Stories of contemporary aging: An analysis of “lived” citizenship in later life

ABSTRACT

The new political economy of aging portrays “active citizenship” among seniors as a key challenge for the years to come. As a policy framework, Active Aging ranks high on the agendas of most supranational bodies. Informed by discourse analysis and a narrative approach, this article focuses on, first, older women’s everyday “active” practices, their meaning, and purpose and second, their day-to-day practical citizenship and social engagement experiences. A typology consisting of four figures of “lived” citizenship is proposed. Social contribution in later age is expressed through various types of engagement identified through these citizenship figures. These figures support older women’s social anchoring and sustain their feeling of belonging to the community. However, the figures outlined also reveal tensions, produced by relations of power between “dominant citizenship” and “relational citizenship,” pertaining to social relations and to caring for the other. In the latter case, we see that the coupling of action between the choice of action and social engagements in later age is more limited, due to social and health inequalities as well as lack of opportunities throughout the life course. Finally, in order to guarantee the right to age with dignity, we suggest a change of orientation in aging policies.     

Mixture models in measurement error problems, with reference to epidemiological studies

Summary. The paper focuses on a Bayesian treatment of measurement error problems and on the question of the specification of the prior distribution of the unknown covariates. It presents a flexible semiparametric model for this distribution based on a mixture of normal distributions with an unknown number of components. Implementation of this prior model as part of a full Bayesian analysis of measurement error problems is described in classical set-ups that are encountered in epidemiological studies: logistic regression between unknown covariates and outcome, with a normal or log-normal error model and a validation group. The feasibility of this combined model is tested and its performance is demonstrated in a simulation study that includes an assessment of the influence of misspecification of the prior distribution of the unknown covariates and a comparison with the semiparametric maximum likelihood method of Roeder, Carroll and Lindsay. Finally, the methodology is illustrated on a data set on coronary heart disease and cholesterol levels in blood.     

Assessing efficacy in important subgroups in confirmatory trials: An example using Bayesian dynamic borrowing

Assessment of efficacy in important subgroups – such as those defined by sex, age, race and region – in confirmatory trials is typically performed using separate analysis of the specific subgroup. This ignores relevant information from the complementary subgroup. Bayesian dynamic borrowing uses an informative prior based on analysis of the complementary subgroup and a weak prior distribution centred on a mean of zero to construct a robust mixture prior. This combination of priors allows for dynamic borrowing of prior information; the analysis learns how much of the complementary subgroup prior information to borrow based on the consistency between the subgroup of interest and the complementary subgroup. A tipping point analysis can be carried out to identify how much prior weight needs to be placed on the complementary subgroup component of the robust mixture prior to establish efficacy in the subgroup of interest. An attractive feature of the tipping point analysis is that it enables the evidence from the source subgroup, the evidence from the target subgroup, and the combined evidence to be displayed alongside each other. This method is illustrated with an example trial in severe asthma where efficacy in the adolescent subgroup was assessed using a mixture prior combining an informative prior from the adult data in the same trial with a non-informative prior.     

Gambling Motives: Do They Explain Cognitive Distortions in Male Poker Gamblers?

Gambling behavior is partly the result of varied motivations leading individuals to participate in gambling activities. Specific motivational profiles are found in gamblers, and gambling motives are closely linked to the development of cognitive distortions. This cross-sectional study aimed to predict cognitive distortions from gambling motives in poker players. The population was recruited in online gambling forums. Participants reported gambling at least once a week. Data included sociodemographic characteristics, the South Oaks Gambling Screen, the Gambling Motives Questionnaire-Financial and the Gambling-Related Cognition Scale. This study was conducted on 259 male poker gamblers (aged 18–69 years, 14.3% probable pathological gamblers). Univariate analyses showed that cognitive distortions were independently predicted by overall gambling motives (34.8%) and problem gambling (22.4%) (p < .05). The multivariate model, including these two variables, explained 39.7% of cognitive distortions (p < .05). The results associated with the literature data highlight that cognitive distortions are a good discriminating factor of gambling problems, showing a close inter-relationship between gambling motives, cognitive distortions and the severity of gambling. These data are consistent with the following theoretical process model: gambling motives lead individuals to practice and repeat the gambling experience, which may lead them to develop cognitive distortions, which in turn favor problem gambling. This study opens up new research perspectives to understand better the mechanisms underlying gambling practice and has clinical implications in terms of prevention and treatment. For example, a coupled motivational and cognitive intervention focused on gambling motives/cognitive distortions could be beneficial for individuals with gambling problems.     

Early initiation of marijuana use,education, and earnings of young adults

ABSTRACT

We estimate the relationships between early initiation of marijuana use (i.e., during middle school or high school), educational attainment and performance, and earnings as a young adult. Grounded in a developmental stages theoretical framework, results indicate that early initiation of marijuana use is negatively related to both educational outcomes and earnings, but the estimated relationships for earnings are diminished in models that control for education and other socioeconomic characteristics. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that early marijuana use indirectly affects young adult earnings through its negative effects on educational outcomes. Our results also indicate that early marijuana initiators who grow up in economically disadvantaged families may have worse educational outcomes than their counterparts who do not grow up with economic disadvantages. Reduced education and earnings among young adults could increase the likelihood of the individual and their family suffering economic hardships later in life.     

Levelling across the life‐span?: Tracing the face vowel in panel data from the North East of England

Apparent time analysis has revealed that the Tyneside face vowel is the site of two intersecting trends: levelling towards the supra‐northern monophthong as well as the gradual incursion of the southern standard closing diphthong. This article investigates the participation of individual speakers across their life‐span in these ongoing changes in the face vowel. We report on a small‐scale panel sample of six speakers who were recorded in 1971 and again, 42 years later, in 2013. The analysis probes the stability of individual speakers’ grammars, relying on longitudinal ethnographic analysis in the community as well as insights gleaned from sociolinguistic interviews about the speakers’ socio‐demographic trajectory and their presentations of self. The article contributes to the growing body of panel research that aims to determine the scope and the limits of linguistic malleability across speakers’ life histories.     

Efficacy of a group therapy for sexually abused adolescent girls

The effects of a group therapy program for teenage girls reporting child sexual abuse were evaluated by means of a pretest/ post-test design with a control group. The psycho-educational intervention consisted of an average of 20 weekly two-hour meetings. Results of the repeated analyses of variance (ANOVA) revealed a significant improvement in youth participating in the therapy when compared with the control group on measures of post-traumatic stress, internalizing and externalizing behavior problems, coping strategies, relationship with the mother, and sense of empowerment. The findings suggest that the group therapy offered by the Centre d'Intervention en Abus Sexuels pour la Famille (CIASF) was effective in reducing symptoms for sexually abused teenagers.     

Firms,Destinations, and Aggregate Fluctuations

This paper uses a data base covering the universe of French firms for the period 1990–2007 to provide a forensic account of the role of individual firms in generating aggregate fluctuations. We set up a simple multisector model of heterogeneous firms selling to multiple markets to motivate a theoretically founded decomposition of firms' annual sales growth rate into different components. We find that the firm‐specific component contributes substantially to aggregate sales volatility, mattering about as much as the components capturing shocks that are common across firms within a sector or country. We then decompose the firm‐specific component to provide evidence on two mechanisms that generate aggregate fluctuations from microeconomic shocks highlighted in the recent literature: (i) when the firm size distribution is fat‐tailed, idiosyncratic shocks to large firms directly contribute to aggregate fluctuations, and (ii) aggregate fluctuations can arise from idiosyncratic shocks due to input–output linkages across the economy. Firm linkages are approximately three times as important as the direct effect of firm shocks in driving aggregate fluctuations.     

New Scoring Method of the Family Drawing for Sexually Abused Preschoolers

This study assesses whether the global psychological adjustment score on the family drawing, derived with a new scoring method, can predict the presence of internalized and externalized behavior problems among sexually abused children. A family drawing was completed by 78 sexually abused children, and three questionnaires were administered to the nonoffending parent. The results indicate that a poorer global psychological adjustment score on the family drawing is associated with a higher probability of clinical thresholds for internalized and externalized behavior problems in children who have been sexually abused, even when controlling for parents’ psychological distress, child's age, number of stressful events experienced by the child, and type of sexual abuse.