Gender,the Marital Life Course,and Cardiovascular Disease in Late Midlife

Drawing on 5 waves of the Health and Retirement Study, we examine the influence of the marital life course on the prevalence and incidence of cardiovascular disease among 9,434 middle‐aged individuals. Results show that compared to continuously married persons, both men and women with a marital loss have significantly higher prevalence of cardiovascular disease at baseline. Men and women, however, differ in the effects of marital loss on the incidence of cardiovascular disease over the course of the study. Women with a marital loss have a higher risk of cardiovascular disease in late midlife compared to continuously married women, whereas marital loss is not associated with men’s risk of cardiovascular disease. Emotional distress and socioeconomic status account for the higher risk of cardiovascular disease among divorced women.     

Critiques of Narrative Therapy: A Personal Response

This paper responds to some of the specific and the generalised challenges to narrative therapy from therapists of other persuasions. It discusses the long history of model rivalry and locates this debate in that process. It also takes up specific concerns of isolationism, desertion, language, sectarianism, colonialism and ethical superiority. Throughout, I attempt to identify my thinking in relation to the criticisms, and to write transparently about why I understand things in the way I do. This is not a neutral paper — I see myself as a narrative therapist.     

Beyond the binge in 'booze Britain': market-led liminalization and the spectacle of binge drinking

The contemporary night-time economy has transformed British town centres into liminal spaces where transgression does not subvert normative space, but establishes public drunkenness as integral to a negotiated order. The focus of this paper is the wider dialectic surrounding contemporary 'binge drinking', and in particular the relationship between aesthetic processes aimed at encouraging alcohol-related excitement and excess, and those that seek to exert a measure of rational control over the drink 'problem'. It is the logic of the market that informs governmental policy on alcohol, and the binge drinker is central to the spectacle of the night-time economy as a form of self gratification which also embodies forms of repression.     

‘Life stage dissolution’ in Anglo‐American advertising and popular culture: Kidults,Lil’ Britneys and Middle Youths

The ‘long road to adulthood’ that supposedly now characterizes the period from the teens to the late twenties (for individuals in developed countries) has been the subject of much recent media and academic commentary. This paper adopts a sociological perspective to review and critique this commentary, and in particular the argument made by certain developmental psychologists that the period between adolescence and fully‐fledged adulthood is now distinct enough to constitute a new stage in the life cycle known as ‘emerging adulthood’. In contrast, it is argued that, rather than anything as significant as a new life stage, what is actually happening is the erosion of established ones. To illustrate this point, the article introduces the new theoretical concept of ‘life stage dissolution’ (and its attendant bi‐directional processes of ‘adultification’ and ‘infantilization’) – a blurring (or more accurately merging) process that makes it increasingly difficult for young people to differentiate and disassociate themselves from the generation immediately ahead of them, and indeed vice versa. The paper argues that, whilst this process takes a number of cultural/psychosocial forms, it is at its most prominent in contemporary Anglo‐American advertising and marketing practices that actively seek to erode traditionally demarcated adult and childhood roles, differences, and oppositions as a new and distinct message within contemporary consumerism.     

Understanding the determinants of consent for linkage of administrative health data with a longitudinal survey

Abstract

The Survey of Families, Income and Employment (SoFIE) is a panel income study with a health component, including data linkage to national health databases. This paper investigates factors that predict consent to data linkage. SoFIE participants were asked permission to link their SoFIE records to administrative health data in Wave 3 of data collection. Logistic regression was used to investigate the association of sociodemographic variables with consent to record linkage. Of Wave 3 participants 79.4% consented to health record linkage. Taking into account prior attrition, consent and matching the overall participation rate was 60.9%. Participants reporting Māori, Pacific and Asian ethnicity had lower odds of consenting. There was a strong relationship between the presence of co-morbid disease and consent to linkage. This study has shown that consent to link health information to survey records was high and the survey provides a rich and unique dataset for longitudinal analyses.     

Self-Forgiveness and Mortality in Late Life

The purpose of this study is to see if older people who are able to forgive themselves have a lower mortality risk than older adults who are not able to forgive themselves. In addition, it is hypothesized that the relationship between self-forgiveness and mortality will be contingent upon the level of an older individual’s education. More specifically, it is predicted that the potentially beneficial effects of self-forgiveness will be more evident among older people with more years of schooling. Data from a nationwide survey of older people provide support for this view. Self-forgiveness does not provide a mortality benefit for less educated elders. But as the level of educational attainment rises, self-forgiveness is associated with a progressively smaller mortality risk.     

Environmental shifts for social work: A principles approach

Miller SE, Hayward RA, Shaw TV. Environmental shifts for social work: A principles approach The social work profession is rooted in a history of addressing the needs of vulnerable populations. Generally, however, this history has not extended to issues relating to the natural environment. Building on a framework of environmental justice, this article proposes a shift from the artificial separation of the social and natural environments in its person‐in‐environment focus to an expanded holistic understanding of the dynamic interplay between human society and the natural environment. It examines issues surrounding environmental and ecological justice, and proposes a principles approach to move the profession towards a paradigm of environmental justice using as its template the 17 Principles of Environmental Justice adopted by the First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit in the USA in 1991. It discusses the value of these principles in enhancing social work's capacity to address issues of environmental concern. It proposes that, with greater awareness of the effects of environmental issues on high‐needs populations, the profession would be better able to balance environmental and human concerns.     

The Significance of Education for Mortality Compression in the United States

Recent studies of old-age mortality trends assess whether longevity improvements over time are linked to increasing compression of mortality at advanced ages. The historical backdrop of these studies is the long-term improvement in a population's socioeconomic resources that fueled longevity gains. We extend this line of inquiry by examining whether socioeconomic differences in longevity within a population are accompanied by old-age mortality compression. Specifically, we document educational differences in longevity and mortality compression for older men and women in the United States. Drawing on the fundamental cause of disease framework, we hypothesize that both longevity and compression increase with higher levels of education and that women with the highest levels of education will exhibit the greatest degree of longevity and compression. Results based on the Health and Retirement Study and the National Health Interview Survey Linked Mortality File confirm a strong educational gradient in both longevity and mortality compression. We also find that mortality is more compressed within educational groups among women than men. The results suggest that educational attainment in the United States maximizes life chances by delaying the biological aging process.     

Occupational influences on retirement,disability, and death

This research examines the alternative mechanisms by which occupations influence the nature and timing of older men's labor force withdrawal. We specifically assess the extent to which occupational factors operate directly and indirectly on exiting events and whether occupations constrain traditional determinants of labor force participation. Based on a discrete-time hazard modeling approach, the results substantiate that the occupational task activities--substantive complexity and physical demands--are key elements of the work environment that are evaluated against nonwork alternatives. In the case of retirement, these aspects of occupational attractiveness function as a dominant and direct force in retirement decision making. With regard to disability, the occupational attribute of substantive complexity operates as an indirect advantage (through higher wages) by reducing the risk of disability. Indicators of career continuity also influence retirement among older workers. Finally, the results suggest that financial characteristics and health problems are central to the distribution of older workers across the alternative destination statuses of retirement, disability, and death.     

Quality circle failures in UK manufacturing companies—A study

This paper presents the results of a study of quality circle failures in UK manufacturing companies. A questionnaire survey formed the first part of the investigation, which reveals that the majority of companies which implement quality circles should expect to encounter some form of failure. The first three years of operating a quality circle programme represent the critical period for establishing long-term survival of the programme, whilst in the case of individual circles it is the first 18 months. The results indicate that white collar circles are more difficult to sustain over time than are circles in blue collar areas. The main reasons for circle failure include: rejection of the concept by top management and trade unions; the company restructuring, redundancies and labour turnover; circle leaders lacking time to organise meetings and a lack of co-operation from middle and first-line management. It is pointed out, that despite an average circle failure rate of 20%, there is a high level of satisfaction with quality circles amongst the respondents.