Aging as Readiness and Wariness

Gerontology concerns itself with events in time, either things that have happened or things that may happen. In the former, our work is to describe and explain. In the latter, the occurrence of events is unknowable, but we can nonetheless study people’s imagination of them (how it arises) and how that imagination shapes behavior and attitudes in the present (how it matters). The subjective experience of aging, thus, is one of looking ever forward—welcoming, waiting for, or hoping to avoid what the future may hold. This personal experience of aging toggles between readiness and wariness of the time ahead, one stance incurring or else eclipsing the other. Transitions are fruitful opportunities to study people’s readiness and wariness toward the time ahead, for example, widowhood, the prospect of retirement, and residential relocation. This is when people are more likely to conjure, in their minds, whom they may become. Arguably, the fundamental transition that looms and occupies aging minds (and the minds of loved ones) is not death but rather the potential passage into the “fourth age” of frailty and vulnerability. This prospect hovers above all else: its occurrence increasingly likely but its timing uncertain. About this prospect, gerontology has the capacity, nay the obligation, to promote narratives about later life that shape wariness and readiness for the practical future (e.g., financial matters, bodily care, living arrangements) as well as for the emotional reception of an old age coming ever closer.

Location, Location, Location? Comparing Release Plan Quality, Community Experience, and Recidivism Rate of High-Risk Offenders Released to a Fresh Start or Returning to the Devil They Know

<p>When offenders are released from prison, does it matter where they go? To answer this question, this study investigated the effects of residential relocation on 282 high-risk male offenders released from New Zealand prisons. Offenders were initially divided into those returning to their old neighbourhoods and those released to a new location. A second division created three groups: offenders released to a new location were further divided into those making a voluntary residential relocation, and those making a residential relocation non-voluntarily. Offender groups were compared on demographic and criminal history variables, release plan quality, experiences at two months in the community, and recidivism. Recidivism indices were breach of release condition, reconviction, violent reconviction, and reimprisonment over the first year post-release. Release destination and release plan quality coding protocols were developed. Results indicated that parolees returning to their old neighbourhoods and those released to a new location reoffended at approximately the same rate. However, parolees relocating under duress breached conditions and reoffended at a higher rate than both parolees making a voluntary residential relocation and those returning to their old neighbourhoods. Significant group differences in release plan quality and experience in the community were few, but suggested that making a voluntary residential relocation may lead to better parole experiences, and that making a residential relocation under duress may lead to worse parole experiences, than returning to a familiar location. Implications, applications, and limitations of the study are discussed, along with possible directions for future research.</p>

Location, Location, Location? Comparing Release Plan Quality, Community Experience, and Recidivism Rate of High-Risk Offenders Released to a Fresh Start or Returning to the Devil They Know

<p>When offenders are released from prison, does it matter where they go? To answer this question, this study investigated the effects of residential relocation on 282 high-risk male offenders released from New Zealand prisons. Offenders were initially divided into those returning to their old neighbourhoods and those released to a new location. A second division created three groups: offenders released to a new location were further divided into those making a voluntary residential relocation, and those making a residential relocation non-voluntarily. Offender groups were compared on demographic and criminal history variables, release plan quality, experiences at two months in the community, and recidivism. Recidivism indices were breach of release condition, reconviction, violent reconviction, and reimprisonment over the first year post-release. Release destination and release plan quality coding protocols were developed. Results indicated that parolees returning to their old neighbourhoods and those released to a new location reoffended at approximately the same rate. However, parolees relocating under duress breached conditions and reoffended at a higher rate than both parolees making a voluntary residential relocation and those returning to their old neighbourhoods. Significant group differences in release plan quality and experience in the community were few, but suggested that making a voluntary residential relocation may lead to better parole experiences, and that making a residential relocation under duress may lead to worse parole experiences, than returning to a familiar location. Implications, applications, and limitations of the study are discussed, along with possible directions for future research.</p>

Computer-Mediated Communication and Child/Adolescent Friendship Quality after Residential Relocation

The experience of residential relocation can affect children and adolescents in various ways. It often affects their close social relationships, and this is especially true when these individuals are no longer in close proximity to their family members and friends. Although face-to-face communication may be limited after relocation, computer-mediated communication can assist in maintaining and developing existing relationships. It may even help individuals initiate new social relationships. In the present study, we investigated the role of communication behavior with friends for perceived friendship quality among children and adolescents who recently experienced residential relocation. Based on a representative survey study of families in Germany, we selected parents having moved with their child (8 to 14 years) to another village or town within the last 24 months. In total, 57 parents who had recently moved – majority of whom were mothers – allowed their child to participate in the phone interview. These participants were, on average, 11 years of age, and 58% of them were male. The children answered questions about their communication behavior and the friendships they had with their three current best friends. Using multilevel analysis, we found that children and adolescents who more often communicated face-to-face with their friends also more intensively used computer-mediated technologies to stay in touch. However, the findings further revealed that computer-mediated communication has the potential to remove limitations in existing friendships in the event of relocation. In the following discussion, implications are examined regarding the role of new communication technologies for families with enhanced mobility requirements.

Modeling household relocation choice: An egalitarian bargaining approach and a comparative study

Accompanying the rapid urban expansion and fast population growth is a progressive trend of residential relocation in developing countries, which necessitates a thorough understanding of households’ relocation decisions. Previous studies generally treated home relocation as an individual or unitary household decision, ignoring the interactive and collaborative decision-making mechanisms that household members may adopt when making group decisions. In view of this research gap, this study examines the feasibility of applying the egalitarian bargaining approach to simulating households’ group decisions concerning residential relocation and further compares its performance with the Nash bargaining and the conventional utilitarian approach. Moreover, the study experiments with the possibility of accommodating three possible group decision-making mechanisms using the latent class modeling framework. The proposed modeling approaches are applied to an empirical case study in Beijing. Results show that models based on the egalitarian and Nash bargaining principles have better model fits than the utilitarian principle, suggesting the importance of considering egalitarianism when modeling household members’ collaborative choice on residential relocation. Moreover, the model based on Nash bargaining has the best model fit, indicating that instead of merely seeking egalitarianism or utilitarianism, household members are more likely to strike a balance between fairness and efficiency.