Relatively few older adults are physically active despite extensive research exploring barriers and facilitators and concomitant interventions designed to enhance participation rates. Building on the growing literature that considers the subjective experience of being physically active, we explored the meanings that older Canadian men attributed to physical activity broadly defined. Thus, we examined their experiences and perceptions of exercise, sport and/or leisure-time physical activities. Data are presented from qualitative interviews with 22 community-dwelling Canadian men aged 67–90. Our analysis resulted in three overarching categories that subsumed the men's understanding of physical activity. ‘I do it for my health’ described how the men stated that their primary reason for engaging in exercise was to maintain their health and body functionality so that they could age well and continue to participate in sport and leisure. ‘It feels good’ referred to the various ways that the men derived pleasure from being active, including the physical sensations, psychological benefits and social connections they derived from their participation. ‘It gets tougher’ detailed the ways that the men were finding physical activity to be increasingly difficult as a result of the onset of health problems, declining body functionality and the social realities of ageing. We discuss our findings in light of the extant literature concerning age relations, ageism, and the third and fourth ages.

It is known that the education of significant others may affect an individual's mortality. This paper extends an emerging body of research by investigating the effect of having highly educated adult children on the longevity of older parents in Europe, especially parents with low educational attainment. Using a sample of 15,015 individuals (6,620 fathers and 8,395 mothers) aged 50 and above, with 1,847 recorded deaths, over a mean follow-up period of 10.9 years from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), we examine whether the well-established socio-economic gradient in mortality among parents is modified when their adult children have higher educational attainment than their parents. We find that having highly educated adult children is associated with reduced mortality risks for fathers and mothers with low educational attainment, compared to their counterparts whose adult children have only compulsory education. The association is stronger in early older age (ages 50–74) than in later older age (ages 75 and over). Part of the association appears to be explained by health behaviours (physical (in)activity) and health status (self-rated health). Our findings suggest that the socio-economic–mortality gradient among older parents might be better captured using an intergenerational approach that recognises the advantage of having highly educated adult children, especially for fathers and mothers with only compulsory education.

This study sought to examine the motivations middle-aged women give for belonging to an outdoor adventure group. As part of this, how the women were negotiating the ageing process was also examined. Fourteen women aged 36–64 (average age 51.4 years) were individually interviewed with the purpose of exploring their perceptions, values, motivations and the beliefs they attach to their participation. Findings highlight the women's belief that participation delays the ageing process, gives them confidence in their lives and offers social support from other group members. In addition, pride, satisfaction and pleasure were expressed in the belief that they challenged the cultural norms and expectations of older women. Whilst delaying the ageing process, they also highlighted that they thought about a time in the future when they would not be able to continue to participate. The study emphasises that more adventurous activities are becoming more normalised and can be undertaken by women in middle age. This may also suggest that more needs to be done to promote diverse activities such as outdoor adventurous activities to women.

Within research on ageing in neighbourhoods, older adults are often positioned as impacted by neighbourhood features; their impact on neighbourhoods is less often considered. Drawing on a study exploring how person and place transact to shape older adults’ social connectedness, inclusion and engagement in neighbourhoods, this paper explores how older adults take action in efforts to create neighbourhoods that meet individual and collective needs and wants. We drew on ethnographic and community-based participatory approaches and employed qualitative and geospatial methods with 14 older adults in two neighbourhoods. Analysis identified three themes that described the ways that older adults enact agency at the neighbourhood level: being present and inviting casual social interaction, helping others and taking community action. The participants appeared to contribute to a collective sense of connectedness and creation of social spaces doing everyday neighbourhood activities and interacting with others. Shared territories in which others were present seemed to support such interactions. Participants also helped others in a variety of ways, often relating to gaps in services and support, becoming neighbourhood-based supports for other seniors. Finally, participants contributed to change at the community level, such as engaging politically, patronising local businesses and making improvements in public places. Study findings suggest the potential benefits of collaborating with older adults to create and maintain liveable neighbourhoods.

Understanding how social experiences throughout life shape later loneliness levels may help to identify how to alleviate loneliness at later lifestages. This study investigates the association between social relationship adversities throughout the lifecourse and loneliness in later life. Using prospective data from the Medical Research Council National Survey of Health and Development (N = 2,453), we conducted multivariable analyses to investigate independent, cumulative and moderated effects between the number of social relationship adversities experienced in childhood, mid-adulthood and later adulthood and the feeling of loneliness at age 68. We examined interactions between social relationship adversities and current quantity and quality aspects of social relationships. We found evidence of a step-dose response where greater exposure to social relationship adversities experienced at three earlier lifestages predicted higher loneliness levels in later life with more recent social relationship adversities more strongly related to loneliness. The results also demonstrated support for exacerbation and amelioration of earlier adverse social relationship experiences by current social isolation and relationship quality, respectively. This study suggests that social relationship adversities experienced throughout the lifecourse continue to influence loneliness levels much later in life. A key finding is that adverse social relationship experiences in earlier life may explain why otherwise socially similar individuals differ in their levels of loneliness. Implications for policy and research are discussed.

Retirement villages are an increasingly popular senior housing option that aims to comprehensively integrate accommodation, care services, social activities and interaction opportunities for ageing people. The research literature about retirement villages and communities is extensive, but less studied are the contextually varying spatial, legal and political processes of how such villages and other intermediate housing-with-care solutions for older people are initially constituted, especially in novel national and local contexts. In this paper, a spatio-legal approach is employed to study the many legal possibilities and barriers that have arisen while developing retirement villages in Finland. As a specific case, I examine the new Finnish Virkkulankylä retirement village concept and its implementation process. As the key result of my study, I identify three major spatio-legal barriers to developing retirement villages and other intermediate senior housing solutions, which are (a) the polarised division between the fields of elderly care and housing in both law and practice, (b) the prevalence of ‘local law’ in spatial planning and service provision for elderly people, and (c) the inflexible funding system regarding alternative housing-with-care solutions for seniors. I argue that although the ‘in-betweenness’ of retirement villages may facilitate a more comprehensive understanding about the housing and care of older adults, in practice their intermediary position translates into many ambiguities and challenges.

While the burden of caring for people living with dementia has been well documented, considerably less is known about how carers transition into post-care life. This study aimed to understand the experiences of primary family care-givers of people with dementia after the person with dementia has died. A specific focus of the research was understanding the barriers to transitioning into a positive post-care life, and facilitators that help sustain carers as they move forward after their care journey has ended. A qualitative exploratory, descriptive study was undertaken with nine primary carers for a family member who died with dementia (five spouses and four adult children). Semi-structured face-to-face or telephone interviews were conducted with carers between July and August 2016. Interview transcripts were analysed using a thematic approach. A number of factors that can act as barriers or facilitators to transition for carers were identified. Contextualising loss, restructuring identity, psychological health issues and the influence of social attitudes seemed to have a strong influence on carer outcomes. The findings highlight the need for further systematic social and informational support for carers to moderate post-care trajectories and improve carer transition.

Older persons are among the most vulnerable of refugees seeking protection in Malaysia, yet seldom are they the focus of the work of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, local charities or non-government organisations. In-depth ethnographic research with a group of older Chin women in Kuala Lumpur demonstrates both the vulnerability and resilience of older refugees in urban environments. Older refugees play a crucial role in sustaining families and communities. They provide much-needed support to refugee communities who struggle to meet the needs of everyday life in the absence of protection protocols.

Although moving from institutional to home-like long-term care (LTC) settings can promote and sustain the health and wellbeing of older adults, there has been little research examining how home is perceived by older adults when moving between care settings. A qualitative study was conducted over a two-year period during the relocation of residents and staff from an institutional LTC home to a purpose-built LTC home in Western Canada. The study explored perceptions of home amongst residents, family members and staff. Accordingly, 210 semi-structured interviews were conducted at five time-points with 35 residents, 23 family members and 81 staff. Thematic analyses generated four superordinate themes that are suggestive of how to create and enhance a sense of home in LTC settings: (a) physical environment features; (b) privacy and personalisation; (c) autonomy, choice and flexibility; and (d) connectedness and togetherness. The findings reveal that the physical environment features are foundational for the emergence of social and personal meanings associated with a sense of home, and highlight the impact of care practices on the sense of home when the workplace becomes a home. In addition, tension that arises between providing care and creating a home-like environment in LTC settings is discussed.

Socio-economic circumstances influence later-life employment participation, which may take different forms as retirement processes are complex. We aimed to explore the diverse effects of various socio-economic sub-domains on pre- and post-retirement employment. We used Finnish register data to examine socio-economic predictors of time to retirement (i.e. receiving the statutory pension) using Cox regression analysis and on time spent in post-retirement employment using repeated negative binomial regression analysis over a follow-up between the ages of 63 and 68, i.e. the flexible pension age range. An average wage earner still employed at age 62 spent 13.5 months in pre-retirement employment (this corresponds to time to retirement) and 4.8 months in post-retirement employment. Those with tertiary education retired later, but the educational differences in the total time spent in employment were small when post-retirement employment was also considered. There was little variation in the timing of retirement by household income, but those in the highest quintile spent the longest time in post-retirement employment. Upper non-manual employees, home renters and those with high household debt retired later, and those with high household debt also spent a longer time in post-retirement employment. In a national flexible pension age system, high occupational class and household income thus appear to encourage either later retirement or participation in post-retirement employment. However, economic constraints also appear to necessitate continued employment.

As the number of older immigrants in Europe rises, dementia within minority ethnic populations warrants attention as a significant public health problem. Equitable health and care services constitute a prioritised health policy aim on both supranational and national levels in Europe and is formulated in the Norwegian health legislation. Through interviews and focus groups with older immigrants, relatives of immigrants with dementia and health personnel, we explored the perceptions of dementia among ethnically diverse groups in Norway. The findings show that many interpret symptoms such as memory loss and disorientation as a natural part of ageing. Others consider dementia symptoms to have a psycho-social origin, deriving from social isolation. Some describe symptoms as an expression of a potentially transient sign of madness, while others point to destiny and God's will, representing basic and unalterable causes. However, another pattern of perception includes viewing dementia as a potentially transient physical illness, including a belief in a medical cure. By investigating how people with dementia and their families understand and manage the condition, one may facilitate access to relevant and adapted information. Furthermore, by exploring how people relate to their illness, health personnel may challenge explanatory models that create unrealistic expectations of cure, as well as models that, due to stigma or normalisation of symptoms, prevent the use of public care.

With a large baby-boomer generation entering mid-later life in the United Kingdom, and families spanning across multiple generations, understanding how individuals support multiple generations is of increasing research and policy significance. Data from the British 1958 National Child Development Study, collected when respondents were aged 55, are used to examine how mid-life women and men allocate their time to support elderly parents/parents-in-law and their own adult children in terms of providing grandchild care, and whether there is a trade-off in caring for different generations. Binary logistic and multinomial regression models distinguish between individuals supporting multiple generations, only one generation or none. One-third of mid-life individuals are ‘sandwiched’ between multiple generations, by having at least one parent/parent-in-law and one grandchild alive. Among them, half are simultaneously supporting both generations. Caring for grandchildren increases the probability of also supporting one's parents/parents-in-law, and vice versa. More intense support for one generation is associated with a higher likelihood of supporting the other generation. Good health is associated with caring for multiple generations for men and women, while working part-time or not at all is associated with such care provision for women only. Facilitating mid-life men and women in responding to family support demands whilst maintaining paid employment will be critical in fostering future intergenerational support.

The paper focuses on temporal aspects of informal caring for older people. Limitations of large-scale surveys in capturing such data are noted and time-use methodology, despite its own limitations, is proposed as a promising alternative. Adopting a critical perspective on time that includes carers’ own conceptualisations, we report the findings of a qualitative study of carers’ time use. Sixty-two interviews with carers, male/female, co-resident/not co-resident, employed/not employed, and located across Great Britain were conducted. Analysis considered people's own diverse and ambiguous views of their care activities. Carers’ accounts of their time revealed non-linear experiences and a sense of being permanently on call. Interviewees often travelled distances to engage in support activities with or for older people. Changes over time were pervasive, increasing or reducing care requirements. Unanticipated events could precipitate radical changes in time use. Managing time, exercising temporal agency, was particularly apparent in accounts of care, employment, other family responsibilities and choices about friendship. Measurement of carers’ time use which draws on the conceptual foundation of carers’ own perspectives on time may provide more effective quantitative understanding of the temporal aspects of caring. It should not pre-define time, must grasp a variety of tasks, take account of intermittent activity, incorporate the 24–7 experience of many carers and demonstrate how caring time interacts with other time.

There are many definitions of social isolation which draw on structural indicators (e.g. living alone), functional indicators (e.g. social support) or both. This makes comparing prevalence rates across studies difficult and provides little guidance for practitioners and service providers to identify and target socially isolated clients. The purpose of the present study was to compare, within one large population-based data-set of Canadians aged 45–85, single-item and composite indicators of social isolation, by total sample and by socio-demographics (age, sex) and health. Data were from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) which assessed features of social network, social support and social participation. Two composite scales were created to compare prevalence rates based on structural only or both structural and functional indicators. Results indicated overall low prevalence rates of social isolation, regardless of the measure used. A composite scale using only structural features identified 5.8 per cent socially isolated adults aged 45–85. This compared with a structural and functional scale that identified 9.8 per cent socially isolated adults. The composite measures showed less variation across socio-demographics than single-item measures. Results shed light on different ways in which social isolation can be defined and how single-item and composite definitions impact our understanding of identifying socially isolated adults in a given population. Results add to discussion of measures that can be used by researchers, services providers and practitioners.

As the world undergoes rapid ageing, informal support from friends and relatives is becoming especially important among older adults in middle- and low-income countries, where formalised social protections may be limited. We use new data from a cohort of adults aged 40 and older in rural South Africa to explore how receipt of emotional support differs by gender and marital status. Our findings suggest that women are more likely to get emotional support than men and have more sources of support. Moreover, women are more likely to get emotional support from relatives, whereas men are more likely to get support from friends. In regard to marital status, married people are more likely to get emotional support and have more sources of support than people who are not married. However, separated/divorced and widowed people are more likely to get emotional support from relatives and have more sources of non-spousal support than married people. These findings point towards gaps in informal systems of support, and the particular importance of considering men and unmarried (especially never-married) people when designing policies to offer social protections to older populations.

With increasing life expectancy, changes in family structure and, most recently, the relaxation of the hitherto strict family planning policies, understanding how mid-life individuals support multiple generations, particularly their older parents and younger grandchildren, is of increasing research and policy significance in China. This paper analyses data from the 2011 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) to examine the characteristics of Chinese mid-life individuals aged 45–64 who are potentially being ‘sandwiched’ between providing care to older parents/parents-in-law and/or younger grandchildren (under age 16). Binary logistic and multinomial regression models shed light on the factors associated with providing support to one generation or multiple generations. The results highlight that amongst the Chinese mid-life sandwich generation, 58 per cent only provide care to their young grandchildren, 23 per cent only provide care to their parents/parents-in-law, whilst 15 per cent are simultaneously supporting both generations. Rather than acting as competing demands upon the mid-lifers’ time, the multivariate analysis provides evidence that the provision of intergenerational care is complementary, with caring for grandchildren increasing the probability of also supporting one's parents/parents-in-law, and vice versa. However, an increase in the number of younger grandchildren has a negative impact on the care provided to older parents/parents-in-law, indicating that at higher care intensities there may be competing demands across the generations.

The impact that providing care to ageing parents has on adult children's lives may depend on the long-term care (LTC) context. A common approach to test this is to compare whether the impact of care-giving varies between countries with different LTC coverage. However, this approach leaves considerable room for omitted variable bias. We use individual fixed-effects analyses to reduce bias in the estimates of the effects of informal care-giving on quality of life, and combine this with a difference-in-difference approach to reduce bias in the estimated moderating impact of LTC coverage on these effects. We draw on longitudinal data for Sweden and Denmark from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) collected between 2004 and 2015. Both countries traditionally had generous LTC coverage, but cutbacks were implemented at the end of the 20th century in Sweden and more recently in Denmark. We use this country difference in the timing of the cutbacks to shed light on effects of LTC coverage on the impact care-giving has on quality of life. Our analyses show that care-giving was more detrimental for quality of life in Sweden than in Denmark, and this difference weakened significantly when LTC coverage was reduced in Denmark, but not in Sweden. This suggests that LTC coverage shapes the impact of care-giving on quality of life.

This paper examines the impact of wealth and income on the likelihood of depression among persons aged 50 or higher in four European regions characterised by differences in the standards of living and welfare systems. To address possible effects, data from Wave 6 of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) have been used. Based on a sample of 60,864 persons resident in 16 European countries and a binary indicator of depression, probit and instrumental variable probit models were employed, the latter of which deal with issues of endogeneity and omitted variable bias. The findings show differences in the prevalence of depression across Europe, favouring the more affluent North/Western countries. Further, there is a difference in the role and the magnitude of the effect of income and wealth across different regions. First, though both measures exhibit a measurable effect, their impact is greater in the poorer Central/Eastern and Southern regions; this divide is more pronounced for wealth. Second, income seems to have a stronger effect compared to wealth in all instances: hence, it would seem that liquidity is more important among Europeans aged 50 or higher than assets. Nevertheless, neither income nor wealth are important among persons aged 65 or higher in Nordic countries which may be partly attributable to a more equitable welfare system.

This article deals with old-age care facilities in Poland which are aimed at people from Germany. These facilities emerge against the background of severe criticism of old-age care facilities in Germany. The media projects a widespread use of these facilities, claiming this is mainly due to the lower costs as compared to Germany. Against the backdrop of normative discussions about old-age care in Germany, doubts about a widespread use of facilities abroad may arise. Indeed, we will show that in quantitative terms, the facilities in Poland are a marginal phenomenon. Drawing on neo-institutional organisation theories, we demonstrate that the facilities face legitimisation challenges that consist of being able to align with the socially shared values and norms of old-age care in Germany to position themselves as a legitimate option. We analyse whether and how the facilities deal with these challenges. We particularly focus on the only facility we found that has a substantial number of residents from Germany. We show how the facility takes on the legitimation challenge by its motto ‘Just like in Germany – only better’, while other facilities position themselves as ‘low-cost facilities for people from Germany’. The low take-up of the latter indicates that low prices alone do not attract a substantial number of residents from Germany into the facilities.

In Canadian residential long-term care, paid companion services are increasingly viewed as helping to meet older adults’ psycho-social needs. Complementing the critique of these services from a political economy perspective, analyses of companions’ talk about their work can illuminate not only why companions stay in devalued and often invisible work, but also how social assumptions and circulating narratives about nursing homes and older adults are implicated in this process. In this article, we draw on in-depth analyses of interviews with both companions and organisational representatives. We interpret companions’ accounts in relation to their need to justify the necessity for their work to their employers (families), to nurture good relationships with the facilities in which they work, and to maintain a sense of identity as a responsible, conscientious and ‘caring self’. In this way, these precarious workers inadvertently reproduce dominant narratives, including those that stigmatise dementia and residential care, and facilitate the privatisation of person-centred, relational care. Organisational representatives generally reproduce similar assumptions about care responsibilities, in a context in which facilities are increasingly challenged to meet a range of resident needs. Discussion highlights tensions around responsibility for psycho-social care in nursing homes, highlighting organisational vested interests in avoiding risk and downloading responsibilities to families and to private, independent and temporary workers.