The Early-Life Origins of Later-Life Networks

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alyssa W Goldman
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Network Structure ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Personal Social Networks

Abstract Personal social networks profoundly influence a wide range of outcomes throughout the life course. But little research has considered how some features of individuals’ social networks may be shaped by experiences in early life. This study uses nationally representative data from the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project to examine how childhood circumstances may shape the structure of older adults’ personal social networks. The analyses show that higher childhood socioeconomic status is associated with larger network size and a more expansive, less kin-based network structure. At the same time, higher levels of family happiness in childhood are associated with greater network density and more kin-centric network composition, which may reflect greater access to social support and overall network intimacy across the life course. The results suggest that studies of the relative advantages of social network structure may benefit from contextualizing individuals’ social networks in terms of their social origins. The article discusses the need for additional research on the life-course bases of the link between childhood circumstances and later-life network properties, and what role this connection plays in shaping later-life well-being.

Social Gerontology Theories: Past, Present, and Future

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jill Suitor ◽  
Megan Gilligan ◽  
Marissa Rurka ◽  
Yifei Hou ◽  
Gulcin Con
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Interpersonal Relations ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
Public Health Medicine ◽  
Social Gerontology ◽  
Social Structural ◽  
The Life Course

Theories of social gerontology have progressed from a focus on individuals’ later-life decline to theories that emphasize the intra- and interindividual variability of later-life experiences and the ways in which such heterogeneity is conditioned by social structural, cultural, and interpersonal factors that often begin in childhood and continue to shape individuals and members of their social networks across the life course. Consistent with theories across the sciences, theories of social gerontology predict and explain real-world experiences. In the case of social gerontology, the goals of theory address a wide array of phenomena, ranging from individuals’ attitudes and motivations, social networks and social support, the actions and functions of formal organizations, the embodiment of cultural norms and stereotypes, social determinants of health, and sources of inequality throughout the life course.. As the field of social gerontology has developed, theories in the field have shown increasing complexity, particularly regarding the roles of early life course experiences, social structural positions, and interpersonal relations in explaining variations in well-being, longevity, and the quality of life across the lifespan. As part of this increased complexity, social gerontology has become increasingly cross-disciplinary, spanning disciplines such as sociology, psychology, biology, anthropology, public health, medicine, and engineering, with a strong emphasis on how each discipline can contribute to developing principles that transcend individual fields. These integrative theories of social gerontology are crucial to developing comprehensive approaches to improving the health and well-being of individuals throughout the life course. Theories of social gerontology help us comprehensively understand the aging process by emphasizing individual characteristics, social relationships, and the larger cultural contexts in which individuals’ lives are embedded.

scholarly journals Body size throughout the life-course and incident benign prostatic hyperplasia-related outcomes and nocturia

BMC Urology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Saira Khan ◽  
K. Y. Wolin ◽  
R. Pakpahan ◽  
R. L. Grubb ◽  
G. A. Colditz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Prostate Volume ◽  
Late Life ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Normal Weight ◽  
Prostatic Hyperplasia ◽  
The Life Course

Abstract Background Existing evidence suggests that there is an association between body size and prevalent Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH)-related outcomes and nocturia. However, there is limited evidence on the association between body size throughout the life-course and incident BPH-related outcomes. Methods Our study population consisted of men without histories of prostate cancer, BPH-related outcomes, or nocturia in the intervention arm of the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial (PLCO) (n = 4710). Associations for body size in early- (age 20), mid- (age 50) and late-life (age ≥ 55, mean age 60.7 years) and weight change with incident BPH-related outcomes (including self-reported nocturia and physician diagnosis of BPH, digital rectal examination-estimated prostate volume ≥ 30 cc, and prostate-specific antigen [PSA] concentration > 1.4 ng/mL) were examined using Poisson regression with robust variance estimation. Results Men who were obese in late-life were 25% more likely to report nocturia (Relative Risk (RR): 1.25, 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 1.11–1.40; p-trendfor continuous BMI < 0.0001) and men who were either overweight or obese in late-life were more likely to report a prostate volume ≥ 30 cc (RRoverweight: 1.13, 95% CI 1.07–1.21; RRobese: 1.10, 95% CI 1.02–1.19; p-trendfor continuous BMI = 0.017) as compared to normal weight men. Obesity at ages 20 and 50 was similarly associated with both nocturia and prostate volume ≥ 30 cc. Considering trajectories of body size, men who were normal weight at age 20 and became overweight or obese by later-life had increased risks of nocturia (RRnormal to overweight: 1.09, 95% CI 0.98–1.22; RRnormal to obese: 1.28, 95% CI 1.10–1.47) and a prostate volume ≥ 30 cc (RRnormal to overweight: 1.12, 95% CI 1.05–1.20). Too few men were obese early in life to examine the independent effect of early-life body size. Later-life body size modified the association between physical activity and nocturia. Conclusions We found that later-life body size, independent of early-life body size, was associated with adverse BPH outcomes, suggesting that interventions to reduce body size even late in life can potentially reduce the burden of BPH-related outcomes and nocturia.

scholarly journals Early-life circumstances and the risk of function-limiting long-term conditions in later life

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-180
Author(s):  
Matthew H. Iveson ◽  
Chris Dibben ◽  
Ian J. Deary
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Cognitive Ability ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
Functional Limitation ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Socio Economic Status ◽  
Childhood Cognitive Ability ◽  
The Life Course

Older adults are particularly prone to function-limiting health issues that adversely affect their well-being. Previous work has identified factors from across the life course –childhood socio-economic status, childhood cognitive ability and education – that predict later-life functional outcomes. However, the independence of these contributions is unclear as later-in-the-life-course predictors are themselves affected by earlier ones. The present study capitalised on the recent linkage of the Scottish Mental Survey 1947 with the Scottish Longitudinal Study, using path analyses to examine the direct and indirect associations between life-course predictors and the risk of functional limitation at ages 55 (N = 2,374), 65 (N = 1,971) and 75 (N = 1,534). The odds of reporting a function-limiting long-term condition increased across later life. At age 55, reporting a functional limitation was significantly less likely in those with higher childhood socio-economic status, higher childhood cognitive ability and higher educational attainment; these associations were only partly mediated by other predictors. At age 65, adult socio-economic status emerged as a mediator of several associations, although direct associations with childhood socio-economic status and childhood cognitive ability were still observed. At age 75, only childhood socio-economic status and adult socio-economic status directly predicted the risk of a functional limitation, particularly those associated with disease or illness. A consistent pattern and direction of associations was observed with self-rated health more generally. These results demonstrate that early-life and adult circumstances are associated with functional limitations later in life, but that these associations are partly a product of complex mediation between life-course factors.

scholarly journals PATTERNS OF WEALTH TRAJECTORY IN LATER LIFE: CRITICAL PERIOD, ACCUMULATION, AND SOCIAL MOBILITY MODELS

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S382-S382
Author(s):  
Yu-Chih Chen ◽  
Sojung Park ◽  
Nancy Morrow-Howell
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Social Mobility ◽  
Critical Period ◽  
Reference Group ◽  
Multinomial Logistic Regression ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Economic Stress ◽  
Mobility Models ◽  
The Life Course

Abstract Wealth, an important financial cushion for older adults to buffer economic stress, requires a longer time to accumulate and develop in one’s course of life. However, little is known about the trajectories of wealth in later life, and how the life course socioeconomic status (SES) may contribute to the development of wealth at old-age. This study investigated longitudinal patterns of wealth trajectory and whether SES across the life course affects these trajectories using critical period, accumulation, and social mobility models. Using data from 16,189 adults aged 51 and older from the 2004-2014 Health and Retirement Study, a growth mixture model was used to explore distinct wealth trajectories. Impacts of life course models were studied using multinomial logistic regression. Results showed that four heterogeneous latent classes of wealth were identified: Stable high (reference group), Low and increasing, Stable low, and High but decline. Disadvantaged adulthood SES, accumulated exposure to socioeconomic risks, and downward or persistent socioeconomic disadvantage over the life course were associated with Stable low, Low and increasing, and High but decline, supporting all three life course mechanisms on wealth development in later life. Evidence suggests that wealth development is heterogeneous across individuals, and a strong gradient effect of life-course SES on wealth trajectories are clearly observed. Programs and policies should address the effects of life course on wealth development to strengthen the economic well-being in later life.

scholarly journals CONTINUITY OF CAREER OVER THE LIFE COURSE ON LIFE SATISFACTION AND DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS IN LATER LIFE

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S128-S129
Author(s):  
Melanie S Hill ◽  
James E Hill ◽  
Stephanie Richardson ◽  
Jessica Brown ◽  
Jeremy B Yorgason ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Career Choice ◽  
Early Adulthood ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Identity scholars have suggested that having a unified sense of past, present, and future is related to positive well-being outcomes (Whitbourne, Sneed & Skultety, 2009). One’s occupation can have a profound influence on an individual’s identity throughout the life course (Nazar & van der Heijden, 2012). Research has looked at career mobility among younger age groups (Baiyun, Ramkissoon, Greenwood, & Hoyte, 2018); however, less is known about the impact of career stability later in life. Consistency in career choice over the life course may have positive outcomes down the line as career becomes part of an individual's identity. The current study uses the Life and Family Legacies dataset, a longitudinal state-representative sample of 3,348, to examine individual’s careers at three points in the life course: high school (projected career choice), early adulthood, and later life. Results revealed that a match of desired career in high school and actual career in early adulthood was not predictive of life satisfaction or depressive symptoms in later life. However, a match of career in early adulthood and later life was significantly related to better life satisfaction and less depressive symptoms, which was explained through higher levels of job satisfaction. This study highlights the importance of acquiring and maintaining a career that is fulfilling to the individual over the course of early adulthood to later life.

scholarly journals Early-life circumstances and their effect over the life course

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Florencia Torche
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Developmental Stages ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Critical Periods ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Life Course Approach ◽  
Life Circumstances ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Research And Policy

The idea that early-life circumstances shape people’s health, development, and well-being over the life course has gained renewed centrality in the last two decades. This renewed interest has been informed by new approaches that emphasize sensitive and critical periods during the first years of life, offer an understanding of human development as a hierarchical and cross-fertilizing process, suggest plausible mechanisms for the persistent effect of early exposures, and explore heterogeneity in effects based on environmental and biological factors. The articles included in this special issue of Population Research and Policy Review advance the field of early-life circumstances in several important dimensions. They examine the determinants and effects of noxious exposures at different developmental stages—ranging from the prenatal period to adolescence—in a variety of national settings. They offer an understanding of early-life circumstances that moves from discrete outcomes to a dynamic life-course approach, and consider diverse sources of heterogeneity in the effects of early exposures.

scholarly journals Marital Strain and Support and Subjective Well-Being in Later Life: Ascribing a Role to Early-Life Conditions

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 407-407
Author(s):  
Laura Upenieks ◽  
Yingling Liu
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Process Model ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Marital Support ◽  
Lagged Dependent Variable ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Marital Strain

Abstract Decades of research have the beneficial effects of marital support and the detrimental consequences of marital strain on health and well-being. However, we know relatively less about how circumstances in childhood—a key developmental period of the life course—influence the relational structure in which later life is embedded and any implications this may hold for well-being. We integrate the life course perspective with the stress process model to offer a framework for how childhood conditions (childhood happiness, family structure, and financial strain) moderate the relationship between marital support/strain and subjective well-being in older adulthood in potentially different ways for men and women. The consequences of marital strain may be more severe and the benefits of marital support may not be as strongly felt for those adults who experienced greater adversity during childhood. Drawing on longitudinal data from Waves 2 (2010-2011) and 3 (2015-2016) of the NSHAP project (N = 1,376), results from lagged dependent variable models suggest that marital support buffers the effect of not living with both parents in childhood on subjective well-being for men. Meanwhile, women raised in families that experienced financial hardship reported lower subjective well-being in the context of marital strain in later life. No significant interaction effects were obtained for childhood happiness. Taken together, our findings suggest that adverse experiences in childhood can be scarring, particularly in the context of strained intimate relationships. However, a supportive marriage can, in some cases, offset the effects of childhood hardship on subjective well-being in later life.

scholarly journals The Impact of Life Course Employment and Domestic Duties on the Well-Being of Retired Women and the Social Protection Systems That Frame This

2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 285-295 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Zella ◽  
Sarah Harper
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Women’S Health ◽  
Women's Health ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
The Impact

Objectives: The article addresses whether specific combinations of employment and domestic duties over the life course are associated with variations in women’s health at the time of retirement. It also explores the differences of this relationship in four European welfare states. Method: Women from three waves of SHARE (Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe) are grouped using sequence analysis. Using logistic regression models, group differences in later life depression and self-reported health are tested. Predicted probabilities are applied to analyze welfares’ differences. Results: The findings confirm that a combination of employment and domestic duties across the life course has a positive association with later life health. Being outside the labor market is detrimental for women’s health. Well-being across the life course is framed by the welfare context in which women live. Discussion: We suggest that further research is needed to explore the mechanisms linking work and care trajectories to poor health and enable appropriate interventions.

Religion, Aging, and Public Health

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeff Levin ◽  
Ellen Idler
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Perinatal Care ◽  
Geriatric Medicine ◽  
Healthcare Delivery ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Age Cohorts ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Health And Well Being

Religion, in both its personal and institutional forms, is a significant force influencing the health of populations across the life course. Decades of research have documented that expressions of faith and the practice of spiritual pursuits exhibit significantly protective effects for physical and mental health, psychological well-being, and population rates of morbidity, mortality, and disability. This finding has been observed across sociodemographic categories, across nations and cultures, across specific disease outcomes, and regardless of one’s religious affiliation. A salutary religious effect on health and well-being is especially apparent among older adults, but is also observed across generations and age cohorts. Moreover, this association has been persistently found for various religious indicators, including attendance at worship services, prayer and other private practices, subjective feelings of religiosity, and numerous measures of religious behaviors, attitudes, beliefs, and experiences. Finally, a protective or primary preventive effect of religion has been observed in clinical, epidemiologic, social, and behavioral studies, regardless of research design or methodology. Faith-based organizations also have contributed to the health of populations, in partnerships or alliances with medical institutions and public health agencies, many of these dating back many decades. Examples include congregational health promotion and disease prevention programs and community-wide interventions, especially targeting the health and well-being of older congregants and those in less well-resourced communities, as well as faith–health partnerships in healthcare delivery, public health policymaking, and legislative advocacy for healthcare reform. Religious denominations and institutions also play a substantial role in global health development throughout the world, individually and in partnership with national health ministries, transnational medical mission organizations, and established nongovernmental agencies. These efforts focus on a wide range of goals and objectives, including building public health infrastructure, addressing ongoing environmental health needs, and responding to acute public health challenges and crises, such as infectious disease outbreaks. Constituencies include at-risk populations and cohorts throughout the life course, and programming ranges from perinatal care to maternal and child healthcare to geriatric medicine.

scholarly journals The Long Shadow of Youth: Girls’ Transition From Full-Time Education and Later-Life Subjective Well-Being in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Baowen Xue ◽  
Penny Tinkler ◽  
Anne McMunn
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
English Longitudinal Study

Abstract Objectives To investigate whether the timing and nature of women’s transitions out of full-time (FT) education are related to later-life subjective well-being and the life-course experiences that might explain any associations seen. Methods Data are from women in Wave 3 of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing who have participated in the life history interview and were aged 50+ at the interview (n = 3,889). Using multichannel sequence analysis, we identified 6 types of transition out of FT education (ages 14–26). Regression models were used to examine associations between transition types and life satisfaction, quality of life, and depressive symptoms at age 50+. Results Women who made early transitions to married parenthood and FT domestic labor had lower levels of well-being on all 3 later-life well-being outcomes (p &lt; .01), compared to women who made later transitions to family life and remained employed. Women who remained single up to age 26 also had lower life satisfaction (p &lt; .05) and quality of life (p &lt; .01) in later life than their counterparts who married and had children. These associations were explained by the life-course socioeconomic and relationship pathways. Advantaged childhood socioeconomic circumstances and higher educational qualifications set “Later Marriage and Later employment” women apart onto advantaged trajectories and a better quality of life later (p &lt; .01). Discussion The timing and nature of exits from FT education played a pivotal role in setting people onto life-course trajectories that influence well-being in later life for this older generation of women.

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