2000-2005年高龄老人生活满意度的变化分析

本文利用2000年和2005年高龄老人长寿健康调查的追踪数据,对高龄老人的生活满意度进行了两次调查的对比分析和同批人比较。对比分析发现,2005年高龄老人的生活满意度较2000年有所下降;而同批人分析表明,尽管整体上看高龄老人的生活满意度在五年间有所下降,但其内在的各种不同纬度变化却体现出生活满意度的积极变化趋势。     

中国的百岁老人

本文利用“中国高龄老人健康长寿”课题 1998年调查数据 ,首次对中国百岁老人的基本特征进行了分析。该调查随机抽取了 2 2个省约 50 %的县市 ,在自愿基础上调查了其中所有百岁老人。中国百岁老人是一个以女性、文盲、丧偶者为主的人口群体 ,乐观向上、豁达开朗是共同的性格特征。多数百岁老人在经济活动年龄时从事农业或家务劳动 ,没有退休金 ,只能依靠家庭进行经济供养、生活照料、精神慰藉 ,他们以家庭为主的居住安排也利于家庭养老。中国百岁老人相对比较健康 ,患病率较低 ,多数认为自己身体较好或一般 ,对自己的生活比较满意 ,但有相当比例在日常生活中需要他人提供部分或全部帮助     

中国人口老龄化的“二高三大”特征及对策探讨

本文分析讨论了我国 2 1世纪上半叶人口老龄化的“二高三大”特征。 (一 )高速 :65岁及以上老年人口占总人口比例高速增长———从目前的 7%增加到 2 0 5 0年的 2 3%左右。 (二 )高龄 :80岁及以上高龄老人比例以大约等于 65岁及以上老人增长速度的两倍超高速增长。 (三 )老人数量大 :本世纪中叶我国 65岁及以上老人将超过 3 3亿 ,80岁及以上老人将超过 1亿。 (四 )老年抚养比大 :本世纪中叶我国老年人口与劳动年龄人口之比将等于目前的 3～ 4倍。 (五 )地区差异大 :由于人口迁移的影响 ,我国农村老人比例将高于城镇 ,相当一部分欠发达省区的老人比例将高于全国平均水平。本文还就农村社会养老保障、充分发扬家庭养老优良传统、老年照料政策应适当向女性老人倾斜等方面阐述了对策性思考与建议。     

Crying for Food: The Mexican Myths of ‘La Llorona’ and ‘The Hungry Woman’ in Cherríe L. Moraga

The Mexican legend of ‘La Llorona’ (‘The Weeping Woman’), who drowned her children out of revenge for being abandoned by her lover, and the Aztec creation myth of ‘The Hungry Woman’ — crying constantly for food, with mouths all around her body — have inspired Chicana writers in the symbolic representation of their own yearning, be it sexual, identity-building, or anti-patriarchal. This essay seeks to lay the mythical groundwork within this topic, as well as to illustrate with some particular examples the different reappropriations of these myths in Cherríe L. Moraga, mainly in her play The Hungry Woman: A Mexican Medea (2001). With a view to opening up a past ‘that can provide a kind of road map to our future’ (: ix), these examples of transgressive women will be deprived of the feminine colonial passivity imbued by the dominant male discourse, and analysed as a complex, active, polyvalent mythological female corpus that integrates both life and death, womb and grave. This hybrid approach is inherent to the Aztec mythology on which Moraga relies in order to transcend Manichaeistic resolutions and probe the social, political, and gender reasons leading a hungry mother to commit infanticide.     

Whom Do Centenarians Rely on for Support? Findings From the Second Heidelberg Centenarian Study

ABSTRACT

This paper provides a detailed picture of the sources and types of informal support available to centenarians, depending on their housing and care arrangements. Participants were 112 centenarians and 96 primary contacts of centenarians enrolled in the population-based Second Heidelberg Centenarian Study. Findings indicate that children of centenarians were their primary source of support in daily life. Those without living children had overall less help. Most frequently reported was help with administrative tasks, regardless of centenarians’ residence or living arrangement. All other types of help (e.g., with activities of daily living and housework) were reported by about one-third and were mostly provided by children; centenarians without children were more likely to have friends/neighbors involved in some of these tasks. The one category reported by a third of the centenarians regardless of residence, living arrangements, or presence of a child was help with socializing/companionship. Findings constitute an important step toward identifying and meeting the support needs of centenarians and their families. Policy implications are discussed.     

Challenges Experienced at Age 100: Findings From the Fordham Centenarian Study

ABSTRACT

This article examines the challenges experienced by very old individuals and their consequences for well-being and mental health. In order to capture unique issues experienced in very old age, 75 participants of the population-based Fordham Centenarian Study answered open-ended questions on everyday challenges. Theme-based coding was then used to categorize and quantify responses. The challenges mentioned most often were challenges faced in the functional (e.g., physical health/activities of daily living restrictions, mobility, sensory impairment), psychological (e.g., loss of well-liked activity, dependency, negative emotions, death), and social (e.g., family loss) life domains. Functional challenges were negatively associated with aging satisfaction and positively associated with loneliness. Psychological challenges were positively linked to aging satisfaction. Social challenges were marginally related to loneliness. Notably, challenges were not related to depression. In conclusion, the challenges experienced in very old age are multidimensional and multifaceted, unique in nature, and have differential relations to mental health. Functional, psychological, and social challenges affect very old individuals’ lives and therefore need to be better understood and addressed. Given their consequences, it is imperative for policy makers to develop an awareness for the different types of challenges faced by centenarians, as there may be unique policy implications related to each.     

A call for more elaborate and transparent pension data to inform policy‐making: A critical examination of World Bank data for Eastern Europe

This article offers a critical analysis of the methods by means of which data relating to the performance of second pillar pension schemes are collated, compared and reported. This is done with regard to the performance of mandatory private second pillar pension funds in Eastern Europe. By critically examining data published in a number of World Bank studies, and through the identification of data problems and irregularities, the article argues that a much more elaborate and transparent approach to the collation, comparative analysis and reporting of data is needed. Required is the establishment of a consensus regarding what should represent a robust basis for making credible policy recommendations, not least with regard to pension re‐reforms in the countries of Eastern Europe and elsewhere. In the absence of such a consensus, unresolved data problems and irregularities may potentially continue to influence the formulation of incomplete national policy conclusions regarding the performance of second pillar pension funds and, in turn, the ability of policy‐makers to evaluate appropriately the need for, and assess the feasibility of implementing in a sustainable manner, pension re‐reform.     

Coexisting disadvantages across the adult age span: A comparison of older and younger age groups in the Swedish welfare state

Heap J, Lennartsson C, Thorslund M. Coexisting disadvantages across the adult age span: a comparison of older and younger age groups in the Swedish welfare state To experience coexisting disadvantages – the simultaneous lack of several different welfare resources – implies a hampered ability to manage one's living conditions. Here, we study coexisting disadvantages in the oldest population compared with younger age groups in Sweden, by drawing on two linked, nationally representative surveys (n = 5,392). The measurement of coexisting disadvantages included physical health, psychological health, frequency of social contact, cash margin and political resources. The highest odds of coexisting disadvantages were found after age 75 – age groups that are frequently excluded from studies of coexisting disadvantages. This pattern persisted when controlling for socio‐demographic and socio‐economic characteristics. The age pattern was partly driven by the high prevalence of physical health problems in the older population. However, even when excluding physical health problems, the odds of coexisting disadvantages were highest among people older than 85 – the fastest‐growing segment of the population in many Western countries.     

Extending social security coverage to the rural sector in China

In late 2009 China launched an innovative, voluntary programme that by 2011 had extended pension coverage to 326.4 million people in the rural sector, including contributors and beneficiaries. It requires one contribution per year and provides a flat‐rate benefit and a contributions‐related benefit through a contributory individual account, with a government guarantee that the benefit will continue for life. The programme encourages participation of persons who do not pay income taxes, and thus have no tax incentive to participate, by providing substantial government subsidies. As a further incentive, old‐age benefits are provided to older parents when all their adult children participate in the contributory programme.     

Assessing a minimum pension guarantee for the voluntary IPS in Turkey

The returns from individual account pension plans are subject to fluctuations in capital markets. This increases income uncertainty for the beneficiary and exposes individuals to the risk of fluctuations in the economy in general and the stock market in particular. A minimum pension guarantee is a way to avoid this pitfall by providing a minimum annuity regardless of the actual investment performance of individual accounts. In this article, we present a cost analysis of a minimum benefit guarantee mechanism for the voluntary Individual Pension System in Turkey. We examine the cost estimates and the probability of providing guaranteed payments under various economic and demographic assumptions.