ORCID Profile
0000-0002-7169-4930
Current Organisations
University of Amsterdam
,
University of Queensland
,
University of Minnesota
,
University of Southern California
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Research Topics
In Research Link Australia (RLA), "Research Topics" refer to ANZSRC FOR and SEO codes. These topics are either sourced from ANZSRC FOR and SEO codes listed in researchers' related grants or generated by a large language model (LLM) based on their publications.
Top 5 Research Topics
ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)
Social Change | Cultural Studies | Demography | Family and Household Studies | Multicultural, Intercultural and Cross-cultural Studies | Social Policy
ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)
Ageing and Older People | Expanding Knowledge through Studies of Human Society | Families and Family Services | Communication Across Languages and Culture |
Related Links
Publications
MANAGER CHARACTERISTICS AND EMPLOYEE JOB INSECURITY AROUND A MERGER ANNOUNCEMENT: The Role of Status and Crossover
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 08-2015
DOI: 10.1111/TSQ.12092
Chronic conditions, couple-level factors and union dissolution
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2020
Constrained choices ? Linking employees' and spouses' work time to health behaviors
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2015
Retirement, social support and mental well-being: a couple-level analysis.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 16-09-2022
DOI: 10.1007/S10198-021-01374-1
Abstract: Social support is increasingly acknowledged as an important resource for promoting well-being. We test whether social support changes around retirement. We also examine whether social support moderates dynamics in mental well-being around retirement and consider both own and spouse's retirement drawing on a unique longitudinal, couple-level data set from Australia. We observe descriptively no effect of own or spouse's retirement on social support. However, those with high social support do experience a small but statistically significant improvement in mental well-being post retirement. Using pension eligibility as an instrument, we find that own retirement causally improves mental well-being for women and by a similar degree for those with low/high social support. We also estimate responses to life satisfaction and find evidence that spill-over benefits from spousal retirement are larger for in iduals with low social support.
Family Dynamics over the Life Course
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
Date: 2022
Chronic illness and mental strain: The longitudinal role of partners with time since illness onset
Publisher: Bristol University Press
Date: 24-07-2018
Actor-partner effects of childhood disadvantage on later life subjective well-being among individuals in coresidential unions
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 21-11-2020
Abstract: Prior research on cumulative disadvantage has primarily focused on in iduals’ own childhood adversity for their later-life outcomes. Nevertheless, partner’s childhood disadvantage may also shape respondent’s later-life well-being. Drawing on a household-level dataset, I examine respondent’s own childhood adversity as well as their partner’s childhood adversity (poor childhood health, parental orce, or father’s long-term unemployment) on respondent’s subjective well-being, at aged 50 and older. Findings from the actor-partner interdependence model (APIM) show poor childhood health of the male partner as associated with worse mental health and self-rated health of the female partner in later life. For both outcome measures, the partner effects were attenuated after adjusting for the female partner’s report of perceived social support. For self-rated health, adjusting for variation in the presence of a chronic illness and household income also attenuated the association. Partnered in iduals are nested within a specific context, whereby stress and implications of early life disadvantage may be conceptualized at the couple-level. Future research that assesses how early life experiences of in iduals may have implications for family members’ later-life well-being may be valuable.
The effects of the built environment on the general health, physical activity and obesity of adults in Queensland, Australia
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2021
DOI: 10.1016/J.SSTE.2021.100456
Abstract: The built environment has been identified as a key factor for health intervention and obesity prevention. However, it is still unclear to what extent the built environment is associated with obesity and general health and to what extent such an association is mediated through variation in physical activity. This study aims to examine the associations between in idual characteristics, the built environment, physical activity, general health and body mass index to reveal the pathways through which the built environment is associated with the prevalence of obesity. Using data from 1,788 adults aged 18 to 65 in Queensland from Wave 16 of the Household, Income, and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey, we use geographic information system-based methods to quantify built environment factors in 5D dimensions: Density, Diversity, Design, Distance and Destination accessibility. We then employ multi-level mixed-effect models to test the hypothesised relationships between in idual characteristics, the built environment, physical activity, general health and body mass index. The results indicate that physical activity is positively associated with general health and negatively associated with the prevalence of obesity. Adjusting for in idual characteristics, we find that built-environment factors have direct effects on physical activity but indirect effects on general health and obesity. Among these factors, greater green space exposure plays a key role in enhancing general health and reducing obesity. Low-density and car-dependent neighbourhoods can be activity-friendly and mitigate obesity if these neighbourhoods are also equipped with easy access to green space.
Dynamics of parental work hours, job security, and child behavioural problems in Australian dual-earner families
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 31-05-2017
Longitudinal associations between loneliness and prescription medication use
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 24-01-2023
Abstract: Both loneliness and the use of psychotropic drugs are common in later life. Although loneliness has been found to be associated with psychotropic drug use, most studies have been cross-sectional, and we know less about their longitudinal associations. Drawing on five waves of data from the Health and Retirement Study and two statistical approaches (fixed-effects and cross-lagged panel models), we examine longitudinal associations between loneliness and the use of prescription pain and depression/anxiety medications. Across 57,654 observations among 20,589 respondents, 22.8% reported regular use of pain prescription medications, 17.8% regular use of depression/anxiety prescription medication, and 15.6% feeling lonely in the past week. Loneliness and the use of depression/anxiety medications were associated according to both modeling approaches, net of covariates. In years when a respondent reported feeling lonely, the odds of regular use of depression/anxiety medications were 1.42 times higher (p & .001) than in years when they did not feel lonely. Regarding reciprocation, odds of regular depression/anxiety medication use in a given wave range from 1.3 to 1.5 times higher if loneliness was reported in the prior wave. Likewise, the odds of reporting loneliness in a given wave range from 1.5 to 1.8 times higher if regular depression/anxiety medication was reported in the prior wave. Prior loneliness predicts contemporaneous regular use of depression/anxiety prescription medications. Although this confirms the directional association found in prior studies, we found prior use of depression/anxiety medications is also associated with increased odds of loneliness, suggesting further research is needed to understand mechanisms that explain their associations and potential interventions.
Contour of the day: social patterning of time in later life and variation in reported well-being in activities
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 22-04-2021
DOI: 10.1177/08982643211011800
Abstract: Objective: To contextualize experiences of activities during the day and investigate whether the contour of the day is correlated with well-being during activities. Methods: Drawing on American Time Use Surveys, we employ sequence and cluster analyses to create distinct typologies of daily life patterns, and bivariate analyses to describe whether well-being across activities varies by these typologies. Results: We identified four typologies characterized by different primary activity of the day: leisure (22.7%), TV (22.4%), housework (47.5%), and work (7.5%). In iduals in the work and leisure clusters tend to report more positive well-being and in iduals in the housework and TV clusters tend to report more negative well-being in experiences of activities during the day. We also found that well-being experiences in the same activity differed across in iduals in the different typologies. Conclusion: Understanding the daily life patterns of older adults may be important, given its correlation with well-being during activities.
Stress Proliferation? Precarity and Work–Family Conflict at the Intersection of Gender and Household Income
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 17-07-2019
Abstract: We theorize a stress proliferation process whereby the stress of job precarity translates into the stress of work-to-family conflict (WFC). We test whether this process differs by gender and household income. Using four cross-sectional waves of the General Social Survey ( N = 2,340), we find a positive association between job insecurity and WFC for women but not men. Examined by household income levels, the association is found only for respondents in the lowest income tercile. Furthermore, gender intersects with household income to shape the stress proliferation process. While the insecurity–WFC relationship holds for women across all household income levels, for men this relationship shifts from positive for men in the lowest income tercile to negative for men in the highest income tercile. Our findings suggest that entrenched gendered expectations around work and family may lead women (regardless of household income) and lower-class men to be most vulnerable to stress proliferation.
Social and productive activities and health among partnered older adults: A couple-level analysis
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 05-2019
DOI: 10.1016/J.SOCSCIMED.2018.04.016
Abstract: We theorize and test the health of older adults as a result of their activity engagement, as well as a product of their spouse's engagement. We draw on 15 waves of couple-level data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey. Using responses of time engaged in nine different activities, we estimate Latent Class Models to describe activity profiles of partnered older adults. Given potential health selections into activity engagement, we lag older adults' activity engagement by one wave to examine its association with subsequent health. We then investigate associations between the lag of the spouse's activities with respondents' health, controlling for their own activity engagement at the previous wave. We find four activity profiles for men, and three for women. Respondents who were predominantly engaged in community activities generally report better subsequent health. Beyond their own activity engagement, for both older men and women, having a partner who was also community engaged associate with better subsequent health, though for older women, there were little differences between having a husband who was community engaged or inactive. Our findings highlight the value of considering activities of partnered older adults at the couple level.
Friend-ish: Home care workers, Social Labor and managing the boundaries of the carer relationship
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 08-12-2023
DOI: 10.1177/07334648221144026
Abstract: We examine how changes in home care work, with greater emphasis on social support, have led to corresponding changes in the forms of labor performed by home care workers. Drawing on interviews with fifty older adults, we find in addition to physical and emotional labor, workers may be increasingly expected to engage in a form of labor we term “social labor,” in which they actively manage the boundary between the professional services they provide and the personal relationships that may develop. We find ex les of such expectations include (1) following the lead of clients who set out terms of the relationship and degree of sociality, (2) managing the potential dual role of “support worker” and “friend,” and (3) meeting social needs of clients vulnerable to isolation. As Government acknowledges the value of social support and companionship, greater attention is needed to this aspect of care work, with implications for workers and clients.
Diversity of strong and weak ties and loneliness in older adults
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2023
Educational Differences in Risk of All-Cause Mortality After Acute Cardiovascular Events: Examining Cohort and Gender Variations
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 16-10-2020
Abstract: Acute cardiovascular events are prevalent in older adults. In this study, following a s le of respondents from the 1996–2016 Health and Retirement Study after diagnosis of myocardial infarction or stroke, we used discrete-time event history models to study mortality post diagnosis. We found an educational gradient in mortality following myocardial infarction or stroke with the better educated surviving longer, even as the gradient was weaker for stroke. Cohort variations existed with the educational gradients stronger for more recent cohorts (Silent and Boomer) as compared with the GI cohort. Gender interacted with cohort to shape mortality such that men from the Silent and Boomer cohorts benefited the most from high school and some college education. Mediation analysis showed that the educational differences in mortality are accounted for by spousal educational attainment, wealth, Medicaid coverage, change in health behaviors, and comorbidities.
Integrating work and home when patients are dying: a mixed-methods study of hospice care workers and work–family conflict in the US
Publisher: Bristol University Press
Date: 02-2020
DOI: 10.1332/239788220X15980339608133
Abstract: Scholars of work and family have argued that flexibility in hours and location may support integration between work and home. Home-based hospice care is a type of work that has a great deal of flexibility but it is not clear that it is used to support workers. Using interview and survey data from 179 US hospice workers, we show that the speeding up of care and culture of self-sacrifice make integration difficult. Almost a third of workers report that work takes too much time from home life, which is associated with higher turnover intention, higher burnout and lower life satisfaction.
Built environment and loneliness among older adults in South East Queensland, Australia
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 08-07-2022
DOI: 10.1177/07334648221114345
Abstract: Objective: To examine characteristics of the built environment and investigate associations with loneliness among older adults. Methods: Drawing on geocoded data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey and measures of neighborhood features retrieved from multiple publicly available sources, we conducted principal component and regression analyses to examine the associations between characteristics of the built environment and loneliness among older adults in South East Queensland, Australia. Results: Older adults living in compact neighborhoods with higher population and housing density, smaller land parcels, and more access to green space reported lower levels of loneliness. Compact and mixed land-use neighborhoods may increase people’s exposure to and social interactions with surrounding people and the environment. Conclusion: The built environment provides the context for social interactions. Our study and findings inform research and suggest the development of interventions surrounding the built environment that could potentially help tackle loneliness in older adults.
Intergenerational exchange and support
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
Date: 08-11-2019
Intergenerational family dynamics and relationships
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
Date: 16-10-2019
Trajectories of Loneliness Among Older Women and Men: Variation by Sexual Identity?
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 22-04-2022
Abstract: The aim of this study is to contribute to the literature on variation in later-life outcomes by sexual identity. Drawing on the Iridescent Life Course framework, we examined differences in loneliness trajectories, and tested the roles of social connectedness and support, and socioeconomic and health statuses in explaining any observed disparities. Using growth models, we analyzed 19 years of data (2001–2019) from adults aged 50 years and older from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey (n = 5,500 in iduals), where a question on sexual identity was asked twice in the study. One percent of our s le reported a change in their sexual identity, which we grouped with in iduals who reported as bisexual. Our s le comprised of 45.3% heterosexual men, 52.2% heterosexual women, 0.6% gay men, 0.6% lesbian women, 0.6% bisexual-plus men, and 0.6% bisexual-plus women. We found bisexual-plus men were vulnerable to loneliness as they aged. This group had the highest levels of loneliness at age 50, and differences compared with heterosexual men persisted over time. Loneliness of bisexual-plus men increased steeply from age 70. Socioeconomic and health statuses did not explain the increased loneliness of older bisexual-plus men. Lower social support and connectedness partly accounted for these disparities. Findings are discussed with regards to existing research and theories on social disadvantage and resilience over the life course. We expand knowledge on factors explaining loneliness and how it varies in women and men by sexual identity.
The Scarring Effects of Father’s Unemployment? Job-Security Satisfaction and Mental Health at Midlife
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 08-09-2017
Abstract: We investigate the association between early-life paternal unemployment and midlife mental health, examining whether the impact of father's unemployment may vary contingent on the broader economic context on which it occurred. We also investigate job-security satisfaction as a potential mediator of this association. We utilize random-effects models, drawing on 15 waves of data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey, with 7,438 in iduals and 42,309 in idual-time observations. We find respondents whose father was unemployed report worse mental health at midlife (-2.27 p < .01), with the association being modest, though statistically significant. This association is also stronger for younger respondents, whose paternal unemployment was more likely during the economic downturn of the mid 1970s in Australia. Paternal unemployment is also associated with lower satisfaction with job security at midlife (-0.17 p < 0.05), which is related to worse mental health however, it explains little of the association between paternal unemployment and mental health. Existing research finds paternal unemployment relates to educational attainment, socioeconomic achievement, and wellbeing in the shorter term, but exposure to this event may also have enduring implications for the wellbeing of the offspring.
Healthy work revisited: Do changes in time strain predict well-being?
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Date: 04-2013
DOI: 10.1037/A0031804
Later-life transitions and changes in prescription medication use for pain and depression
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 17-03-2022
DOI: 10.1186/S12877-022-02921-Y
Abstract: Over the past two decades, prescription medication use for pain and depression increased dramatically. Most studies consider the early life course, despite a similar increase among those in later life. In this paper, we examine whether and how later life transitions may relate to changes in medication use. We draw on data from the Health and Retirement Study and fixed-effects models to examine whether work, family, and civic transitions in later life are related to changes in the usage of prescription pain and depression medication. Results show that in iduals had higher odds of regularly using prescription pain and depression medications in periods when out of the labor market. Higher odds of depression medication use were also associated with periods of widowhood, and lower odds of use when frequently volunteering. Such relations persist adjusting for reported levels of pain and depression. Our findings call attention to the importance of social ties and the presence of actors that may regulate health behaviors, as well as a change in social context, that may shape medication use in later life.
Families, Life Courses and the Intergenerational Transmission of Social Disadvantage in Australia
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
Date: 2022
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-12224-8_2
Abstract: In this chapter, we describe the life course approach and explain key concepts and principles. We also review variations in life course theory across disciplines including differences in terminology and understanding of core elements of life course theory. We outline why the life course approach is useful for examining intergenerational transmission of inequality and why a focus on family background is important. We review research on intergenerational inequality, family dynamics and variations across social groups and conclude by briefly outlining new directions in life course theory toward a more integrated theoretical framework.
Introduction
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
Date: 2022
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-12224-8_1
Abstract: In this chapter we present the research questions motivating the book and outline key themes and issues guiding the chapters. We provide a broad overview of the Australian social, political and economic context to give readers an understanding of some of the key features of Australian society. We outline the structure of the book and present a brief synopsis of each chapter.
Retirement and encore adulthood: the new later life course
Publisher: Elsevier
Date: 2015
Life Events and Loneliness Among Older Women of Diverse Sexual Identities: Application of the Stress Process Model
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 17-05-2022
DOI: 10.1177/01640275221090681
Abstract: Loneliness among older adults has been a topic of interest in recent years. We analyse four waves of data from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health. We estimate growth models to examine differences in loneliness trajectories from age 50 for women who identify as exclusively heterosexual, plurisexual (bisexual, mainly heterosexual, mainly lesbian) and exclusively lesbian. We find no significant differences in levels of loneliness across sexual identity groups at age 50. We find that while loneliness trajectories of exclusively heterosexual women trend down, levels of loneliness increase with age among plurisexual women. Adverse health events and relationship problems increase loneliness to a greater extent among plurisexual women compared to exclusively heterosexual and exclusively lesbian women. Our results suggest older lesbian women may have accumulated social or personal resources or developed coping mechanisms over the courses of their lives, while plurisexual women remain a vulnerable group.
The scars of the past? Childhood health and health differentials in later life
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2019
“Friend-ish”: home care workers, ‘social labour’ and managing the boundaries of the carer relationship
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2020
DOI: 10.2139/SSRN.3679674
General and proximal associations between unpaid eldercare, time constraints and subjective well-being
Publisher: Bristol University Press
Date: 03-2017
DOI: 10.1332/239788217X14866303262183
Abstract: Population ageing requires understanding the implications of eldercare. Using American Time Use Surveys, we find that caregivers spend less time on personal care and social activities/sports, and more time on housework, than in iduals who do not provide any eldercare. They also report higher stress and lower happiness. In addition, caregivers may not provide care every day, but on days when they do, they also spend more time on housework and less on paid work, and report higher levels of sadness than on days when they do not provide care. Regular caregivers experience worse wellbeing than non-caregivers, but also experience additional strain on days when they provide care.
THE LONG ARM OF THE LIFE COURSE: ADOLESCENT EXPERIENCES AND THE EVALUATION OF JOB SECURITY IN EARLY ADULTHOOD
Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Date: 12-04-2014
Emerging Directions and New Challenges
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
Date: 2022
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-12224-8_15
Abstract: In this chapter we provide a brief summary of the key themes of the book, identify emerging directions and challenges in life course theory and data designs and highlight some policy challenges for researchers going forward.
Taking the long view: Long‐term couple earnings arrangements across the transition to parenthood
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 16-04-2023
DOI: 10.1002/AJS4.264
Abstract: This paper examines household earnings arrangements and parenthood. Previous research has shown that parenthood is associated with a motherhood wage penalty with women withdrawing from the labour market or reducing their work hours. But few studies have examined within‐couple relative earnings and breadwinning arrangements across the transition to parenthood. We identify three types of households—“female‐breadwinner households” (where women earn more than 60 per cent of the couple's annual labour income) “male‐breadwinner households” (where women earn less than 40 per cent of the joint income) and “equal‐earner households” (where women earn 40 per cent to 60 per cent of the joint income). Using longitudinal data from the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey and fixed effects models, we find a substantial decrease in the percentage of couples in equal‐earner households in the year prior to and after parenthood that is largely replaced by an increase in the percentage in male‐breadwinner households. We observe little return to pre‐parenthood earnings arrangements for equal‐earner and male‐breadwinner households. For female‐breadwinner households, we observe a gradual return to pre‐parenthood arrangements. These results provide evidence that parenthood is a major milestone contributing to gender inequality and highlight the importance of policies for reducing the impact of parenthood on women's earnings.
Ageing and loneliness: a life course and cumulative disadvantage approach
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
Date: 2022
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-12224-8_13
Abstract: Loneliness is emerging as a significant issue in modern societies with impacts on health and wellbeing. Many of the existing studies on loneliness focus on its contemporaneous correlates. Drawing on life course and cumulative disadvantage theory and data from qualitative interviews with 50 older adults living in the community, we examine how past events shape variations in later-life loneliness. We identify four factors that are of significance for understanding loneliness: (1) Formation of social networks (2) history of familial support (3) relocation and migration, and (4) widowhood and separation. Our findings point to the importance of maintenance of social ties over the adult life course while at the same time highlighting how disruptions to social networks impact on later-life loneliness. We also find that loneliness and disadvantage, like other social or health outcomes, compound over time.
Neighborhood Characteristics, Neighborhood Satisfaction, and Loneliness Differences Across Ethnic–Migrant Groups in Australia
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 09-12-2021
Abstract: Loneliness is an important concern for older adults. Studies have linked demographic characteristics with loneliness, showing that it varies by ethnic and migrant statuses in countries in Europe and North America. Characteristics of the physical environment in which older adults are embedded have also received some attention, though prior studies have not fully investigated whether older adults from different ethnic–migrant backgrounds may report variation in loneliness because of characteristics of, or satisfaction with, their neighborhoods, which may shape their social interactions. Drawing on up to 4 waves of data from the Household, Income, and Labour Dynamics in Australia Surveys and random-effects models, I examine whether loneliness differs across ethnic/migrant groups in the Australian context. Furthermore, I examine whether neighborhood characteristics (its conditions and sociality) and satisfaction with the neighborhood (with its safety, with the neighborhood itself, and with “feeling part of the local community”) may be mediators for the association between ethnic–migrant status and loneliness. Findings show migrants from non-English-speaking countries report higher levels of loneliness, as compared with native-born, non-Indigenous Australians. More favorable neighborhood characteristics and higher levels of satisfaction with different aspects of the neighborhood are consistently associated with lower levels of loneliness. Neighborhood sociality and satisfaction with aspects of the neighborhood partially mediated the association between ethnicity status and loneliness for migrants from non-English-speaking countries. This study showed loneliness differs across older Australians of different ethnic and migrant backgrounds. It also showed how loneliness differences are explained by different mechanisms.
Aging, Families, and the Gendered Life Course
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 21-03-2014
Young mothers in Australia: prioritising motherhood and resisting stereotypes
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 11-10-2022
Time Work by Overworked Professionals: Strategies in Response to the Stress of Higher Status
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 09-04-2013
Abstract: How are professionals responding to the time strains brought on by the stress of their higher status jobs? Qualitative data from professionals reveal (a) general acceptance of the emerging temporal organization of professional work, including rising time demands and blurred boundaries around work/nonwork times and places, and (b) time work as strategic responses to work intensification, overloads, and boundarylessness. We detected four time-work strategies: prioritizing time, scaling back obligations, blocking out time, and time shifting of obligations. These strategies are often more work-friendly than family-friendly, but “blocking out time” and “time shifting” suggest promising avenues for work-time policy and practice.
Links between loneliness and happiness in Japan's aging population
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 11-2019
DOI: 10.1093/GERONI/IGZ038.1130
Abstract: Fertility rates in Japan have been historically low over several decades while life expectancy remains among the highest in the world. Consequently, traditional social networks consisting of immediate family and relatives have shrunk, and a growing number of older adults in contemporary Japanese society report feeling lonely. Thus, the well-being of Japans aging population is a major concern. While the negative effects of loneliness on perceived well-being (e.g., happiness) in later life have been well documented in western nations, relatively little is known from a Japanese context. Thus, we utilized a s le (n = 258) of urban community-dwelling Japanese adults age 65 years and older from the 2012 Survey of Mid-Life in Japan (MIDJA) to examine the association between happiness and loneliness. Consistent with findings from western nations, we identified strong links between happiness and loneliness in Japan. Results from ordinal logistic regression models showed that loneliness (OR = 0.80, p & 0.05) was negatively associated with happiness even after accounting for sociodemographic characteristics. Additionally, this study examined relevant demographic and cultural characteristics in order to contextualize the findings and identify possible explanations. For ex le, the cultural importance of family ties and gendered family roles was discussed in relation to the likely impact that increased levels of loneliness will have on the well-being of older Japanese adults. In sum, if the well-being of Japan’s rapidly aging population is to be maintained (or possibly even enhanced), then the growing societal issue of loneliness must be addressed.
Is Insecurity Worse for Well-being in Turbulent Times? Mental Health in Context
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 21-10-2014
Abstract: Using General Social Survey data, we examine whether any association between job insecurity and well-being is contingent on economic climate (comparing those interviewed in turbulent 2010 vs. pre-recessionary 2006), as well as income and gender. We find respondents with higher levels of job insecurity in 2010 reported lower levels of happiness compared to those similarly insecure in 2006. The positive relationship between job insecurity and days of poor mental health becomes more pronounced for those in the third quartile of personal income in 2010, suggesting middle-class vulnerability during the economic downturn. Men (but not women) with higher insecurity report more days of poor mental health in both 2006 and 2010. These findings reinforce a “cycles of control” theoretical approach, given the mental health–job insecurity relationship is heightened for workers in turbulent times.
Transformation, disruption or cumulative disadvantage? labor market and education trajectories of young mothers in Australia
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2022
Ageism and risk during the coronavirus pandemic
Publisher: Routledge
Date: 02-04-2021
Chronic illness, subjective wellbeing, and health services availability: A study of older adults in Australia
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 21-07-2021
Abstract: Chronic illness is prevalent in older adults. While current scholarship has examined how various factors may be associated with the onset of chronic illnesses, fewer scholars have examined the role of health services availability. Drawing on a s le of older adults aged 50 and above from wave 16 of the Household, Income, and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey and geo-coded information of general practitioners (GPs) from the Australian Medical Directory, 2016, we investigated whether living in areas with a greater number of GPs is related to reports of living with a chronic illness. Contrary to our hypothesis, we did not find an association between the availability of health services and reports of chronic illnesses, though factors such as better socioeconomic status and better subjective wellbeing are related to lower likelihoods of reporting a chronic illness. We concluded that, while easy access to local health services may be important for the diagnosis and treatment of chronic illnesses, it is less persuasive to attribute the availability of health services to the likelihood of older adults reporting chronic illnesses without knowing how much or how often they use the services.
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Related Funding Activities
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE210100582
Start Date: 07-2021
End Date: 12-2024
Amount: $444,620.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityLinkage Projects - Grant ID: LP210200703
Start Date: 07-2022
End Date: 07-2025
Amount: $383,434.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded Activity