Family Environment, Loneliness, Hope, and Subjective Well-Being of Asian Older Adults

The current study examined the interactions between family environment, hope, and loneliness, and their subsequent influence on the subjective well-being (SWB) of 345 noninstitutionalized older adults (aged 60 years and above) in Singapore. Door-to-door surveys information was collected on family environment (cohesiveness, relationship closeness, and support), hope, loneliness, and SWB (life satisfaction, happiness, and absence of negative affect). Structural equation modelling was conducted to test competing hypotheses derived from life stress and integrated resource theories. The results revealed that family environment influenced SWB both directly and indirectly. Family environment decreased loneliness and increased SWB. Additionally, family environment influenced SWB by offering increased hope. Family environment sets the context for the SWB of older adults in Singapore. Families should therefore be targeted for interventions to reduce loneliness, increase psychological resources, and raise SWB during old age.

The experiences of men in prison who do not receive visits from family or friends: A qualitative systematic review

BACKGROUND

Visits present an opportunity for prisoners to preserve family ties and reduce isolation, but not all receive visits from family or friends whilst incarcerated.

AIMS

To locate, appraise and synthesise qualitative data on the experiences of adult male prisoners (aged 18 years+) who do not receive prison visits from family or friends.

METHODS

Nine electronic databases were searched from the date of their inception until March 2023. The quality of included studies was assessed using the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme checklist for qualitative studies, and data from the studies were synthesised using the thematic synthesis method.

RESULTS

Eighteen studies from seven countries (the USA, the UK [England, Northern Ireland & Scotland], Canada, Netherlands and the Philippines) were eligible for inclusion. Three main themes emerged: (1) reasons for not receiving visits, (2) harmful effects of not receiving visits and (3) the value of volunteer visitor programmes. Practical problems were cited as interfering with visiting opportunities, but also some prisoners or families chose not to meet in prison. Loneliness and depression were extensively described as effects of not receiving visits. Qualities associated with volunteer visitors included raised self-esteem, improved mood and personal growth.

CONCLUSION

Narratives of the experiences of adult men in prison without visits from family or friends suggest that not only the practical difficulties of imprisonment affect visiting; barriers that prisoners themselves impose would merit further exploration, as would family and relationship dynamics during incarceration and the emotional impact of prison visits, for both prisoners and their families. There are suggestions of therapeutic as well as humanitarian benefits from volunteer visiting programmes. There is a gap in the literature about any specific effect on rebuilding family relationships.

Internal migration toward siblings in later life

Objectives

Research on the role of siblings in older adult migration lags behind a growing number of studies on adult children as a mobility attraction. We attend to this gap by examining (a) to what extent the absence of partners and/or adult children influences older adults’ (age 70–84) migration toward faraway siblings (at least 50 km away) and (b) how these migrations are patterned by the location of other family members (children, other siblings, and nephews/nieces).

Methods

We use multinomial logistic regression models and analyze dyads of older adults and all distant siblings from the Swedish population register data between 2012 and 2016 (N = 1,743,234). We control for several characteristics of older adults and their siblings that may affect the decision to move closer, including sociodemographic characteristics and measures of location-specific capital.

Results

Widowed, divorced, and never-married older adults were more likely to move closer to distant siblings than those with a partner. Not having children was associated with a higher likelihood of moving toward a sibling. Living near adult children or other siblings deterred relocation toward siblings, while family clustered at a distance reinforced the location’s attractiveness for migration.

Discussion

As declines in fertility broadly reflect people’s decisions to have fewer children or forego having families, siblings might emerge as more active players in the family networks of older adults. Our research indicates that siblings can be a destination for migration and, therefore, should be considered as important members of social networks of older adults, especially those who do not have partners and/or adult children available.

Parental Proximity and Earnings after Job Displacements

The earnings of young adults living in their parents' neighborhoods completely recover after a job displacement, while the earnings of those living farther away permanently decline. Nearby workers appear to benefit from help with childcare. Earnings improvements are larger in states with expensive childcare and among workers in inflexible occupations, and workers' parents do less market work following their child's displacement. Differences in job search durations, transfers of housing services, and geographic mobility are too small to explain the result. Our results are also consistent with workers benefiting from parental employment networks.

The Ties That Bind and Unbound Ties: Experiences of Formerly Homeless Individuals in Recovery From Serious Mental Illness and Substance Use

This report explores the nature and quality of social ties of formerly homeless individuals in recovery from serious mental illness and substance abuse and how these ties relate to experiences of community. Using grounded theory and cross-case analysis techniques, we analyzed 34 qualitative interviews conducted with predominantly racial/ethnic minority individuals receiving mental health services. Participants described a range of involvement and experiences in the mental health service and mainstream communities indicating a combination of weak or strong ties in these communities. Across participants, two broad themes emerged: ties that bind and obstacles that "get in the way" of forming social ties. Salient subthemes included those related to family, cultural spaces, employment, substance abuse, stigma and mental health service providers and peers. The current study integrates our understanding of positive and negative aspects of social ties and provides a theoretical framework highlighting the complexity of social ties within mainstream and mental health service communities.

The role of social networks in using home care by older people across Continental Europe

The diversification of caregiving arrangements in European societies has drawn attention to the factors that condition the use of care by older people. Social and family relations appear as a key factor, mainly to be related to the availability and accessibility to potential informal caregivers. Recent studies evidenced that geographical proximity and a larger social network increase the probability of receiving informal support in old age. However, the ways in which interpersonal relationships are associated with the use of formal care, as well as the cross-country variability of this association, have been barely explored. Using a sample of 37,708 individuals aged 65 and over from Wave 6 of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), this study examines to what extent the characteristics of older people's social networks predict the use of three types of home care; formal, informal, or combined, exploring the cross-European convergences and divergences. Binomial logistic regressions are conducted to compare four macro-regions in continental Europe (northern countries: Denmark and Sweden; western countries: Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Switzerland, and Luxembourg; southern countries: Italy, Spain, Greece, and Portugal; and eastern countries: Poland, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Estonia, and Croatia). The structure, availability, and accessibility to the members of the social network are the major predictors of the receipt of informal care everywhere. Regional divergences are observed regarding to formal care, alone or combined with informal caregivers.

Household Composition and Longitudinal Health Outcomes for Older Mexican Return Migrants

Mexican return migrant population is increasing, yet our knowledge about their lives after resettlement in Mexico remains fragmentary. Using 2001-2012 longitudinal data from the Mexican Health and Aging Study, we investigate difference in household composition for older migrants who returned from the United States compared to nonmigrants. Furthermore, we fit a Cox proportional hazards model to assess the relationship between household composition and health and functional trajectories of return migrants and nonmigrants. The results indicate that return migrants with long duration of U.S. stay have different household composition than nonmigrants or short-term migrants: On average, they have smaller household size, including fewer females who may be available to offer assistance to older adults. Presence of middle-age females in the household has positive effects on health and functional trajectories. We highlight implications of this research for policy makers in Mexico and the United States.

Neighbourhood social ties: how much do residential, physical and virtual mobility matter?

Following up on the prediction by classical sociological theorists that neighbours will become irrelevant as societies become more mobile, this research examines the strength of people's social ties with neighbours and the associations thereof with residential, physical and virtual mobility using longitudinal data for Germany. Unlike previous studies, the research considers the three forms of mobility simultaneously and contrasts its effects on social ties with neighbours to those with family. The results show that residential and physical mobility are negatively associated with social ties to neighbours and positively with ties to family. Virtual mobility does not weaken social ties with neighbours but ties with family. The positive association between mobility and social ties with family may not be strong enough to ascertain that people maintain as close social ties to others in the future as it does not outweigh the negative association with visiting neighbours.

The impact of family structure and disruption on intergenerational emotional exchange in Eastern Europe

Demographic trends across Europe involve a decrease in fertility and mortality rates, and an increase in divorce and stepfamily formation. Life courses and living arrangements have become less standardized and the structure of families has changed. In this article, we examine to what extent contemporary family structure and composition resulting from demographic changes affect emotional exchange between children and their parents, both from adult child to parent and from parent to child. Because the general level of well-being has been shown to be lower in Eastern Europe, thereby potentially affecting emotional exchange within families, we focus our research on Eastern Europe. We use the "conservation of resources theory" to derive hypotheses on how family structure may affect intergenerational emotional exchange. Family ties are assumed to be important resources of affection that people want to obtain and retain throughout their lives. Data from the Generations and Gender Survey (GGS) are used to test our hypotheses. In general, our data offer more support for the idea that families are resilient than for the often heard assumption that families are in decline as a consequence of the changed family structure and composition.