Changes in the use of time and the state of health of the Russian population in the 1980s-1990s

This is an attempt to answer a question about how changes in the time use and in health the population relate to each other, what connection exists between duration and character of work and the state of health. The paper draws on the data from two rounds of time budget surveys of: 1) families who kept record of their incomes and expenditures (the RF Goskomstat, 1977-1990 – over 28 thous. families), 2) the rural population of the Novosi-birsk region (IEIE SB RAS, 1975-1999, 1400-1100 persons in each). In these rounds the “previous day” ap-proach was used. Used were also the data of questionnaire surveys and official statistics. Last 20 years are a unique period in the Russian modern history reflected in most different forms on all aspects of life, including time use, everyday activity and health of population. The analysis of relationship between time use and health was made at macro levels. Health is presented by life expectancy. Time use is presented by aggregated structure of average time budget, respectively. The assessment by respondents of changes in living conditions and in their own state is seen as a measure of social-psychological well-being of the population. The direction and degree of influence between “time use – state of health” depend on macro and micro life conditions, on social-psychological well-being of the society and individual, on the “initial’ state of health of the individuals.Time budget, everyday activity, living conditions, life expectancy, social changes

Everyday activity of rural employees in Siberia

The article presents the results of the fifth bi-seasonal survey conducted in 2004– 2005 within the framework of the longitudinal study of the time use, everyday activity and living conditions of the rural population. The study is conducted on a sample group of villages representative of the south of Siberia in rather different historical periods. The emphasis is made on changes that have taken place in the rural everyday life and on the use of time during the last two decades; in particular, in the beginning of the new century. It presents the results of the analysis of the time budgets of working women and working men and their answers to questions concerning the facts of reality, their assessments and values. In the early 2000s the working time of men increased, while their time spent on private plot production and housework decreased. Similar situation was observed in the case of women; however, the time spent on household production increased. More pronounced changes were observed among agricultural workers, especially men (increasing working time and decreasing time of housework, sleep and leisure). On the whole, there was a noticeable redistribution of time between work in the house and household production and work in the agricultural enterprise being the source of the material well-being of the rural family. The male-female difference in the total work load and leisure time has decreased

DISTANCE EDUCATION FOR PEOPLE OF THE THIRD AGE

The article raises the question of the need for a systematic study of the phenomenon of continuing education in relation to people of the third age. The source of the proposed conclusions was the analysis of the subjects of dissertation research carried out since the beginning of this century, in the title of which there is a concept of "continuing education"; information sites of research institutions dealing with continuing education, conversations with colleagues from the age cohort of 65-80 years, reflection on their own experience of self-education. The author draws attention to the fact that in the works devoted to education in the third age, attention is focused on the social, organizational aspects of teaching older people. There is no serious pedagogical analysis of education at the end of life as a consequence of the previous individual educational route traversed by a person, the cognitive activity of an aging person is not considered by modern pedagogy as an intrinsic phenomenon. There is a discrepancy between the existence of a diverse practical experience of teaching older people and the lack of a methodology for interdisciplinary research of the aging person as a subject of continuous education. The article formulates a number of promising ideas for the study and subsequent training in the design of (self)education in the third age. In particular, the idea of identifying positive cognitive potentials of older people in the context of the phenomenon of positive aging. The author emphasizes that aging is variable, and the ways of continuing education at this age should correspond to the property of variability and the limited possibility of predicting its effect. For the full-fledged education of people of the third age, specially designed training programs are necessary, taking into account the diversity of educational motivation of students, their gender and cultural characteristics, previous life and educational experience. It is necessary to rethink the role of the head (teacher), who is able to put the listener of any age in an active position of an independent "solver" of problems. The article formulates a number of questions about the educational needs and interests of older people to be studie