214 research outputs found
Aging parents and their middle-aged children: demographic and psychosocial challenges
The aim of this paper is to investigate the impact of an extended lifespan of parents on middle-aged women and men from a demographic, sociological and psychological perspective. Based on Swiss data, three main research questions are investigated and discussed in three different sections: (a) How far has the common lifespan of children and parents been extended and how does it affect kinship structures? (b) How accurate is the term of "sandwich generationâ in this context? (c) Which are the psychological concomitantsâin terms of filial maturityâof being reinvolved with one's old parents in mid-life? The demographic analyses illustrate a considerable extension of common lifespan of children and parents. Combined with low fertility rates this results in rapidly increasing parent-support ratios. A sociological approach analysing the concept of "sandwich generationâ indicates that, for women, a new kind of double burden (professional work and family care) is more widespread than being âsandwiched' between the youngest and the oldest generation. Finally, in the third section, results are reported from a longitudinal study of middle-aged persons living in different social contexts (such as living or not living with a partner and/or children) on the intrapsychic concomitants of becoming reinvolved with one's parents. The response patterns reveal a considerable intergenerational ambivalence. Although the possibility to help old parents depends heavily on living context and is a question of available resources, the willingness to help is also closely related to psychological variables such as attachmen
Biographical Transitions From a Midlife Perspective
Recent advances in life-span developmental psychology suggest that individual lives can be characterized as a series of interrelated transitions. The question of when and how past transitions have been experienced and how they affect subsequent ageing may be critical to understanding midlife adjustment. The aim of this study is (a) to investigate timing and emotional valence of experienced normative and silent transitions of middle-aged persons, and (b) to discover the impact of past transitions on current well-being and on anticipation of old age. Analysis of interview data from 268 persons suggest a considerable stability in the basic structure of human biography, but also evidence for age group, gender, and personality differences in the subjective perception of the life-course, adjustment and future anticipation in middle age. Emotional valence of puberty and that of personality variables were found to be important predictors of actual psychological well-being and anticipation of old ag
Relationships and well-being in later life â preliminary results of IP 212 - longitudinal survey (wave 3)
Personality and health in middle age as predictors for well-being and health in old age
In research literature, the question to what extent specific personality traits and health functioning in midlife can predict physical and psychological well-being in old age is still discussed controversially. The present study aims to shed light on this issue by using data from the Basel Longitudinal Study on Ageing. Structural equation modelling was performed in order to test the relation between personality dimensions, namely, self-preoccupation and emotional reactivity, as well as cardiovascular functioning (blood pressure) and medication intake (tranquilizer use) in middle age on psychological and physical well-being and health as assessed in old age 24years later. Results show that high levels of self-preoccupation in middle age are negatively related to psychological and physical well-being in old age, but not to medical diagnoses. In addition, blood pressure and tranquilizer use in middle age predict physical well-being in old age; blood pressure is furthermore related to medical diagnoses. Our findings emphasize the importance for the adoption of a life-span approach and further interdisciplinary prospective studies in order to better predict pathways to well-being and health in old ag
Cohort and Gender Differences in Psychosocial Adjustment to Later-Life Widowhood
Objectives. Despite the large body of literature on bereavement, little is known about the impact of sociohistorical context on individual reactions to spousal loss. This study examines the effect of marital status, time period and gender on physical and mental health, and whether reported difficulties following spousal loss differ at 2 distinctive time periods. Method. Two cohorts of older bereaved persons (n = 753) in Switzerland, surveyed in 1979 and 2011, were compared regarding their reports of difficulties related to marital loss. The bereaved spouses were also compared with a group of married contemporaries (n = 1,517) regarding subjective health and depressive symptoms. Results. Marital status and gender each have independent effects on subjective health and depressive symptoms. The effects of widowhood on subjective health differed significantly at both time points. Widowed individuals in 2011, especially women, reported fewer social and financial difficulties than their counterparts in 1979. However, the effect of widowhood on depressive symptoms and psychological difficulties did not differ significantly across time points. Discussion. Social changes in the late 20th century may be protective for older adults' physical, social, and financial well-being in the face of spousal loss, yet these changes do not alleviate widow(er)s' psychological distres
Persönliche Bilanzierung der Herausforderungen einer Verwitwung im Zeit- und Geschlechtervergleich
"Bisherige Forschung hat die Verwitwung entweder
primÀr als soziales oder als individuelles Ereignis
untersucht, selten jedoch wurden beide
Perspektiven verbunden. Zudem ist wenig darĂŒber
bekannt, inwiefern bisherige Forschungsergebnisse
Perioden- oder Kohorteneffekte wiederspiegeln.
In diesem Beitrag wird die persönliche
Bilanzierung nach der Verwitwung Àlterer
Schweizer Frauen und MĂ€nner im Geschlechterund
Zeitvergleich untersucht1.
Die Datenbasis beruht
auf Befragungen von 1.197 verwitweten
Frauen und MĂ€nnern (Alter: 65-102 Jahre), welche
1979, 1994 und 2011 durchgefĂŒhrt wurden.
WĂ€hrend sich die wirtschaftlichen und sozialen
Rahmenbedingungen nach einer Verwitwung â
namentlich bei Frauen â im Zeitvergleich verbessert
haben, zeigen sich bezĂŒglich psychischer
Herausforderungen einer Verwitwung keine periodenspezifischen
VerÀnderungen. Psychisch bleibt
der Partnerverlust auch bei gĂŒnstigen Sozialbedingungen
ein kritisches Lebensereignis, das individualisiert
bewÀltigt werden muss." (Autorenreferat)"Research on bereavement has traditionally focussed
on widowhood as either a social or individual
event, but rarely under both perspectives.
Furthermore, little is known whether existing research
results mirror period or cohort effects. The
aim of this article is to investigate constancies and
changes in the retrospective perception of the
challenges of widowhood of elderly women and
men living in different decades in Switzerland.
Data stem from three questionnaire studies with
1.197 widowed men and women (aged 65-102
years) carried out in 1979, 1994, and 2011. Results
reveal that the subjective interpretations mirror
the significant improvement of the economic
and social situation of widowed individuals in
Switzerland over the last decades, particularly for
women. In contrast, no significant time effects
can be observed with regard to the psychological
challenges of marital loss in old age (redefinition
of sense of life, feelings of loneliness). These
findings suggest, that even in good socio-economic
conditions widowhood remains psychologically
a critical life event." (author's abstract
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