Pub Date : 2024-12-01Epub Date: 2024-09-05DOI: 10.1016/j.jaging.2024.101253
Katarzyna Bronk-Bacon
Philip Dormer Stanhope (1694–1773), 4th Earl of Chesterfield, is both a witness of and an agent in the most important transformations in eighteenth-century England. While his Letters to His Son and Letters to His Godson have been examined in the context of his advice on polite behavior, ‘the art of pleasing’ and masculinity, Chesterfield's correspondence has not been fully explored in terms of its conceptualization of late life. Since the proper performance of aging and observance of its decorum are part and parcel of polite conduct, the management of this psychosomatic phenomenon is a valuable part of lessons on deportment. This essay offers to address the question of aging into old age in the Earl's correspondence, seeing it as Chesterfield's purposeful but also unconscious pedagogic life project directed at his correspondents, making his collection of letters a type of eighteenth-century attempt at geragogy. His is an honest account of what aging into old age and with illness entails which makes his letters both a warning and a blueprint for others to learn from.
{"title":"To begin the world anew: Epistolary lessons on aging into old age by 4th earl of Chesterfield","authors":"Katarzyna Bronk-Bacon","doi":"10.1016/j.jaging.2024.101253","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jaging.2024.101253","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Philip Dormer Stanhope (1694–1773), 4th Earl of Chesterfield, is both a witness of and an agent in the most important transformations in eighteenth-century England. While his <em>Letters to His Son</em> and <em>Letters to His Godson</em> have been examined in the context of his advice on polite behavior, ‘the art of pleasing’ and masculinity, Chesterfield's correspondence has not been fully explored in terms of its conceptualization of late life. Since the proper performance of aging and observance of its decorum are part and parcel of polite conduct, the management of this psychosomatic phenomenon is a valuable part of lessons on deportment. This essay offers to address the question of aging into old age in the Earl's correspondence, seeing it as Chesterfield's purposeful but also unconscious pedagogic life project directed at his correspondents, making his collection of letters a type of eighteenth-century attempt at geragogy. His is an honest account of what aging into old age and with illness entails which makes his letters both a warning and a blueprint for others to learn from.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":47935,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Aging Studies","volume":"71 ","pages":"Article 101253"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142150004","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-12-01Epub Date: 2024-09-07DOI: 10.1016/j.jaging.2024.101263
Ágnes Szabó , Christine Stephens , Mary Breheny
Precursors of loneliness include individual risk factors and experiences of social exclusion. Using the New Zealand Health Work and Retirement Life Course History Study, we investigated the impact of unequal access to material resources across the life course (from age 10 to present) on late life emotional and social loneliness and the moderating effects of gender and Māori ethnicity (indigenous population of Aotearoa/New Zealand) in 613 adults aged 65 to 81 years. Childhood and adult life socioeconomic status (SES) negatively predicted late life emotional and social loneliness, but their effects disappeared after controlling for late life SES, suggesting a mediation effect. Education was also a significant predictor; however, it exerted different effects on social (positive) and emotional (negative) loneliness. Education's effect was moderated by gender, indicating a protective effect for emotional and an exacerbating effect for social loneliness in men. These findings suggest that lifelong exclusion from material resources is a risk factor for late life loneliness.
孤独的前兆包括个人风险因素和社会排斥经历。通过新西兰健康、工作和退休生命历程历史研究（New Zealand Health Work and Retirement Life Course History Study），我们调查了613名年龄在65至81岁之间的成年人在整个生命历程中（从10岁到现在）获得物质资源的不平等对晚年情感和社交孤独感的影响，以及性别和毛利种族（奥特亚罗瓦/新西兰的原住民）的调节作用。童年和成年后的社会经济地位（SES）对晚年情感和社交孤独有负面预测作用，但在控制了晚年社会经济地位后，其影响消失了，这表明存在中介效应。教育也是一个重要的预测因素，但它对社交孤独（积极）和情感孤独（消极）产生了不同的影响。教育对孤独的影响受性别影响的调节，这表明教育对男性的情感孤独有保护作用，而对男性的社交孤独有加剧作用。这些研究结果表明，终生无法获得物质资源是晚年孤独的一个风险因素。
{"title":"The life course effects of socioeconomic status on later life loneliness: The role of gender and ethnicity","authors":"Ágnes Szabó , Christine Stephens , Mary Breheny","doi":"10.1016/j.jaging.2024.101263","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jaging.2024.101263","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Precursors of loneliness include individual risk factors and experiences of social exclusion. Using the New Zealand Health Work and Retirement Life Course History Study, we investigated the impact of unequal access to material resources across the life course (from age 10 to present) on late life emotional and social loneliness and the moderating effects of gender and Māori ethnicity (indigenous population of Aotearoa/New Zealand) in 613 adults aged 65 to 81 years. Childhood and adult life socioeconomic status (SES) negatively predicted late life emotional and social loneliness, but their effects disappeared after controlling for late life SES, suggesting a mediation effect. Education was also a significant predictor; however, it exerted different effects on social (positive) and emotional (negative) loneliness. Education's effect was moderated by gender, indicating a protective effect for emotional and an exacerbating effect for social loneliness in men. These findings suggest that lifelong exclusion from material resources is a risk factor for late life loneliness.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":47935,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Aging Studies","volume":"71 ","pages":"Article 101263"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0890406524000586/pdfft?md5=f8c46eb7b4d04b58197863914d8063f4&pid=1-s2.0-S0890406524000586-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142150005","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-12-01Epub Date: 2024-11-05DOI: 10.1016/j.jaging.2024.101286
Yaqi Yuan , Shun Yuan Yeo , Kristen Schultz Lee
The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the lives of people across the globe. Previous studies on the impact of the pandemic in North American contexts have shown that older adults are particularly vulnerable when facing the challenges brought by the pandemic. However, little is known about older women's experiences during the pandemic explicitly. Even less is known about the Asian contexts which are characterized by different beliefs about family, social solidarity, and the role of the government. How did older Singaporean women navigate the restrictions set by the government during the pandemic and what variations in social engagement were observed? To answer these questions, we analyze two rounds of in-depth interviews with 40 Singaporean older women aged 55 and above using a modified grounded theory approach. We identify three patterns of social engagement: decreased and weakened, intensified, and continuity. It was generally those who reported strong networks who either maintained or further intensified their social engagements. As for the sources of social connection, respondents drew primarily on family, but also on friends and other community resources, in seeking social engagement during the pandemic. The findings from our study uncover the variety of ways in which older Singaporean women responded to the constraints imposed on social engagement in the context of a pandemic, and the connections between social resources and social engagement.
{"title":"Social engagement among older women in Singapore during the COVID-19 pandemic","authors":"Yaqi Yuan , Shun Yuan Yeo , Kristen Schultz Lee","doi":"10.1016/j.jaging.2024.101286","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jaging.2024.101286","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the lives of people across the globe. Previous studies on the impact of the pandemic in North American contexts have shown that older adults are particularly vulnerable when facing the challenges brought by the pandemic. However, little is known about older women's experiences during the pandemic explicitly. Even less is known about the Asian contexts which are characterized by different beliefs about family, social solidarity, and the role of the government. How did older Singaporean women navigate the restrictions set by the government during the pandemic and what variations in social engagement were observed? To answer these questions<strong>,</strong> we analyze two rounds of in-depth interviews with 40 Singaporean older women aged 55 and above using a modified grounded theory approach. We identify three patterns of social engagement: decreased and weakened, intensified, and continuity. It was generally those who reported strong networks who either maintained or further intensified their social engagements. As for the sources of social connection, respondents drew primarily on family, but also on friends and other community resources, in seeking social engagement during the pandemic. The findings from our study uncover the variety of ways in which older Singaporean women responded to the constraints imposed on social engagement in the context of a pandemic, and the connections between social resources and social engagement.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47935,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Aging Studies","volume":"71 ","pages":"Article 101286"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142586019","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-12-01Epub Date: 2024-11-19DOI: 10.1016/j.jaging.2024.101288
Taochen Zhou
This study investigates the cognitive constructions surrounding the aging experience in British English and Mandarin Chinese. The study employs corpus data to explore how fixed phrases manifest the perceptions of ‘age’, ‘aging’, and by extension ‘old age’. It lays out the linguistic patterns that are common in each language. By analyzing the similarities and differences, the findings show that the same biological phenomenon is not expressed in the same linguistic patterns consistently across languages, and that culture plays an important role in structuring conceptual preferences. Most distinctively, ‘age’ in Chinese can be a separate entity with an upward-oriented path on the aging JOURNEY which is unfound in English. This study sheds light on the associations between language, thought and culture to foster sensitive communication under the background that aging perceptions may have an impact on older adults' general wellbeing and health behavior.
{"title":"How do we understand ‘age’ and ‘aging’? Cultural constructions of the ‘aging’ experience in British English and Chinese from a linguistic perspective","authors":"Taochen Zhou","doi":"10.1016/j.jaging.2024.101288","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jaging.2024.101288","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study investigates the cognitive constructions surrounding the aging experience in British English and Mandarin Chinese. The study employs corpus data to explore how fixed phrases manifest the perceptions of ‘age’, ‘aging’, and by extension ‘old age’. It lays out the linguistic patterns that are common in each language. By analyzing the similarities and differences, the findings show that the same biological phenomenon is not expressed in the same linguistic patterns consistently across languages, and that culture plays an important role in structuring conceptual preferences. Most distinctively, ‘age’ in Chinese can be a separate entity with an upward-oriented path on the aging JOURNEY which is unfound in English. This study sheds light on the associations between language, thought and culture to foster sensitive communication under the background that aging perceptions may have an impact on older adults' general wellbeing and health behavior.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47935,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Aging Studies","volume":"71 ","pages":"Article 101288"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142702650","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-12-01Epub Date: 2024-11-18DOI: 10.1016/j.jaging.2024.101287
Sarah McGann , Holly Farley , Caroline Bulsara , Anahita Sal Moslehian
While it is imperative to develop building design innovation to adapt to new care models and organisational processes in residential care facilities, there is a lack of research evidence on the interplay between design and resident lived experience, particularly when examined through a building design lens. This study aims to explore the building design factors that contribute to residents' quality of life (QoL), and thus, their ability to find home. The research objectives are to: 1) document and analyse the layout and spatial design of three different typologies (Traditional, Medium, and Small Household models) against key QoL themes and the residents' everyday lived use and sense of feeling at home; and 2) compare the architectural, layout, and lived use of the three typologies through a socio-spatial lens. Employing a mixed methods approach, incorporating architectural and ethnographic research strategies, we identified six key design concepts encompassing 14 factors that might be related to residents' quality of life. The research highlights distinct everyday lived use and spatial adaptation among the three building typologies, with the Small Household case study standing out for providing an excellent holistic setting, resulting in high levels of observed QoL. This paper also suggests practical insights into improving building design briefs.
虽然开发建筑设计创新以适应新的护理模式和住宿护理设施的组织流程势在必行，但有关设计与居民生活体验之间相互作用的研究证据却很缺乏，尤其是通过建筑设计的视角来考察时更是如此。本研究旨在探索影响住户生活质量（QoL）的建筑设计因素，从而了解住户寻找家的能力。研究目标如下1) 记录并分析三种不同类型（传统型、中户型和小户型）的布局和空间设计，并将其与关键的 QoL 主题以及居民的日常使用情况和家的感觉联系起来；以及 2) 通过社会空间视角，比较三种类型的建筑、布局和日常使用情况。我们采用混合方法，结合建筑学和人种学研究策略，确定了与居民生活质量相关的六个关键设计概念，包括 14 个因素。研究强调了三种建筑类型之间不同的日常生活使用和空间适应性，其中小户型案例研究因提供了极佳的整体环境而脱颖而出，从而获得了高水平的生活质量。本文还提出了改进建筑设计概要的实用见解。
{"title":"Socio-spatial analysis of Australian residential care facilities: A case study of traditional, medium, and small household models","authors":"Sarah McGann , Holly Farley , Caroline Bulsara , Anahita Sal Moslehian","doi":"10.1016/j.jaging.2024.101287","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jaging.2024.101287","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>While it is imperative to develop building design innovation to adapt to new care models and organisational processes in residential care facilities, there is a lack of research evidence on the interplay between design and resident lived experience, particularly when examined through a building design lens. This study aims to explore the building design factors that contribute to residents' quality of life (QoL), and thus, their ability to find <em>home</em>. The research objectives are to: 1) document and analyse the layout and spatial design of three different typologies (Traditional, Medium, and Small Household models) against key QoL themes and the residents' everyday lived use and sense of feeling at <em>home</em>; and 2) compare the architectural, layout, and lived use of the three typologies through a socio-spatial lens. Employing a mixed methods approach, incorporating architectural and ethnographic research strategies, we identified six key design concepts encompassing 14 factors that might be related to residents' quality of life. The research highlights distinct everyday lived use and spatial adaptation among the three building typologies, with the Small Household case study standing out for providing an excellent holistic setting, resulting in high levels of observed QoL. This paper also suggests practical insights into improving building design briefs.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47935,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Aging Studies","volume":"71 ","pages":"Article 101287"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142702649","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-12-01Epub Date: 2024-10-10DOI: 10.1016/j.jaging.2024.101275
Jenny Paananen , Jenni Kulmala , Jari Pirhonen
Social death refers to situations in which individuals become socially excluded from social interaction or are considered socially insignificant. Social death is about losing roles, relationships, and eventually identity in the eyes of others. When becoming a permanent resident in a nursing home, older adults face an increased risk of social death. However, empirical research on social death and its manifestations in nursing homes is still scarce. The aim of this study was to investigate the phenomenon of social death by interviewing family members (N = 19) of older people living in nursing homes in Finland. A theory-driven thematic analysis of family members' interviews revealed two cross-cutting themes that were linked to social death in nursing homes. We discovered that 1) the transition to a nursing home significantly narrowed the older adults' social environment and 2) dementia seemed to affect all aspects of older adults' social life and social agency negatively. Furthermore, four main mechanisms of social death in nursing homes were 1) losses associated with decline of physical and mental health, 2) loss of social identity, 3) isolation and lack of social connectedness, and 4) lack of quality of care. It seems that nursing home residents, especially those with advanced dementia, face social death because they are not seen as persons who are entitled to social roles and meaningful activities. Thus, there is an urgent need to improve the social connectedness of all older adults living in care facilities, with particular attention to those with memory loss. Based on these results, we provide checklists for nursing professionals and all citizens to restore the social value of older persons.
{"title":"Social death of older adults residing in nursing homes in Finland","authors":"Jenny Paananen , Jenni Kulmala , Jari Pirhonen","doi":"10.1016/j.jaging.2024.101275","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jaging.2024.101275","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Social death refers to situations in which individuals become socially excluded from social interaction or are considered socially insignificant. Social death is about losing roles, relationships, and eventually identity in the eyes of others. When becoming a permanent resident in a nursing home, older adults face an increased risk of social death. However, empirical research on social death and its manifestations in nursing homes is still scarce. The aim of this study was to investigate the phenomenon of social death by interviewing family members (<em>N</em> = 19) of older people living in nursing homes in Finland. A theory-driven thematic analysis of family members' interviews revealed two cross-cutting themes that were linked to social death in nursing homes. We discovered that 1) the transition to a nursing home significantly narrowed the older adults' social environment and 2) dementia seemed to affect all aspects of older adults' social life and social agency negatively. Furthermore, four main mechanisms of social death in nursing homes were 1) losses associated with decline of physical and mental health, 2) loss of social identity, 3) isolation and lack of social connectedness, and 4) lack of quality of care. It seems that nursing home residents, especially those with advanced dementia, face social death because they are not seen as persons who are entitled to social roles and meaningful activities. Thus, there is an urgent need to improve the social connectedness of all older adults living in care facilities, with particular attention to those with memory loss. Based on these results, we provide checklists for nursing professionals and all citizens to restore the social value of older persons.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47935,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Aging Studies","volume":"71 ","pages":"Article 101275"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142422097","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-12-01Epub Date: 2024-10-22DOI: 10.1016/j.jaging.2024.101278
Deborah Lupton
Engaging with the special issue's theme of ‘The growing older of humans, non-humans and more-than-humans’, this commentary provides an overview of how social theory has engaged with the ageing body. Beginning with discussion of initial scholarship in the sociology of the body, the commentary provides thoughts on how more-than-human theory, both ‘old’ and ‘new’ materialisms, can contribute to a deeper understanding of how human bodies age alongside nonhuman living things, situated in place and space. This approach acknowledges the distributed forces, agencies and capacities that are generated with and through the relational encounters of humans with nonhuman agents as they move through the life course. The commentary ends with some suggestions for incorporating a ‘gerontology of everything’ perspective into ageing studies as a step towards more-than-human mutual flourishing.
{"title":"Towards a gerontology of everything: A more-than-human perspective","authors":"Deborah Lupton","doi":"10.1016/j.jaging.2024.101278","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jaging.2024.101278","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Engaging with the special issue's theme of ‘The growing older of humans, non-humans and more-than-humans’, this commentary provides an overview of how social theory has engaged with the ageing body. Beginning with discussion of initial scholarship in the sociology of the body, the commentary provides thoughts on how more-than-human theory, both ‘old’ and ‘new’ materialisms, can contribute to a deeper understanding of how human bodies age alongside nonhuman living things, situated in place and space. This approach acknowledges the distributed forces, agencies and capacities that are generated with and through the relational encounters of humans with nonhuman agents as they move through the life course. The commentary ends with some suggestions for incorporating a ‘gerontology of everything’ perspective into ageing studies as a step towards more-than-human mutual flourishing.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47935,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Aging Studies","volume":"71 ","pages":"Article 101278"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142531228","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-12-01Epub Date: 2024-08-28DOI: 10.1016/j.jaging.2024.101255
B. Schuurman , W.P. Achterberg , T.A. Abma , J. Lindenberg
Our qualitative study, consisting of in-depth semi-structured interviews with recent retirees in the Dutch city of Leiden, set out to investigate how communication, through processes of self-identification and the negotiation of social identities, relates to (self-)ageism. A letter from the city administration was used to make age identification salient in our research and prompted stories of various liminal spaces and phases that our participants experienced. Whilst liminal phases are usually considered uncertain and ambiguous, in our study we found that for older people liminality can offer a desired ambiguity that allowed them to adopt a more positive identity than ‘being old’, which was rejected as undesirable. Our findings provide insight into the intertwinement of societal, institutional and individual levels of ageism and highlights the necessity of finding and emphasising positive values in being old, since only then positive interpretations of communication can enable processes of positive societal identification.
{"title":"On the limits of communication: The liminal positioning of older adults and processes of self-ageism and ageism.","authors":"B. Schuurman , W.P. Achterberg , T.A. Abma , J. Lindenberg","doi":"10.1016/j.jaging.2024.101255","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jaging.2024.101255","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Our qualitative study, consisting of in-depth semi-structured interviews with recent retirees in the Dutch city of Leiden, set out to investigate how communication, through processes of self-identification and the negotiation of social identities, relates to (self-)ageism. A letter from the city administration was used to make age identification salient in our research and prompted stories of various liminal spaces and phases that our participants experienced. Whilst liminal phases are usually considered uncertain and ambiguous, in our study we found that for older people liminality can offer a desired ambiguity that allowed them to adopt a more positive identity than ‘being old’, which was rejected as undesirable. Our findings provide insight into the intertwinement of societal, institutional and individual levels of ageism and highlights the necessity of finding and emphasising positive values in being old, since only then positive interpretations of communication can enable processes of positive societal identification.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":47935,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Aging Studies","volume":"71 ","pages":"Article 101255"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0890406524000501/pdfft?md5=751d10b7d8d7f4a3311a26fcef5a6bbb&pid=1-s2.0-S0890406524000501-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142087489","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-12-01Epub Date: 2024-09-23DOI: 10.1016/j.jaging.2024.101270
Ilkka Pietilä , Hanna Ojala
Some recent studies on grandparenthood have pointed to a potential conflict between grandparenthood and the ideals of the third age. Retired people are increasingly expected to live up to the ideals of active aging, and many grandparents may wish to demonstrate their agency by getting engaged in various leisure activities, which may reduce their possibilities and motivation to spend time with their grandchildren. We looked at this potential conflict from the perspective of people living in the countryside, where distances to both cultural and other services, and grandchildren, may both be long. We analyzed our interviewees' discursive constructions of their grandparenthood and independent life in the third age as well as the ways in which they negotiated the moral dilemma between the two. The data consisted of 14 telephone interviews with grandparents, aged 66–85, living relatively far from population centers. All interviewees underscored the importance of grandchildren and their willingness to spend time with them, and there were few direct references to the conflict between a committed grandparenthood and a third age lifestyle. However, the interviewees did express ideas related to maintaining certain limits in their grandparenthood to secure their own private lives. A potential conflict between a committed grandparenthood and the third age lifestyle appeared in such situations when grandparents needed to make real choices about how they spend their time, which was mediated by the geographical distances between the generations. The interviewees aimed at balancing between being devoted grandparents and maintaining independence. A familist discourse emphasizing the role of the nuclear family was commonly used to justify keeping a distance between them and the middle generation and grandchildren. The interviews echoed the third age ideals mainly in terms of independence and free time rather than consumption and leisure activities, the availability of which was limited in the countryside.
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Pub Date : 2024-12-01Epub Date: 2024-10-02DOI: 10.1016/j.jaging.2024.101274
Daniel Katey , Senyo Zanu
This paper explores the intersection of climate change, population aging, and community resilience, focusing on the potentially powerful roles of older adults in climate change mitigation efforts, particularly in developing countries. Through a brief review of relevant literature in the fields of environmental studies, gerontology, and community development, the paper examines the vulnerabilities of older adults to climate change impacts and their potential contributions to adaptation and mitigation strategies. By integrating findings from some existing literature, the paper contributes to ongoing conversations about the inclusivity of climate change actions and the empowerment of marginalized groups. Our suggestions include harnessing the traditional knowledge and leadership of older adults and empowering them to act as climate change activists within their communities. Additionally, the paper suggests encouraging older adults to organize community capacity-building workshops that advocate for environmentally sustainable initiatives. We conclude by emphasizing that neglecting older adults in the climate change discourse risks exacerbating entrenched social inequalities and overlooks the potentially valuable resources and knowledge that older adults can contribute toward climate change mitigation and adaptation. This therefore calls for the recognition of older adults as vital agents of change and empowering them through inclusive development policies, programs, and initiatives. Future research should investigate the long-term impacts of inviting older adults into climate change mitigation efforts, and the barriers that may hinder their active engagement.
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