terms of self-esteem. Unintended childbearing has received an increasing amount of research attention in recent years.     

Could the EQ-5D be Used to Predict Mortality and Hospitalization Over a Long Term Period?

Although numerous studies have demonstrated that social support affects a range of life experiences, only a few have examined the moderators and mediators such as self-esteem. According to self-control theory, self-control represents one’s ability to override or change one’s inner responses, and to interrupt undesired behavioral tendencies and refrain from acting on them. A high level of self-control may help individuals to mediate or moderate negative affect and thus weaken any adverse effects, contributing to their subjective well-being (SWB) in the long run. The current study explored how this interaction may affect the subjective well-being of the Chinese elderly, for whom self-control and social support are especially important life management issues. The study examined whether self-control mediates and moderates the relationship between social support and SWB among the elderly Chinese population. The data were collected from 335 elderly Chinese people (162 females and 173 males) from ten cities in central China, who completed the Chinese Social Support Scale, Trait Self-control Scale, Life Satisfaction Scale and Positive and Negative Affect Scale. The results showed that self-control, social support and SWB were strongly and significantly related. Hierarchical regression analysis showed that self-control partially mediated the influence of social support on SWB. Moreover, self-control moderated the relationship between social support and positive affect, but not life satisfaction and negative affect. These findings imply that self-control is a critical indicator of SWB and can serve as a basis for differentiating between intervention strategies that promote SWB among the elderly by helping them manage positive and negative affect. Future studies should further examine the internal mechanisms by which self-control influences SWB.     

Validation of the Childbirth Attitudes Questionnaire in Greek and psychosocial characteristics of pregnant women with fear of childbirth

BackgroundFear of childbirth has been found to be a factor that influences women's decision about their choice of delivery. The investigation of psychological factors that relate to fear of childbirth as well as the validation of the Childbirth Attitudes Questionnaire (CAQ) can help identify pregnant women with high fear of childbirth.AimThis study aimed to (a) translate and validate the Childbirth Attitude Questionnaire in Greek and (b) explore how fear of childbirth was related to childbirth self-efficacy, state anxiety, depression, neuroticism, self-esteem and optimism.Methods145 nulliparous pregnant women, in late pregnancy, attending routine antenatal visit in a private maternity clinic participated. All participants completed the CAQ (fear of childbirth) and other self-report questionnaires that measured childbirth self-efficacy, self-esteem, optimism, neuroticism, state anxiety and depressive symptomatology. Factor structure was investigated using principal axis factoring. Cronbach's α was used to measure internal consistency reliability. Pearson's correlation coefficients were calculated between all study variables, followed by multiple linear regression.FindingsThe factor analysis suggested the existence of one-factor structure. Construct validity was confirmed by computing correlations between the CAQ and childbirth self-efficacy, self-esteem and optimism. Multivariate analysis showed that childbirth self-efficacy, self-esteem and optimism were negatively and significantly associated with fear of childbirth.Conclusion and implications for practiceThe Greek version of the CAQ is a reliable and valid measure. The clinical use of CAQ may enable midwives and other health care professionals to identify pregnant women with low childbirth confidence and to provide information and support.     

Media Stereotyping: A Comparison of the Way Elderly Women and Men Are Portrayed on Prime-Time Television

This content analysis of 139 programs and 2,211 characters updates and extends previous research on the way elderly people, and especially elderly women, are presented on prime-time television. Findings indicate that females and the elderly continue to be significantly underrepresented. Comparisons of elderly men and women showed patterns of traditional stereotypes, with men more likely to be depicted positively on 7 of 9 desirable traits and women more likely to be depicted negatively on 6 of the 7 undesirable traits which showed a gender difference. However, the proportional differences for specific characteristics typically were neither large nor statistically significant, suggesting that there has been some change in television's portrayal of the elderly during the 1980s. It also was noted that television appears to be more accepting and open to the portrayal of older middle-aged men than women in the same age category.     

Stability and change in levels and structure of subjective well-being: USA 1972 and 1988

It has long been recognized that more needs to be known about the dynamic behavior of measures of subjective well-being. As the Social Indicators Movement matures, it becomes possible to explore issues of stability and change in measures of perceived life quality. To contribute to this research need, this paper reports results of administering similar measures of subjective well-being to several representative samples of the adult American population assessed 16 years apart — in 1972 and in 1988. Results show that in the United States, which has experienced reasonably continuous economic prosperity and no major social disruptions during these 16 years, thestructure of the subjective well-being measures (i.e. how they relate to one another and how concern-level measures predict global-level measures) has remained remarkably constant. This is in accord with expectation and enhances confidence in the validity and usefulness of the measures. Changes were found in thelevels of some of the measures: For the total population, feelings about life-as-a-whole, oneself, and one's own health became notably more positive; evaluations of own income and the national government also gained; but assessments of one's own family life, social relationships, community, and job remained fairly stable. Some of these gross changes were general throughout the population, but others occurred only for certain age, racial, or socioeconomic groups. Younger cohorts and people with higher educations and incomes showed more gains in subjective well-being than other groups.     

Development of a Lesbian,Gay, Bisexual Visibility Management Scale

Many lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals manage the degree to which their sexual orientation is known to others. Visibility management, the process of regulating the exposure of one's orientation, is an important part of the lesbian/gay/bisexual experience in community, family, and virtually all other social settings. The degree to which one allows his or her sexual orientation to be visible can have a profound impact on stress, health, self-esteem, interpersonal relationships, and quality of life. The purpose of the present study was to develop a valid and reliable measure of visibility management. The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual-Visibility Management Scale was constructed and piloted with a small sample of LGB adults. Results support the potential utility of the LGB scale based on satisfactory evidence of construct validity, item-level discrimination, and subscale reliability.     

Women of Vision: Unique Insights into Women of the 20th Century. edited by Eileen A. Gavinn,Gavin, Aphrodite Clamar,and Mary Anne Siderits

The purpose of this study was to explore comparatively personality variables, subjective well-being variables, and participation in daily life activities in 150 women aged 50 to 82 years with different employment status. Moreover, we also analyzed the extent to which personality and participation in daily life activities accounted for life satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect. Results from analyses of variance showed that there were significant differences between women with different working status. Multiple regression analyses revealed that self-esteem, optimism, and social activities accounted for a significant amount of variance in predicting life satisfaction and positive affect.     

Health expectancies in Japan: gender differences and policy implications for women

Based on prospective observation of elderly people in the community in Japan, we compared the time-course of development and progression of physical disability between women and men. Men experienced disability at a younger age and at a faster rate than did women. The duration of time spent with disability in women was twice as long as in men. Consequently, women consume about two-thirds of the total resources of formal caregiving services in Japan. Women in Japan are increasingly educated, postponing marriage to higher ages, and less likely to care for parents in the home. Given these changes in family structure and social norms, the capacity for informal family caregiving has decreased dramatically. A recently enacted national long-term care insurance system may further change the picture of caregiving.     

Age,gender and daily life: An analysis of social involvements

Variety of role involvements based on the allocation of time is an alternative indicator of multiple roles. The measure of variety developed by Altergott (1982) is analyzed for a sample of U.S. adults, aged 18–88. The multivariate analysis of the structural and personal factors that account for the level of variety is presented. Age is negatively associated with variety. Women have lower levels of variety than men. While the amount of variety in men's daily life is influenced by family, health and preference, the amount of variety in women's daily life is affected by work and education. Opportunity structures and individual propensities affect levels of variety. The conclusions support the development of the behavioral measurement of multiple roles. Variety of role involvement in daily life provides a sensitive indicator that varies with age, gender and personal resources.     

Regrets in Later Life

ABSTRACT

With the various options of life choices in the American culture and the great opportunity for choosing one's own path in life, there is also great opportunity for regretting paths taken and not taken. Information on regrets in later life was collected both qualitatively and quantitatively through interviews and mailed questionnaires from 140 retired individuals. Regret was measured using the Life Revision Index (LRI) (DeGenova, 1992) and the Regrets Self Inventory (Klein & Gotti, 1992). Both men and women reported they wish they would have pursued more education, but women had significantly higher regrets in this area. In general, the desire to have spent more time understanding the self and developing the mind and intellect was especially evident among women.