Work at Older Age in Ireland. ESRI Research Bulletin 2019/16

It is well established that population ageing will put upward pressure on the costs of public programmes such as pensions, healthcare and long-term care. One proposed route through which the sustainability of these public programmes can be enhanced is through extended working lives. In 2016 in Ireland nearly 17 per cent of men aged 65+ were working, and 5 per cent of women. A notable feature of older age working in Ireland and other countries is the large share of employment, particularly male employment, that is comprised of the self-employed (over half of men aged 65-74 in employment in Ireland are self-employed). The decision to continue to work in older age involves a complex interaction between health, family and caring responsibilities, and financial resources. Here, we summarise the findings of two recent papers that examined the role of financial resources, and in particular, supplementary pension cover, in determining work at older ages in Ireland

Muscle glycogen and blood lactate in yellowfin tuna, Thunnus albacares, and skipjack, Katsuwonus pelamis, following capture and tagging

ENGLISH: Tagging and the recovery of tagged yellowfin (Thunnus albacares) and skipjack (Katsuwonus pelamis) tunas are important aspects of the investigations conducted by the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission in the Eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean. The results of the tagging program provide information on population structures, migrations, mortality rates and growth rates of these two species. The present experimental program was undertaken to study the relationship between muscular fatigue and high tagging mortalities in yellowfin and skipjack. SPANISH: La marcación del atún aleta amarilla (Thunnus albacares) y del barrilete (Katsuwonus pelamis), y el recobro de estos atunes marcados, son aspectos importantes de la investigación que efectúa la Comisión Interamericana del Atún Tropical en el Océano Pacífico Oriental Tropical. Los resultados del programa de marcación proporcionan información sobre la estructura de las poblaciones, migraciones, tasas de mortalidad y tasas de crecimiento de estas dos especies. El programa experimental presente fue emprendido para estudiar la relación entre la fatiga muscular y la alta mortalidad causada por la marcación en el atún aleta amarilla y el barrilete. (PDF contains 52 pages.

‘Eurasian’: Negotiating a postcolonial identity in everyday life in multicultural Australia

This thesis interrogates the ambiguous and complex understandings surrounding the term ‘Eurasian’, which has emerged in Australia as a political, cultural and social reality from the neighbouring South and Southeast Asian region. Participants’ narratives of migration and identity were examined in order to gain insight into how this particular ‘mixed race’ identity is understood and negotiated in everyday life, and how migration processes which include recreating senses of ‘home’ and belonging, have impacted on these understandings

Experiences of Mental Health Consumers : An Exploratory Qualitative Study of Expectations and Perceptions of Mental Health Services in Western Australia

The National Mental Health Strategy was launched in 1992 and endorsed Consumer-provider collaboration as an integral part or mental health service delivery in Australia. Feedback on services is generally elicited through evaluation of existing services. Rather than being than evaluative study or existing services this qualitative project explored the experience of being a mental health consumer within the framework of the consumer’s expectations and perceptions of service delivery in Western Australia. One male and seven females, aged between 22-55 participated in the study. Several themes and sub-themes under the broad headings of expectations. Experiences. Perceptions emerged. The themes highlighted consumers had no expectations of mental health services. However, management of illness and staff interactions produced a psychological response. For those who experienced negative interactions with staff fear was a dominant psychological response which changed over time from illness-related distress to fear of re-hospitalisation. All consumers reported an over-reliance on the use of medication and provided wider explanations for their episode of illness. A fourth category Reflective Comments, highlighted the inadequacies of the present services and the need for integrated biopsychosocial approaches. This small-scale study promotes a wider inquiry into the experience of being a mental health consumer in Western Australia. In particular, the differences in the experiences of private and public patients warrant further investigation

Working Beyond 65 in Ireland. ESRI DISCUSSION PAPER SERIES IZA DP No. 11664, July 2018

Extending working lives is often proposed as one route through which the costs associated with population ageing can be managed. In that context, understanding who currently works for longer can help policymakers to design policies to facilitate longer working. In particular, it is important to know if longer working is a choice or a necessity, where necessity arises from a lack of pension income. In this paper, we use data from the first four waves of the Irish Longitudinal Study of Ageing (TILDA), covering the period 2010-2016, to examine patterns of labour force participation among men and women aged 65+. We find that a lack of pension income is an important determinant of later-life working and that this applies for both men and women. Although older women are significantly less likely to work than older men, we find few differences in the pattern of determinants of longer working among older men and women. However, while women are significantly less likely to work than men, this effect is stronger among married women compared to single women. This suggests that older women without immediate access to family-provided financial support may need to work to support themselves. This adds to the picture of later life work being a necessity as opposed to a choice. However, an alternative explanation is that older married women may also have caring responsibilities that reduce their labour force participation

The Role of Self-Employment in Ireland’s Older Workforce. ESRI DISCUSSION PAPER SERIES IZA DP No. 11663, July 2018

A feature of employment at older ages that has been observed in many countries, including Ireland, is the higher share of self-employment among older labour force participants. This pattern of higher self-employment rates at the end of the labour market career may reflect lower rates of retirement among the self-employed compared to employees, as well as transitions into self-employment at older ages. In this paper, we use data from four waves of the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA), spanning the period 2010-2016, to examine both the characteristics of the older self-employed in Ireland and the determinants of transitions in employment states at older age. We find that the higher proportion of self-employed people at older ages in Ireland results from lower retirement rates among the self-employed and not from transitions from employment to self-employment. This is in contrast to other countries such as the US where transitions into self-employment are more prevalent. We find that the self-employed are older, more likely to be male, and significantly less likely to have any form of supplementary pension cover than the employed. These lower retirement rates and lower degrees of pension cover suggest that standard approaches to pension provision may be less effective in proving attractive to the self-employed in Ireland

Blood lactate in yellowfin tuna, Neothunnus macropterus, and skipjack, Katsuwonus pelamis, following capture and tagging

ENGLISH: The staff of the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission for several years has been investigating the life history, population structure, behavior and ecology of the yellowfin tuna, Neothunnus macropterus, and the skipjack, Katsuwonus pelamis, in the Eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean. The tagging and subsequent recovery of these tropical tunas, to provide information on population structure, migrations, mortality rates and growth rates, are important aspects of these investigations. Broadhead (1959) and Schaefer, Chatwin and Broadhead (1961) emphasize the many difficulties involved in tagging these extremely active yet delicate fish and give considerable evidence to suggest that tagging mortality is high, perhaps as great as 60 to 80 per cent. The latter authors suggest that the rather high mortality at tagging is related to the effects of hyperactivity brought about by the tagging operation. SPANISH: El personal de la Comisión Interamericana del Atún Tropical ha estado investigando durante varios años la historia natural, la estructura de la población, los hábitos y la ecología del atún aleta amarilla, Neothunnus macropterus, y del barrilete, Katsuwonus pelamis, en el Océano Pacífico Oriental Tropical. La marcación y el subsiguiente recobro de estos atunes tropicales, lo que da información sobre la estructura de la población, los movimientos migratorios y las tasas de crecimiento y de mortalidad, son importantes aspectos de estas investigaciones. Broadhead (1959) y Schaefer, Chatwin y Broadhead (1961) destacan las muchas dificultades que hay para marcar estos peces activos en extremo pero delicados, y proporcionan considerable evidencia que sugiere que la mortalidad por la marcación es bastante alta, siendo quizás de 60 a 80 por ciento. Los autores citados sugieren que esta elevada mortalidad por la marcación está relacionada con los efectos de la hiperactividad producida por la operación de marcación

Developing an Early Childhood Teacher Workforce Development Strategy for Rural and Remote Communities

The North West Early Childhood and Primary Teacher Workforce Development Strategy offers students in the Pilbara and Kimberley the opportunity to enrol in a Western Australian University’s fully accredited Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood and Primary) part time and externally – so they can continue to live and work in their communities. The Western Australian Department of Education and Training (WA DET) and the Commonwealth Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) have funded the project, enabling the University to provide mentoring support and provision for Recognition of Prior Learning, on a case-by-case basis, depending on their individual experience and levels of skill. On completion of the course students will be fully qualified to teach from Kindergarten to Year 7. Added to this they will be able to bring their own knowledge of their unique communities, languages and cultures to their teaching

What Elderly Adults Do to Cope with Feelings of Shyness: A Content Analysis and Evaluation of Self-Selected Coping Strategies

Previous research has documented a consistent pattern of the self-selected strategies that shy adolescents (Carducci et al. 2003; Carducci, Elbedour, and Alsubie 2015) and adults (Carducci 2009; Carducci and Bocchiaro 2011) use to deal with their shyness. The purpose of the present study was to extend this previous research by attempting to identify and assess the self-selected strategies used by elderly adults to deal with shyness. The participants in the present study were 95 individuals (25 males and 70 females, with mean ages of 59.9 and 56.3 years, respectively) who completed a self-report inventory examining various intrapersonal and interpersonal dimensions of shyness. Consistent with previous research, the most frequently used strategies by elderly adults to deal with shyness tended to include “forced extraversion” (e.g., willfully going to social events), “cognitive self-reassurance” (e.g., self-affirming statements to build confidence), “sought professional help” (e.g., counseling and psychotherapy), and “educational extraversion” (e.g., read self-help book). The overall pattern of results documents the extent to which elderly adults respond to shyness in a manner similar to shy adolescents and adults. Suggestions for how shy elderly adults might improve the effectiveness of these self-selected strategies for dealing with shyness are also presented