Search

Living on the Edge: An American Generation’s Journey through the Twentieth Century (University of Chicago Press, 2021) tells the story of the rarely studied 1900 generation, from their social origins to their old age, as they coped with and adapted to the revolutionary changes of the last century. Using longitudinal data from the Berkeley Guidance Study, the authors followed 420 parents (210 couples) born between 1885 and 1908, all of whom had children born in Berkeley between 1928–29. The analyses, which often challenge conventional wisdom, reveal their status as a “hinge generation,” or bridge, between past and present in their educational, work, and family experiences. Following highlights from the authors, four scholars offer critical commentary on the book. Matt Nelson addresses challenges related to analyzing kinship networks and patterns of economic assistance across the Great Depression era, pointing to measurement limitations that obscure important forms of aid. Kelly Condit-Shrestha raises concerns related to race and ethnicity, especially the absence of Black, American Indian, Chinese, Japanese, and Hispanic persons in the original study, as well as to westward migration, American Empire, and white-settler colonialism. Silvia Pedraza addresses crucial social class differences (middle class versus working class) in the expectations and experiences of women, calling for greater clarity in the relationship between women’s roles and notions of “respectability.” Finally, Evan Roberts takes up some of the complex methodological issues involved in leveraging historical data to understand the life course and identifying the uniquely disruptive nature of social change across generations and countries.

This chapter reflects on the twelve-year Swiss research program, “Overcoming vulnerability: Life course perspectives” (LIVES). The authors are longstanding members of its scientific advisory committee. They highlight the program’s major accomplishments, identify key ingredients of the program’s success as well as some of its challenges, and raise promising avenues for future scholarship. Their insights will be of particular interest to those who wish to launch similar large-scale collaborative enterprises. LIVES has been a landmark project in advancing the conceptualization, measurement, and analysis of vulnerability over the life course. The foundation it has provided will direct the next era of scholarship toward even greater specificity: in understanding the conditions under which vulnerability matters, for whom, when, and how. In a process-oriented life-course perspective, vulnerability is not viewed as a persistent or permanent condition but rather as a dormant condition of the social actor, activated in particular situations and contexts.

This article presents the results of three studies that examine how the perceived opinions of others are related to sexual minorities’ support for social change toward greater equality. Results of two cross-sectional studies (Study 1: N = 1,220; Study 2: N = 904) reveal that perceived intolerance (i.e., perceived intolerant societal norms) is indirectly related to intentions to engage in collective action in both negative and positive ways: the negative effect was mediated by lower perceptions of perceived efficacy; positive effects were mediated by greater anger (about the legal situation and public opinion) and greater perceived need for a movement. Study 3 ( N = 408) replicates this conflicting effect with a delayed outcome measure by showing that perceived intolerant norms were indirectly, both negatively and positively, associated with actual collective action engagement. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our expanded social identity model of collective action.

It is common to interpret transitions as individual experiences that are largely the result of personal choices and behaviors or that are being worked out through individual processes. A foundational tenet of a Doing Transitions framework is that transitions are shaped and produced through social practices and are therefore not individual but relational – constantly co-produced or shared with, conditioned by, or otherwise involving multiple others. As such, a Doing Transitions framework makes visible the ways in which social interactions and processes create or reify individual and group differences, including how transition processes and outcomes are entangled in dynamics of power and empowerment, inequalities, politics and the welfare state. Instead of being seen as fixed entities, transitions are viewed as processual, dynamic, situated, and interwoven. This chapter makes an innovative contribution to the literature by systematizing this shift in observing and analyzing transitions. It recalls some core aspects of the theoretical turn offered by relational approaches and, against this backdrop, offers five distinct patterns of relationality and draws upon chapters of this book to illustrate how the science and practice of transitions can be advanced by leveraging these patterns of relationality.

Life courses and the transitions that mark them are highly complex phenomena of social reproduction. Past research has been driven by institutional actors and policymakers concerned with mitigating problems such as social disadvantage and risks of exclusion. It has tried to reduce complexity to make it easier to observe and measure the effects of transitions on individual life trajectories. This chapter joins several other recent attempts to better address the complexities of life course by introducing a new framework – Doing Transitions – for understanding life course transitions, which also provides a foundation for the chapters of this book. This framework is inspired by a praxeological perspective, which takes as its starting point the proposition that transitions do not simply exist but are constantly constituted through social practices and the interrelation of social discourses, institutional regulation, and individual processes of learning, education, and coping. After describing the doing transitions framework, this chapter provides a brief overview of the volume and its contributions, which are organized around three themes: institutions and organizations; times and normativities; and materialities, such as bodies, spaces, and artefacts.

OBJECTIVES: Subjective cognitive complaints may be an early indicator of Alzheimer’s disease pathology and related dementias that can be detectable prior to objective, performance-based decline. Negative and positive affective states (NA and PA, respectively) are established psychosocial correlates of cognition in older adulthood and have demonstrated capacity for meaningful within-person fluctuations based on person-environment interactions, age, and measurement approach. METHOD: We utilized data from a 100-day, microlongitudinal study of 105 community-dwelling older adults (M(age)=63.19, SD=7.80, Range=52–88) to explore within- and between-person associations between high and low arousal NA and PA, and memory- and attention-related complaints. RESULTS: For memory-related complaints, those who reported experiencing greater NA-high arousal had increased forgetfulness (OR=2.23, 95%CI: 1.11–4.49, p

Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, we examine how work and family goals of young men and women changed from before to after the Great Recession and how these changes differed for thos...

Negative affect (NA) and positive affect (PA) are established modifiable psychosocial correlates of cognitive health and have demonstrated capacity for meaningful within-person fluctuations based on person–environment interactions, age, and measurement approach. Previous research has shown NA is associated with increased response time inconsistency (RTI), an early performance-based indicator of cognitive health and aging. It is unclear, however, whether PA is associated with RTI and whether affect-RTI associations exist within persons over time or change as individuals get older. We utilized data from a measurement burst study (Cognition, Health, and Aging Project) to explore within- and between-person associations between affect and RTI in community-dwelling older adults ( N = 111, M = 80.04 years, SD = 6.30). Affect and RTI were assessed on 6 days over a 2-week period, every 6 months for 2 years. Results revealed a significant association between NA-low arousal and RTI within persons over time. RTI was higher on sessions when NA-low arousal was higher than usual ( b = .21, 95% CI [0.08, 0.35], p < .01). This association decreased in magnitude over time ( b = −.09, 95% CI [−0.14, −0.03], p < .001), ultimately resulting in increased NA-low arousal being associated with decreased RTI 2 years later ( b = −.14, 95% CI [−0.27, −0.01], p < .05). No PA-RTI associations emerged. The results suggest efforts focused on maximizing resource allocation and personalizing cognitive health efforts should consider for whom and when mitigating NA may be maximally beneficial to daily cognition, whereas additional work is needed to determine influences from PA.

Purpose Engagement in policy is an essential public health service, with state legislatures serving as important arenas for activity on issues affecting children and families. However, a gap in communication often exists between policymakers and public health researchers who have the research knowledge to inform policy issues. We describe one tool for researchers to better leverage public health research to inform state legislative policymaking on issues of relevance to children and families. Description The Oregon Family Impact Seminar (OFIS), adapted from the Policy Institute for Family Impact Seminars, applies a systematic process to bring a synthesis of research findings on public health issues to state legislators using a six-step process: (1) identify candidate topics, (2) recruit legislative champions, (3) select the topic, (4) identify and prepare speakers, (5) host the presentations, and (6) develop and disseminate a research brief as a follow-up contact. Assessment Use of this model in Oregon has produced policy impact; for example, the 2015 presentation, "Two-Generation Approaches to Reduce Poverty," prompted ongoing dialogue culminating in a new statute to increase Earned Income Tax Credit for parents with young children. This approach also has strengthened relationships among researchers and legislators, which serves to streamline the OFIS process. Conclusion This model is an effective vehicle for leveraging public health research findings to inform state-level policy. This model also serves to connect researchers with opportunities to engage with policymakers to address significant public health problems, particularly those addressing social, economic, and environmental determinants of health for children and families.

Staff members in youth correctional facilities (YCFs) serve as primary adults in the lives of incarcerated youth. They are charged with promoting positive development, supporting rehabilitation, enforcing security, and holding youth accountable. YCF staff members not only control the daily lives of confined youth but also affect the incarceration experience and treatment outcomes. Consequently, they play crucial roles in implementing juvenile justice policies and are largely responsible for the youth authority's rehabilitation efforts. However, limited research examines the perspectives of YCF staff members about incarcerated young people, and no known study has explicitly asked about their potentially different perspectives on boys and girls. Views of staff about the gendered attributes of the youth they supervise have the potential to shape the gender identities and beliefs of boys and girls in ways that reproduce gender stereotypes and norms, which may impact rehabilitation and treatment. This qualitative analyses of 58 in-depth interviews found that YCF staff in the United States characterize boys and girls in very different ways, with a focus on aspects of communication, engagement, and conflict with staff and peers. These perspectives bring important insights and implications for the rehabilitation efforts of the juvenile justice system.

Recent years seem to have been accompanied by great uncertainty and precarity in the United States and around the world: whether political strife within and between nations, volatility of economic ...

Drawing on data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), this study examines change and stability in personal goal appraisals among German young adults aged 18–29 from 2008, the depth of the Great Recession, to 2012, into the recovery period ( N = 3,292). Young adults in Germany, particularly young male workers, were greatly affected by the recession. We examine adaptation in personal appraisals of family, work, leisure, and self-fulfillment goals. Latent transition analysis revealed two profiles of goal adaptation, which differed mainly on the significance of family formation goals (low vs. high). Transitions between the latent profiles over time were less common. Females, older participants, partnered, and employed respondents were more likely to be classified into the high family formation profile. The high family formation profile was also associated with higher levels of life satisfaction and satisfaction with family life, yet simultaneously with lower levels of satisfaction with work and more concerns about the general economy at the onset of the recession. Furthermore, results do not reveal that family formation goals were relinquished over the recession years in favor of self-fulfillment or work-related goals. The high degree of stability in goal appraisals suggests that holding on to family formation goals was important for the well-being of young adults, and that maintaining high aspirations for multiple goals may have protected young people from the effects of economic strain. These findings are discussed in light of the unique aspects of German context.

The transition to adulthood became more precarious in the United States and many other countries during the Great Recession of the late 2000s. We investigate perceived social trust and social integration – and the relationship between the two – during this period. We draw on longitudinal data from the U.S. Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) to examine social trust and social integration among young adults (aged 18 to 25; n = 728) before, during, and after the nadir of the recession. Cross-lagged models were estimated to assess the reciprocal relationship between a variety of concepts related to social trust and social integration among young adults at four time points: 2005; 2007; 2009; and 2011. Findings indicate that social trust and social integration fluctuated over time but surprisingly did not uniformly decrease during the economic recession. Rather, social trust was highest among young adults during the recession, and was especially predictive of feeling connected to a community and having greater confidence that one has something of value to contribute to society. Additionally, stronger feelings of self-worth were associated with higher social trust and greater confidence in society. Results highlight that investments in social trust and social integration may be mutually beneficial, and that social trust and social integration are robust and were not jeopardized as youth entered adulthood during a significant recession.

The investment model of commitment has been used to understand relationship maintenance and dissolution across a variety of populations and relationship types. The current study used data from the Project on Partner Dynamics (POPD), a cohort study of young adults involved in nonmarital sexual relationships in the Los Angeles area, to test whether and how the investment model of commitment processes predicts individuals' self-reported categorizations of their relationships over time. We examined (1) how relationship categorizations are associated with variables outlined by the investment model and (2) whether model variables predict changes in relationship categorization over time. We found that changes in relationship self-categorization were associated with simultaneous changes in investment model variables, and that the model largely predicts the likelihood of future changes in relational self-categorization. These results are the first to examine how the investment model prospectively predicts the progression or regression of relationships beyond relationship dissolution.

In addition to genetic data, precision medicine research gathers information about three factors that modulate gene expression: lifestyles, environments, and communities. The relevant research tools—epidemiology, environmental assessment, and socioeconomic analysis—are those of public health sciences rather than molecular biology. Because these methods are designed to support inferences and interventions addressing population health, the aspirations of this research are expanding from individualized treatment toward precision prevention in public health. The purpose of this review is to explore the emerging goals and challenges of such a shift to help ensure that the genomics community and public policy makers understand the ethical issues at stake in embracing and pursuing precision prevention. Two emerging goals bear special attention in this regard: (a) public health risk reduction strategies, such as screening, and (b) the application of genomic variation studies to understand and reduce health disparities among population groups.

This paper investigates how groups of ‘citizen scientists’ in non-traditional settings and primarily online networks claim to be challenging conventional genomic research processes and norms. Although these groups are highly diverse, they all distinguish their efforts from traditional university- or industry-based genomic research as being ‘participant-driven’ in one way or another. Participant-driven genomic research (PDGR) groups often work from ‘labs’ that consist of servers and computing devices as much as wet lab apparatus, relying on information-processing software for data-driven, discovery-based analysis rather than hypothesis-driven experimentation. We interviewed individuals from a variety of efforts across the expanding ecosystem of PDGR, including academic groups, start-ups, activists, hobbyists, and hackers, in order to compare and contrast how they relate their stated objectives, practices, and political and moral stances to institutions of expert scientific knowledge production. Results reveal that these groups, despite their diversity, share commitments to promoting alternative modes of housing, conducting, and funding genomic research and, ultimately, sharing knowledge. In doing so, PDGR discourses challenge existing approaches to research governance as well, especially the regulation, ethics, and oversight of human genomic information management. Interestingly, the reaction of the traditional genomics research community to this revolutionary challenge has not been negative: in fact, the community seems to be embracing the ethos espoused by PDGR, at the highest levels of science policy. As conventional genomic research assimilates the ethos of PDGR, the movement’s ‘democratizing’ views on research governance are likely to become normalized as well, creating new tensions for science policy and research ethics.

Is there a “double standard” (i.e., a harsher judgment) in the perceived ages at which women and men reach old age, and have these judgments changed over time? We use European Social Survey data from 23 countries in 2006 and newly released data from 16 of those countries in 2018. In both 2006 and 2018, men typically assign women substantially earlier ages than women themselves do. In some places, however, men also give themselves lower ages than women give them. With respect to when women become old, the differential views of men and women are persistent. So is the fact that women differentiate less between the sexes¬–though men differentiate less in 2018 relative to 2006. We use multilevel modeling to examine variation explained by both individual characteristics and country indicators of demographic and policy contexts. Findings underscore the significance of the double standard in cultural constructions of aging.

Much is known about the mental health of combat Vietnam Veterans, but less is known about Persian Gulf and post-9/11 veterans and how they compare to those from earlier eras. Using data from an online survey of Oregon veterans, we examine how PTSD symptoms differ by combat exposure across these three cohorts. The sample (N=167, Mage=57.86, SD=12.09), was largely composed of White (88%), male (69%) Veterans. Most served in the Persian Gulf (41%), followed by Vietnam (36%) and post-9/11 (23%) eras. ANCOVAs showed significant cohort differences in PTSD, after controlling for severity of combat exposure and demographics (age, gender, education, income) (F(2, 157) = 4.24, p < .05). Post-9/11 veterans had significantly lower PTSD symptom severity than Vietnam-era veterans but were comparable to Persian Gulf. There were no cohort differences for noncombat veterans. Future research should investigate why Vietnam veterans continue to have worse mental health than younger veteran cohorts. Part of a symposium sponsored by the Aging Veterans: Effects of Military Service across the Life Course Interest Group.

Housing is central factor for health and well-being in later life. Many countries have implemented ageing in place policies, but they tend to neglect the dynamic nature and heterogeneity of the ageing process. Housing needs change as people grow older, and experience different transitions across their life courses. Studies have demonstrated relationships between housing and health and wellbeing in later life on the one hand and life transitions and health and wellbeing in later life on the other hand. However, research on life transitions in combination with objective and perceived housing in relation to indicators of good ageing is scarce. Hence, the symposium aims to explore the dynamic relationship between housing and life transitions and how this relationship impacts health, well-being, functioning, and social/neighborhood participation along the process of ageing. First, Anna Wanka and Frank Oswald investigate how older adults’ relationship to their home is interlinked with life-course transitions and social exclusion, presenting case studies from three countries. Maya Kylén explores the meaning of home and health dynamics throughout the retirement transition among the ‘younger old’ in Sweden. Kieran Walsh asks how ‘sense of home’ interrelates with risks entailed in the transitions of bereavement, dementia on-set and forced migration. Finally, Helen Barrie discusses the transition to homelessness based on the HILDA survey to identify the profile(s) of older people at risk of homelessness in Australia. Finally, Richard A. Settersten will discuss the four contributions.

The chapter sets the foundation for the exploration of precarity and aging from a range of disciplinary backgrounds, critical perspectives, and contexts. It begins by outlining the concept of precarity and precariousness in fields such as geography and labour studies, examines how the concept has been applied to late life, and considers its relevance to the field of ageing. It establishes precarity as lens for drawing attention to insecurity and risk in later life. The chapter then poses a series of questions to guide reflection and ground the debates pursued by authors throughout the book, followed by a brief overview of the chapters ahead.

Precarity is at the heart of human experience. In every period of life, all people would seem to face some minimal types and levels of precarity simply in being alive and in having to navigate an ever-changing world. At the same time, precarity is particularistic: some kinds of precarity may be unique in different periods of life, and some people and groups have more of it, or more serious types, than others. To understand the sources and consequences of precarity in later life, it is important to understand the life course: how individuals’ past experiences affect later ones, and how social forces open and close opportunities and structure pathways through life. A life course perspective helps reveal where, when, how, and for whom precarity occurs, and what legacies it carries in the lives of individuals, families, and societies. The chapter covers 12 key lessons about how life course dynamics matter in creating, minimizing, or eliminating the precarity of ageing.

The chapter summarises the importance of ideas associated with precarity and precariousness for understanding later life. The discussion is framed within the context of the development of critical gerontology. The chapter considers how the concept of precarity extends our understanding of the range of insecurities faced in later life. It also considers how the example of a human rights perspective can be used to challenge some of the vulnerabilities experienced by older people.

We start with the observation that aging gerontologists often engage in two distinct discourses on aging-one public and one private. This separation entails "othering," which reproduces agism and stigma. Based on personal experience, insight from colleagues and writers, and concepts from symbolic interaction perspectives, we argue that becoming old to some degree involves becoming a stranger. Before reaching old age, both of us have been in the position of strangers due to social experiences that left us "off the line" or "on the margins." Examples are crossing social borders related to nations, class structures, gender, race, health status, and generations. Our stories illustrate how aging is more than personal. It is interpersonal-shaped by social history, policies, interdependence in relationships, and the precariousness of old age. Such phenomena often show sharp contrasts in the interpersonal worlds and social experiences of women and men. Reflecting on our own journeys as life course migrants leaves us acutely aware of both the social problems and potential promises of aging.

Since the late 1980s, the human genetics and genomics research community has been promising to usher in a "new paradigm for health care"-one that uses molecular profiling to identify human genetic variants implicated in multifactorial health risks. After the completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003, a wide range of stakeholders became committed to this "paradigm shift," creating a confluence of investment, advocacy, and enthusiasm that bears all the marks of a "scientific/intellectual social movement" within biomedicine. Proponents of this movement usually offer four ways in which their approach to medical diagnosis and health care improves upon current practices, arguing that it is more "personalized," "predictive," "preventive," and "participatory" than the medical status quo. Initially, it was personalization that seemed to best sum up the movement's appeal. By 2012, however, powerful opinion leaders were abandoning "personalized medicine" in favor of a new label: "precision medicine." The new label received a decisive seal of approval when, in January 2015, President Obama unveiled plans for a national "precision medicine initiative" to promote the development and use of genomic tools in health care.

Incarcerated fathers often experience early life risk factors that cumulate over time and are compounded by the negative repercussions of imprisonment. These dynamics may contribute to the intergenerational transmission of risk and help explain the persistent link between paternal incarceration and poor child outcomes. Contact between incarcerated fathers and their children can benefit them both, but there is limited research on the factors that affect father–child contact. Using data from the 2004 Survey of Inmates in State Correctional Facilities and a sample of fathers with at least one minor child ( N = 5,809), the authors found that incarcerated fathers who experienced more childhood risk factors had less frequent contact with their children. A variety of inmate characteristics were also significant predictors of father–child contact. Parenting interventions could address incarcerated fathers’ childhood risk experiences, which likely undermine the development and maintenance of family relationships, to help them develop prosocial skills.

The broad construct of subjective age is informed by four theoretical domains – self-perceptions of aging, old age stereotypes, age identity, and awareness of age related change (Kotter-Gruhn, Kornadt, & Stephan, 2016). Each of the theoretical domains is distinct yet interconnected, and analyzing how gender operates within each yields a more nuanced understanding of gender’s influence on subjective age. In our presentation, we will offer a review of researchers’ consideration of gender in studies of each subjective age theoretical domain, describing (1) how gender has and has not been included, (2) key findings when gender has been included, and (3) insights into how researchers might better include – or even center – gender when studying each domain. In so doing, we highlight the contributions of past scholarship on gender and subjective age and offer insights for future studies on the topic.