Week 5-Transitions in Later Life

Question 1

Give a recap of Ageing as a series of transitions

Answer 1

o Today, in many parts of the world, people can expect to live into their 80 and 90s

o Often people talk about the ‘older population’ as a homogeneous group

o Need to overcome ageism and exclusion and move away from a deficit conception later life if we are to create the sort of world we would all want to live in as a 90-year-old!
Old age is normal – ageing is a normal part of the lifecourse

Can view ageing as a series of developmental transitions
◦ Transition conceptualised as a process of change, rather than just as an event
◦ A life-course approach highlights the dynamic processes of development and change over the life span (Elder, 1995).

Question 2

Is ‘old’ age a stressful or non-stressful
period of life?

Answer 2

-“A period of multiple losses”: Disease-focused perspective of ageing

-“Stability and change” Acknowledges both stressful and stress-free development (most reasonable point)

-“It’s normal. Changes can be well anticipated”

Question 3

How can we conceptualise ‘transition’?

Answer 3

A life-course approach highlights the dynamic processes of development and change over the lifespan (Elder, 1995)

◦ Developmental trajectories include progression, stability and regression (Hendry & Kloep, 2002)

Transition conceptualised as a process of change, rather than as a single event or series of stages (Crafter, Maunder & Soulsby, 2018) “not as a moment of change but as the experience of changing, of living the discontinuities between the different contexts” (Gorgorió et al., 2002, p. 24)

Tendency in literature to present transitions as ‘stressful life events’ or ‘crises’
◦ Automatically positions them as problematic, undesirable and with negative outcomes
◦ Yet, many transitions can institute change that is positive and make our lives better (e.g., a long-term relationship, children, retirement; also things that may be stressful but is not a negative event e.g., divorce)

Question 4

What are the characteristics of transitions?

Answer 4

◦ As pivotal periods in life (e.g., going to uni)

◦ Generally involving a reduced [sense of] agency and/or loss (even if positive such as marriage)

◦ Psychological/emotional changes in terms of perceptions, identity and sense of purpose

◦ Usually have an impact on material resources

◦ Have potential for personal growth

Question 5

Give examples of Transitions that are more common in later life

Answer 5

-Preparing for end of life

-Becoming a carer

-Bereavement

-Empty nesting

-Onset of a long-term health condition

-Relationship breakdown

Question 6

What’s the impact of developmental transitions in later life?

Answer 6

◦ Hard to answer, without considering nature of the transition, situational conditions and contexts (e.g., divorce: loss of income; abusive relationship, previously happy marriage, it’s impacts on children etc.,)

◦ Retirement increased engagement in leisure activity

◦ Loss of a spouse reduced engagement (Lee et al., 2018)

◦ Transitions are complex!

Question 7

Transition experience

Answer 7

◦ Transitions generally involve grieving for the loss of the old and readjusting to the
new (Robertson, 2014)

◦ Potential to prompt changes to e.g. daily routine/ lifestyle, sense of purpose, roles
and responsibilities, identity, personal relationships, health and wellbeing

◦ Nearly all the life transitions reviewed here can be a trigger into loneliness

◦ Adjustment: “getting used to the changed circumstances of life (in retirement)” (Van Solinge & Henkens, 2008, p. 423)

-Some individuals are able to manage difficult transitions more effectively than others

Question 8

What factors might influence adaptation to transitions?

Answer 8

-Thoits (1994) argued that high levels of self-efficacy (among other things) facilitate
better levels of coping to stressful situations

Robertson (2014) suggests adaptation is easier when:
◦ transitions are predictable and approached intentionally (e.g., know when you will retire, and plan how to be financially responsible once retired)
◦ there is an understanding of the personal challenges that the transition represents (e.g., as a widow)
◦ People with better access to social support are more stress resistant (House, Landis &
Umberson, 1988)

Question 9

What is the role of personal meanings?

Answer 9

The meanings a person, and others, assign to any transition shapes transition experience – a process of cognitive appraisal

◦ Seeing an event as a turning point, or lesson (i.e., useful), predicts better self-rated health and wellbeing (Sutin et al., 2010)

Role theory proposes that transitions may lead to weakening some roles (e.g. George, 1993)
◦ For example, retirement may weaken some roles e.g. worker, while strengthening
others e.g. wife/husband
◦ How people perceive and give meaning to these changed roles is important

To what extent does timing influence transition experience (Elder, 1998)
◦ Expectedness – idea of a normative timeline - on-time vs off-time (e.g., partner suddenly dies young)

Question 10

What is the role of resources?

Answer 10

A resource perspective on transitions suggest that personal context (social and
historical) and personal choices interact to influence the experience of a transition (Hobfoll, 2002)

How people experience any transitions- how they adapt- depends on the resources that may be drawn on as a way to deal with challenges (Kloep & Hendry, 2015)
◦ Individual level e.g. gender, health
◦ Community level e.g. social support
◦ Societal level e.g. culture, policy

Question 11

What’s the role of Resilience?

Answer 11

Resilience: the capacity for adaptation, or ability to ‘bounce back’ in the face of
challenge (Windle, 2011)

Debate over whether it is a personality trait or whether it can be learned

Evidence that it’s something more dynamic that can develops through a person’s
experiences
◦ Ecological model of resilience (Windle & Bennett, 2011) emphasises interplay between demands of a transition and the individual, community, and societal level factors available to meet those demands

If resilience can be learned, is it possible to provide ‘resilience education’ to help people
feel better able to cope with ‘stressful’ transitions?

Question 12

Ecological theory of resources FINISH SLIDE OFF

Answer 12

1. Start with anticedents e.g., health challenges across the life course
2. Individual: Psychological resources, Biological resources, Material resources, Gender, Age, Heath behaviour
3. Community resources: Social Support, Social Cohesion, Social Participation, Housing
4. Society resources:

-These interact in a flat way i.e., it’s not hierarchical

5. Consequences

Question 13

‘Resilience building’ interventions:
useful? (Centre for Ageing Better, 2017)

Answer 13

Evaluation of group-based interventions aimed at building resilience and emotional
wellbeing in people aged 50+ (Centre for Ageing Better, 2017)

Projects used various tools and approaches including:
◦ Planning/goal-setting, self-reflection, self-coaching, storytelling, relaxation techniques, mindfulness, meditation and CBT

Evidence of a positive impact on attitude and outlook as a result of the courses

Question 14

Transition: Retirement

Answer 14

Largely a development of the 20th century; still an evolving concept
◦ About the way in which people withdraw from full-time employment

◦ Can be crisp: making a clean break from employment by stopping work entirely

◦ Or blurred: repeatedly leaving and returning to work, with some periods of unemployment

Why do people retire? (English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, 2011; Flynn, 2010):
◦ Individual characteristics (micro-level), characteristics of families and workplaces (meso-level), and characteristics of pension regulations and historical events (macro-level)

◦ Most retire because they choose to, but poor health and caring responsibilities frequently cited as reasons for forced retirement

Question 15

Adjustment to retirement

Answer 15

Retirement is an important life transition and can be stressful
* Has the potential to affect sense of self (Steffens et al., 2016)
* However, degree of stress is related to attitudes toward retirement and whether
retirement is voluntary (e.g. Barbosa et al., 2016; van der Heide et al., 2013; Wang & Shultz, 2010)

Most are satisfied with their retirement if they (e.g. Flynn, 2010; McNair, 2006; Schults & Wang, 2007):
◦ Have their health
◦ Have flexibility and personal control
◦ Have financial security
◦ Have a supportive network of relatives and friends

Changing conceptions of work are resulting in changing conceptions of retirement
◦ As societies change, the factors that influence retirement transition change as well
◦ Many recent policy reforms aim to delay retirement – what will the impact be?

Question 16

Transition: Receiving a formal diagnosis
of dementia

Answer 16

Górska, Forsyth and Maciver’s (2018) qualitative meta-synthesis
◦ Found a desire to maintain continuity among people living with dementia

◦ Ongoing struggle to manage changes in cognitive capacity in a way that minimises
the disruption to their everyday lives

◦ But, changed relationships, altered patterns of social activity and a sense of
disempowerment were common features of the transition

◦ Feeling unconditionally accepted and supported by close friends and family;
strengthened relationships; sense of growing and transcending; and a renewed sense of gratitude for a life well lived (see also Dalby et al., 2012; Patterson et al., 2018)

Question 17

What’s the Influence of sociocultural context?

Answer 17

Some of the broader losses associated with the transition to dementia may be explained by people’s reactions and the various societal misconceptions around the
condition

◦ People with dementia’s reluctance to use the word dementia or Alzheimer’s to
describe the condition, instead preferring descriptive terms like memory loss and
forgetfulness (Langdon et al., 2007)

◦ Feeling treated as ‘other’ and ‘lesser’, limiting how openly people feel they could talk about their diagnosis (Patterson et al., 2018)

◦ Distancing or normalising aspects of memory loss, in an attempt to minimise the
threat to identity and to maintain a sense of agency (e.g. Steeman et al., 2006).

Question 18

Transitions and identity

Answer 18

Transitions more likely to be perceived as
stressful and compromise wellbeing when
they entail loss of identity

Social identity model of identity change
(Jetten et al., 2009)
◦ Transitions involve a change from one
identity to another
◦ In part, because of the changes to social
networks and support associated with
transitions
◦ Maintaining group memberships across
transitions may protect wellbeing

Question 19

Transition, identity and social resources

Answer 19

Social relationships as an important resource
◦ A basis for connection, support, meaning, self-esteem, control

◦ Protect health and wellbeing in a range of challenging and adverse situations
Transition adjustment enhanced where people are able to maintain pre-existing social group memberships that are important to them or else acquire new ones (Jetten et al., 2009)

◦ Benefit of a sense of continuity

◦ belonging to multiple social groups protects people in negotiating life changes

◦ facilitates processes of social identity continuity and gain

Question 20

Give an Overall Summary

Answer 20

-Viewing later life as a series of transitions provides a much more dynamic and
realistic approach to understanding the lives of older people

-Conceptualisation of life events as ‘transitions’ frames them as a processes

-Transitions have the potential to prompt a sense of loss and grief. They may also
provide opportunities for personal growth.

-In line with lifecourse perspective on ageing, earlier life experiences, sociocultural context, personal meanings, and resources (individual, community and societal) influence transition experiences

-Transitions are identity-relevant and involve a process of identity change. Social
relationships may be both influenced by and influence this process of change.