SOC363: 5. Life Course Flashcards

Question

anxiety over life course

Answer 1

The vectors: Some decline in anger in recent cohorts among females. The trajectory of women’s anger is changing. Women more angry in mid-life.

Answer 2

``` Depression declines to midlife, then increases in later life. Anxiety and anger continually decline through life. So adding the two together suggests that mid-life is optimal… ```

Answer 3

average mental health in later life may be the same, but based on diverging paths of anxiety and depression.

Answer 4

But depression more prevalent And the 20’s is worst… What combination of forces are at work that explain this pattern?

Answer 5

Maturity …..(better mental health with age) Effects of experience, personal growth, practice, learning, perspective on self, sense of mortality. Decline……. (worse mental health at later ages) Increasing frailty of health, functional impairments, loss of resources (control, support). Life stage……(better mental health in mid-life). The developmental period of adulthood – acquisition of roles and status. Employment and marital status, job achievement, parenting, income. Generation (cohort)……(mixed..) Cohort changes alter exposures – increases in education, life expectancy, divorce rates, average incomes. Survival…… (better mental health with age). Age stands for survival traits --- anything that predicts lower risk of death through life, including depression.

Answer 6

Life Stage: Economic prosperity (income effect) Employment (work improves mental health) Marriage (the marriage effect, social support) Cohort : Lower education among the old Increased single-parent and divorced-parent background among the young. Decline: Illness (chronic conditions, health risks) Impairments Loss of sense of control

Answer 7

``` Rise and fall of income mirrors depression In later life … Security vs. income Less financial dependence ```

Answer 8

``` Largest % married in midlife Early adulthood never married dominates Later adulthood widowhood dominates ```

Answer 9

Respondent has more education than parents by cohort, but differences converging

Answer 10

Percent from divorced background increases the lower the age

Answer 11

``` Goes up in early adulthood, and is increasing across cohorts. Middle age, no cohort change Strong declines in later life, due to: Physical decline Loss of status Lower education Living in harder times when younger ```

Answer 12

1: Raw relationship 4: Controls, Cohort 5: Life Stage 6: Life Stage with Income 7: Decline Result is net negative relationship --- the effect of maturity

Answer 13

Why do they continue to decline in old age? Financial security greater Maturity effect – acceptance of what is. Resolution of sources of anxiety and anger – retirement may help. Lower stress in day-to-day life. Less social comparison, less competition.

Answer 14

The importance of remote causation. How does it work? Re-activation throughout life of basic issues…..The self is the constant. Stability of social conditions of one’s life: SES, neighbourhoods.. Choice is consistent choice Spread of small changes; the effect of direction, structural amplification – resources undermined by threats.. The effect of events on chronic stressors that continue – stress proliferation. Two examples: Elder and Liker (1982) : Hard Times in Women’s Lives The Impact of Childhood Traumas on the Consequences of Adult Stress (Wheaton, 1991).

Answer 15

Study of women over 40 years, from the Depression (early 20’s) to 1969 (circa 70). The long-term effect of (SES) resources in conjunction with economic deprivation in the Depression. Economic loss was not concentrated in one group, but randomly distributed throughout SES groups. Effects of economic loss (the stressor) varied by the SES of the women at the time…..

Answer 16

Middle-class women: Positive effect of economic deprivation over forty years. (.51)

Answer 17

Working-class women: Negative effect of economic deprivation over forty years. (-.19)

Answer 18

``` Among middle-class women in 1930… • The deprived found a job in response to economic loss more often than the nondeprived: 41% to 10%. • Deprived middleclass related to later widowhood ( 25% survival vs. 71% in nondeprived group), leading to greater independence earlier ```

Answer 19

From the article….

Answer 20

``` Front: Chronic Stress Side: Childhood Stress Vertical: Current Adult Distress Classic combined effect of stressors: childhood stress multiplies the consequences of current chronic stress ```

Answer 21

``` Front: Chronic Stress Side: Childhood Stress Vertical: Current Adult Distress Very different role for childhood stress: • Time since experience changes meaning. • Middle levels optimal for immunity to later stress. ```

Answer 22

Trajectories: The stable component of a direction towards a life destination… (eg, achievement, status, mental health)…

Answer 23

Turning Points: a change in direction in the life course, with the consequence of altering the probability of life course destinations.

Answer 24

Small events, small differences, can turn into major differences in the long-run. Cumulative advantage vs. disadvantage --- how the current state of resources can reduce or multiply the consequences of current problems and create greater inequality in functioning over time. Caspi (1989): Cumulative continuity Channeling of interactional styles into similar environments Interactional continuity Reinforcement of interactional style from others in daily interaction

Answer 25

Duration: The length of time in a given state or condition without change, or the total time in a given state over the life course (eg, nonemployment, poverty). Timing: The impact of the specific social circumstances that apply at the time of a life transition, event, or change. Often related to turning points Sequence: The impact of the order of events or roles, regardless of timing or time between the occurrence of events. (eg., worker – married – parent, vs. parent – worker – married).

Answer 26

Importance of Timing: Life transitions often accompanied by uncertainty, shifts in identity, and thus greater importance of social conditions and circumstances. Are there important moments in the life course in general? Maybe… School-age childhood (6-12) Transition to adulthood (18-24) Developmental period of adulthood (30-45) Near post-retirement (65-70) Timing effects embodied in the importance of “timetables” in the life course: marriage, stable careers, parenthood. Social clocks.

Answer 27

Most of the study of the impacts of early poverty are based on a duration argument --- the “total dosage” of poverty accumulates into serious life course consequences. Many arguments about decrements in longterm occupational achievement among women are based on a duration argument --- time out of the labour force. Duration a subtle concept: is it… Longest contiguous time of exposure Proportion of total time exposed Total time of exposure with interruptions.

Answer 28

``` Hogan (1980):Disorder in the Life Course. The sequence of roles has an impact on maximum achievement more than the timing. E.g., “worker, spouse, parent” is a “standard’ sequence, but “parent, worker, spouse” is not. The effect of sequence related to --- Normative expectations about role entries and exits Opportunity structures Historical period ```

Answer 29

Often manifest as the meeting of history and age. Called a cohort effect. Very important. Elder example: Birth in the early 1920’s vs. late 1920’s had a substantial impact on the meaning of living through the Depression of the 1930’s. Those 9-16 were somewhat protected --- less dependent on parents, but too early to enter labor force; those 1-8 were fully exposed to the economic hardships parents suffered and most dependent on parents for emotional support. Later aged entry into combat in WWII had worse consequences. Why?

Answer 30

The interplay of adversity and resilience is a major focus of the life course perspective. Adversity includes stress, disadvantage, trauma, reduced opportunities or choice, threat, burden, demands, structural constraints (i.e., forms of stress..). Resilience is the ability to maintain, enhance or re-establish life course trajectories despite adversity. Basic question is how….. Possible Inputs to Resilience– Psychosocial Resources (support, mastery, trust, flexibility) Prior Biography The Capitals -- human, social, cultural