scholarly journals Taking a life Course Perspective on Social Assistance use in Canada: A different approach

2008 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 349-372 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Cooke ◽  
Amber Gazso
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Social Assistance ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Income Dynamics ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Theoretical Understanding ◽  
Parcours De Vie ◽  
The Life Course

Abstract In this paper we argue that a life course perspective on social assistance use in Canada can offer a more nuanced theoretical understanding of both individuals’ experiences and the importance of social structure, than more traditional sociological or economic approaches to welfare use. We also propose that examining social assistance use in this way does not require longitudinal quantitative or qualitative data, as is sometimes suggested, but that cross-sectional quantitative and qualitative data can be interpreted through a life course lens. We demonstrate this by examining the covariates of social assistance receipt using cross-sectional quantitative data from the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics, and by analysing qualitative interviews with recipients about the process of beginning and barriers to ending benefit receipt. These analyses show not only how the cross-sectional data can easily be considered from the perspective of the life course, but also how this perspective provides a more satisfactory understanding of how social assistance polices can be thought of as both providing resources that are important in individual decision-making and as shaping lives. Résumé d’article Dans cet article, nous montrerons que le paradigme du parcours de vie sur le bien être social au Canada peut offrir une compréhension théorique plus nuancée des expériences des individus avec ces programmes qu’une approche traditionnelle sociologique et économique face à l’usage du bien être social, tout en reliant cet usage à de plus larges structures sociales. Nous proposons aussi qu’examiner l’assistance sociale de cette façon ne requiert pas de données longitudinales quantitatives ou qualitatives, tel qu’il l’est parfois suggéré, mais que des données quantitatives et qualitatives qui se croisent peuvent être interprétées à travers la loupe de la durée d’une vie. Nous démontrons ceci en examinant les covariantes de la réception à l’assistance sociale, covariantes agencées en se servant des données quantitatives sectionnelles tirées du Enquête sur la dynamique du travail et du revenu (EDTR) et en analysant les interviews qualitatives des bénéficiaires à propos de leurs démarches initiales et leurs obstacles jusqu’à la réception finale de leurs bénéfices. Ces analyses montrent non seulement que des données sectionnelles qui se croisent peuvent être facilement considérées du point de vue de la perspective du cours d’une vie, mais aussi comment cette perspective fournit une compréhension plus satisfaisante de la façon dont on peut voir la double importance des politiques qui offrent des ressources aux individus et qui changent leur vie.

The Interplay Between Poly-Victimization and Sexual Assault in Late Life in the Context of Life Course Perspective

2021 ◽  
pp. 107780122110120
Author(s):  
Sagit Lev ◽  
Dovrat Harel ◽  
Hadass Goldblatt ◽  
Tova Band-Winterstein
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Late Life ◽  
Marital Relationships ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
The Life Course

The aim of this article is to explore the interplay between poly-victimization and sexual assault against women in late life (SAWLL) according to the life-course perspective. Two themes emerged from qualitative interviews with 18 experienced welfare and health care professionals who intervened in cases of SAWLL: sexual assault by a spouse co-occurring with other types of abuse within marital relationships, and sexual assault and other types of abuse by two or more perpetrators along the life course. In many cases, SAWLL is an expression of a broader experience of poly-victimization, which relates to vulnerability in old age.

scholarly journals New Perspectives on Loneliness: From Micro Qualitative to Macro Quantitative Cross-National Comparisons

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 609-609
Author(s):  
Marja Aartsen
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Ecological Model ◽  
Longitudinal Research ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Effective Prevention ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Longitudinal research revealed a number of micro-level drivers of loneliness, such as widowhood, exclusion from the wider society, ill health and migrant status, but a number of questions are still unanswered. For example, the prevalence of loneliness varies substantially across countries, but we do not know precisely what causes these differences. It may be due to differences in the composition of the populations, it may also be caused by macro-level drivers, or by variations in the impact of risk factors between countries. For example, losing a spouse may be loneliness provoking in countries where living with a partner is the norm, but less so in countries where living alone is more valued. Also how early childhood and events over the life course affect the level of loneliness in later life is still under-researched. The aim of our symposium is to address this gap by presenting different perspectives on loneliness and social isolation. The first presenter interprets five-year follow-up information from qualitative interviews with a life course perspective. The second investigates the role of trust as factor producing social integration, which leads to variations in loneliness. The third compares and discusses loneliness in three different continents, based on an ecological model of contexts. The forth presenter critically discusses ways to measure loneliness in societies that are culturally distinct from western cultures. The last presenter discusses the dynamics between loneliness and material deprivation in Europe. The findings provide a new lens through which we can understand loneliness and inform about effective prevention.

scholarly journals CULTURAL MOTIVATION TO VOLUNTEER AMONG OLDER JEWISH ADULTS: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S646-S646
Author(s):  
Eireann O’Dea ◽  
and Andrew Wister
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Social Capital ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Jewish Community ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Theoretical Concepts ◽  
Anti Semitism ◽  
Family Service Agencies ◽  
The Life Course

Abstract The physical, mental, and social benefits for older adults who volunteer are well-documented. Absent from this area of research however, is an understanding of volunteer motivation and experiences among culturally diverse older adults. This study addresses this research gap by exploring the volunteer pathways, motivations, and experiences of Jewish older adults in Vancouver, BC, Canada. The Jewish community is notable for possessing high levels of social capital, indicated by close community ties and the large number of faith and culturally based organizations, including community centres, day schools, seniors’ centres, and family service agencies, which provide many opportunities for older adults to volunteer. Despite this, they remain an understudied population. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with twenty-one older adult volunteers (age 55+), and two paid volunteer staff in the Jewish community. Theoretical concepts including social capital, generativity, and the life course perspective on aging were used to guide interview questions. Data analysis revealed three themes related to cultural motivation to volunteer: 1.) A desire to support the current and future generations of the Jewish community, 2.) To satisfy the “Jewish ethic” of giving back, and 3.) Experiences of discrimination (anti-Semitism) over the life course. Participants frequently volunteered for organizations that supported the infrastructure of the Jewish community. Findings indicate how cultural experiences and values may influence the decision to volunteer and the types of volunteer roles taken on by older adults. Further, they suggest the ways in which cultural and religious generativity may be expressed through volunteerism, a previously unexplored concept.

Modèles sociaux du vieillissement: le parcours de vie, un passage obligé? Commentaire de l'article de V.W. Marshall, “Social Models of Aging”

1995 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Verena Haldemann
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Research Strategies ◽  
Social Models ◽  
The Social ◽  
Parcours De Vie ◽  
The Life Course

ABSTRACTVictor Marshall's presentation of the social models of aging appears to be a rich inventory, but one which despite itself is a victim of the hegemony of the life course perspective. This inventory is situated in the mainstream view which does not need to identify its context and limits. In order to specify the significance of this inventory and, at the same time, to test the relevance of the life course perspective, broader more peripheral research should be taken into account that questions this hegemony by changing the empirical research object, modifying the research strategies or moving the teleological objective.

scholarly journals Significant career change to software development. A life-course perspective

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Preoteasa Ana Maria
Keyword(s):  
Software Development ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Change Process ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Career Change ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
The Other ◽  
Individual Agency ◽  
Vocational Counselling ◽  
The Life Course

T The present study, based on qualitative data, investigates the significant career change through the life-course lens. Biographical interviews were conducted with people who changed their profession and the findings were characteristically reflective and subjective, foregrounding the participants’ interpretations of their layers of reality. Different type of resources: individual (Agency), community (Networking), and society (Labour market) were taken into account and the endeavour enabled to capture the triggers involved in career change process. The distinction between voluntary and involuntary career change decision helps to understand the reasons for which the change is chosen. There are major differences between those who leave involuntary their desired profession and those who discover that they have a calling for the software development. Moreover, the results advocate for the importance of early vocational counselling. On the other hand, evidence of discrimination encountered by new programmers could be addressed by HR departments in the IT organizations

scholarly journals Joint Family and Work Trajectories and Multidimensional Wellbeing

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. L. Comolli ◽  
L. Bernardi ◽  
M. Voorpostel
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Subjective Wellbeing ◽  
Work And Family ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Social Origin ◽  
Employment Trajectories ◽  
Family And Work ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Family Trajectories

AbstractInformed by the life course perspective, this paper investigates whether and how employment and family trajectories are jointly associated with subjective, relational and financial wellbeing later in life. We draw on data from the Swiss Household Panel which combines biographical retrospective information on work, partnership and childbearing trajectories with 19 annual waves containing a number of wellbeing indicators as well as detailed socio-demographic and social origin information. We use sequence analysis to identify the main family and work trajectories for men and women aged 20–50 years old. We use OLS regression models to assess the association between those trajectories and their interdependency with wellbeing. Results reveal a joint association between work and family trajectories and wellbeing at older age, even net of social origin and pre-trajectory resources. For women, but not for men, the association is also not fully explained by proximate (current family and work status) determinants of wellbeing. Women’s stable full-time employment combined with traditional family trajectories yields a subjective wellbeing premium, whereas childlessness and absence of a stable partnership over the life course is associated with lower levels of financial and subjective wellbeing after 50 especially in combination with a trajectory of weak labour market involvement. Relational wellbeing is not associated with employment trajectories, and only weakly linked to family trajectories among men.

scholarly journals Persistent short-term imprisonment: Belonging as a lens to understand its shifting meanings over the life course

Incarceration ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 263266632198901
Author(s):  
Marguerite Schinkel ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Sense Of Belonging ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Criminal Punishment ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Looking Back

This article takes a life-course perspective to the meaning of persistent short-term imprisonment and introduces the significance of ‘penal careers’. Examining a total of 62 interviews with men and women in Scotland with long careers of (progression through) criminal punishment, it uses to the concept of belonging as a lens to interpret their experiences. While some participants already felt early on in their career that they belonged in prison because of their shared characteristics with other prisoners, the repetition of imprisonment meant that they increasingly felt displaced from life outside and saw life in prison as ‘easier’ and ‘safer’. Nevertheless, looking back on their many sentences, they felt their cumulative meaning was ‘a waste of life’. The article concludes by considering steps towards tackling the conditions that create this sense of belonging in a place of punishment.

Foster Care in a Life Course Perspective

2020 ◽  
Vol 692 (1) ◽  
pp. 227-252
Author(s):  
Fred Wulczyn
Keyword(s):  
Foster Care ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Foster Children ◽  
Foster Parents ◽  
Local Variation ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
State And Local ◽  
Policy Priority ◽  
The Life Course

To understand what placement outside of one’s home means to the young people involved, we must understand foster care from a life course perspective. I analyze young people’s experiences in foster care from this perspective, accounting for when foster care happens, how long it lasts, and what happens when foster care placements end. I show that the population of children coming into foster care is younger and less urban than it was 20 years ago. I also show reliable measures of exposure to foster care over the life course. Children who enter care early in life are the children who spend the largest proportion of their childhood in foster care—a fact that rarely weighs on the policymaking process. We know very little about state and local variation in foster care placement rates, not to mention the influence of social services, the courts, foster parents, and caseworkers over foster children, so I close by arguing investment in research should be a clear policy priority.

scholarly journals SUITABLE? THE RHETORICAL AND LIFE COURSE IMPLICATIONS OF SERENA WILLIAMS AND THE CATSUIT

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S537-S537
Author(s):  
Brianne M Stanback
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Los Angeles ◽  
Life Course ◽  
New York Times ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Power Structures ◽  
Los Angeles Times ◽  
Race And Class ◽  
Sports Illustrated ◽  
The Life Course

Abstract Rhetorical inquires have shown connections between representation and power, workplace fashion and development of ethos, and the rhetoric of glamour through women’s fashion and dress. One element absent from that conversation is how the life course, which typically differs for women because of existing power structures advantaging men, may impact the experience of women as they age, their choice of dress, and the rhetorical implications of those decisions. To explore dress and rhetoric from a life course perspective, this project traces the evolution of Serena Williams’ work apparel across her professional tennis career to the catsuit worn at the 2018 French Open, which is the focus of the project. Press reports on the 2018 catsuit by Nike, New York Times, Sports Illustrated, Business Insider, BBC Sport, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times, interviews given by Williams, and the television documentary, Becoming Serena, will be analyzed for their treatment of Williams’ work attire and the life course. Responses to the catsuit emphasize attitudes about gender, race, and class, either discounting or ignoring the life course implications such as motherhood and changes in health status. Despite professional success, responses about the catsuit may reflect that Williams faces the same jeopardies, and invisibility, common to many women as they age, and the rhetorical perspective provides new methodological and pedagogical possibilities for instruction in aging.

Associations of fibrinogen and C-reactive protein with prevalent and incident coronary heart disease are attenuated by adjustment for confounding factors

2005 ◽  
Vol 93 (05) ◽  
pp. 955-963 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Smith ◽  
Ann Rumley ◽  
Gordon Lowe ◽  
Shah Ebrahim ◽  
Debbie Lawlor
Keyword(s):  
Coronary Heart Disease ◽  
Heart Disease ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Socioeconomic Position ◽  
Cumulative Effect ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
Confounding Factors ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Reactive Protein ◽  
The Life Course

SummaryA cross sectional and prospective analysis of 3,745 British women aged 60–79 years at baseline was undertaken. Among these women there were 570 prevalent cases of coronary heart disease (CHD) and 151 new cases among 12,641 person-years of follow up of women who were free of CHD at baseline. Both fibrinogen and CRP were associated with indicators of socioeconomic position in childhood and adulthood and there was a cumulative effect of socioeconomic position from across the life course. The age-adjusted odds ratio (95% confidence interval) of prevalent CHD for a 1 unit (1 g/L) increase in fibrinogen was 1.29 (1.12, 1.49); with full adjustment for all potential confounding factors this attenuated to 1.09 (0.93, 1.28). The hazards ratio for incident CHD among those free of disease at baseline was 1.28 (1.00, 1.64); with full adjustment for all potential confounding factors this attenuated to 1.09 (0.84, 1.44). Similar effects of adjustment for confounding factors were seen for the associations between CRP and both prevalent and incident CHD. By contrast, the strong positive association between smoking (an established causal risk factor for CHD) and CHD was not attenuated by adjustment for life course socioeconomic position or other risk factors. We conclude that fibrinogen and CRP predict CHD but may not be causally related to it.

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