Journal of Women & Aging最新文献

This article examines how older Korean and Chinese migrants living in Perth, Australia, engage in various beauty, grooming and fitness practices to negotiate "successful ageing" in transnational contexts. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 30 men and women aged between 60 and 89, we examine what social meanings are attached to these practices, and how the transnational context of living in Australia has influenced the participants' perceptions of ageing and presentation of self in later life. Migration in later life is often considered in relation to the 'host' countries values and social practices, which can make it difficult for individuals to settle and feel a sense of belonging especially in later life. In this article, we will illustrate how gender, class, and cultural dispositions intersect and link with possibilities for defining and redefining successful ageing in migrant contexts. This study illustrates how successful ageing emerges as a malleable concept that draws on ideas of an ideal ageing body from the cultural values of the 'home' country, rather than the 'host' country. The findings illustrate how in everyday lived experience, the transnational habitus does not always necessarily result in a 'divided habitus' where the values of the 'home' country and that of the 'host' country are in conflict - even when the migration experience is relatively recent. Quite the contrary, the way the participants utilise everyday beauty, fitness and grooming practices to maintain a future-focused self in the context of 'home' country's age-appropriate body ideals to perform signifiers of 'successful migrant living' point to the positive aspects that appearance management can have on an individual in later life, particularly in migrant contexts.

Background: Loneliness is a significant issue for the elderly, and widowhood is considered a major risk factor. However, research on the intersectional effects of gender, age, and widowhood on loneliness is limited, especially within the Chinese cultural context.

Methods: Using six waves (2002-2018) of national longitudinal data from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (N = 22,777), this study employed multilevel mixed-effects ordered logistic regression to analyze the impact of widowhood on loneliness. Moderating roles of gender and age were examined through interaction effects.

Results: Widowhood significantly increased loneliness across genders and age groups, but this effect diminished with age. Widowed men experienced greater loneliness than women, but this difference converged by age 90. The buffering effect of age on the widowhood-loneliness link was less pronounced among older women.

Conclusion: The study unravels the complexity of how gender, age, and widowhood interact to shape loneliness in later life. Targeted interventions considering these intersections are needed to alleviate loneliness among Chinese widowed elderly.

The prevailing cultural emphasis on women's attractiveness being tied to youth raises questions about how women perceive their appearance in the second half of life. The current qualitative study addresses this issue by posing two questions: how do women over fifty perceive and describe changes in their appearance? And how do they cope with these changes? Five focus group meetings with 19 Israeli women aged 54-76 were held to examine the issue. The meetings were structured around viewing three film clips starring older characters, encouraging the reporting of attitudes and perceptions in response to the clips. Based on a latent thematic analysis, the findings led to the conceptualization of a five-attitude model in response to physical changes in women's appearance: Grief-over the loss of youth and attractiveness; Resentment-over gendered media representations and cultural norms; Avoidance-distancing from one's aged appearance; Care-maintaining grooming routines; and Acceptance-coming to terms with the changes in appearance. Differences in responses between women were interpreted as reflecting a distinction between internal and external locus of control. Those with an external locus of control internalized the judgmental gaze of others, thus, reporting a greater sense of loss. Those with an internal locus of control were better able to accept themselves and focus on grooming rather than conforming to an imagined ideal. Results suggest that the distinction between understanding women's relationship with their appearance in terms of beauty work or beauty care may depend on the woman's locus of control.

There has been increased alcohol use among mid-life women in recent decades. Given the association between alcohol use and childbearing earlier in life and the centrality of childbearing for other aspects of mid-life women's health, we examined how multiple components of childbearing histories were associated with mid-life alcohol use. Our analysis included 3,826 women from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79). We estimated how nine components of childbearing were associated with women's alcohol use at age 50. We investigated these components independently and also created six childbearing profiles using Mixed-Mode Latent Class Analysis (MM-LCA). The most alcohol was consumed by women without any childbirths, with older ages at first birth, with low parity, and with the same or fewer births than expected. Women with older ages at first and last birth and more childbirths were less likely to abstain from alcohol compared to women with younger ages at first and last birth and fewer childbirths. Our MM-LCA demonstrated that women with multiple childbirths over a long period of time consumed the least alcohol compared to other groups. Binge drinking at mid-life was generally not associated with childbearing histories in our models. In summary, childbearing histories mattered for women's drinking behaviors at mid-life. Given that an increasing number of women do not have children, the age at first birth continues to trend older, and parity is decreasing, we may expect mid-life women's alcohol use to continue to increase in line with these observed fertility trends.

COVID-19 was concerning for older adults because they faced greater health risks from the virus and generally experience higher rates of isolation and loneliness. Single older adults are of particular concern because they also lack a cohabiting partner for social connection, so they may face greater levels of loneliness. Many older adults have been using technology to develop and maintain social connections, including romantic connections, to mitigate these feelings of loneliness and isolation. This research explores how feelings of loneliness connect to use of online dating sites during a pandemic, how older adults decided to and rationalized dating at a time when meeting in-person and social interactions were discouraged and dangerous, and how experiences differed between men and women. I interviewed 50 men and 50 women, ages 60-83, about their experiences seeking partners and dating during the pandemic. All respondents were single, heterosexual, and recruited from online dating websites, but varied by race, education level, marital experience, employment status, and geographic location. Single older adults relied on feelings of loneliness and isolation, the ubiquity of online dating sites, and particularly for women, adherence to safety measures while on a date as motivation for seeking and meeting romantic partners during a pandemic. Single older adults seeking new romantic interactions during a pandemic, when health risks were greater, illustrates the importance of intimate relationships even into older age and how loneliness and isolation are powerful drivers in seeking romantic relationships.

In this study, we aimed to examine the prevalence, associated factors, and management of sexual problems in older people at a primary care unit. We recruited people aged 60 years old and over, who visited the Primary Care Unit of Songklanagarind Hospital, a tertiary-care and referral centre in Southern Thailand, between June and August 2021, and used a self-administered questionnaire on sexuality, sexual problems, help-seeking behaviours, and clinical consultations for sexual problems in older people. There were 190 participants in this study (120 women, 70 men, mean age = 68.3). One hundred and five (55.3%) participants reported having sexual problems. Compared to their female counterparts, males were more likely to have sexual problems (adjusted OR = 3.11; 95% CI = 1.52,6.34; p-value = 0.001). The majority (77.3%) considered non-penetrative sexual activities (outercourse) when discussing sexuality in later life, and they had lower odds of having sexual problems compared to those who relied purely on sexual intercourse (adjusted OR = 0.27 for only outercourse and 0.30 for both intercourse and outercourse; p-value = 0.016). Only 2.1% (4/190) of participants reported that a physician had asked them about sexual problems. Participants reporting sexual problems (N = 105) often consulted their partners (25.7%) and friends (10.5%) or searched information from the internet (18.1%). According to this study, sexual problems in older people are common in primary care settings, but they tend to be poorly managed. Clinical discussions and interventions that are sensitive to gender differences and acknowledge the broadened concepts of sexuality in later life, e.g., encouragement to practice outercourse, may help improve sexual problems and well-being among older people.

This article elaborates on how Turkish-born women in Sweden do old age in relation to gender and migrancy and aims to understand the fluid process of doing over their life course. It draws upon 20 in-depth and semi-structured interviews with Turkish-born women aged 60-78 and aims to address the tensions between agency and intersecting power positions. Theoretically, the article relies on critical feminist gerontology and doing old age to address the negotiations and performances of the interviewed women. The findings show that there are several ambivalences and dilemmas in how the women do old age in a transnational setting. Intergenerational and gendered old age care comes to fore as a significant negotiation site. The women negotiate identity categories with both imagined others and the social actors in their lives (such as their children) over their life course, which implies the situated and relational aspect of doing old age.

Objectives: This cross-sectional study aims to consider the potential classification of depression and anxiety symptoms among older women, and identify the influencing factors of this classification.

Methods: This study examines Chinese women aged 65 years and older. Latent class analysis was used to explore the mental health subgroups of older women, and multivariate logistic regression was employed to examine the influencing factors based on the health ecological model among these subgroups.

Results: The results helped classify this population under three subgroups: the coexistence of depression and anxiety group, dominated depression group, and the low symptoms group. Moreover, class differences in terms of age, residence, education, income, assessment of current life and health status, sleep duration, and health behaviors, such as alcohol use and exercise were noted.

Conclusions: These findings explain the heterogeneity among older women, and help illuminate their unique aspects of mental health. Accordingly, they are significant for scholars and policymakers to understand depression and anxiety among older women.

Older women face unique challenges regarding health disparities. This study aims to provide an understanding of older women's perceptions and situated experiences regarding the gendered health disparities they face, which are characterized by the policies related to older women's health and the geopolitical and social norms in which they live. The purpose of this project is to provide policy and decision-makers with insights and a better understanding of older women's experiences and perceptions of the policies that impact their health and healthcare. The data for this study was collected through semi-structured interviews with twelve women in Appalachian East Tennessee. Areas examined include: the women's perceived impact of federal, state, and local policies on the participants, particularly of Medicare and Medicaid; the role of social norming and health narratives, particularly stigmatization, discrimination, and health marginalization of older women; and the role of place and place-based drivers on these areas. This study sought to determine if these factors impact the participants' awareness or lack of awareness of policies related to older women. Findings showed that older women in East Tennessee lacked knowledge of health policies, that older women perceive systemic and individual discrimination in policymaking, clinical care, and health research, and that they perceive that place-based drivers have impacted their access to healthcare. These findings have implications for policymaking and intervention design in co-production with older women in order to mitigate older women's health disparities.