Increasing longevity has led to a rising number of adult children who are at higher ages when they provide care for their parents. Drawing on the lifecourse approach and exchange theory, the paper addresses similarities and differences in parent care between late middle-aged and older adult children. The study uses the UK Household Longitudinal Study, restricting the analysis sample to individuals aged 50 and older with a living parent or parent-in-law. It presents multivariate models to examine differences between late middle-aged (aged 50–64) and older (aged 65+) children in being a parent carer, providing intensive care, the duration of parent care and providing selected types of help to parents. The involvement in parent care increases among women up to the end of their seventh decade of life and for men up to their eighth decade of life. At higher ages, the proportion of parent carers decreases more strongly for women than men. Older carers have shorter care-giving episodes than younger carers, but there is no significant difference in the type of care provided. Even past retirement age, parent care remains classed and gendered, with women from lower social classes having the highest likelihood of providing intensive parent care in old age. Having dependent children or living in a non-marital union depress the likelihood of caring for a parent even past retirement age.

The study reassessed the configural and metric structures of the Brazilian version of the Control, Autonomy, Self-realization and Pleasure (CASP-19) quality-of-life scale. Data came from the EpiFloripa Ageing Study, which included 1,131 respondents from Southern Brazil. The original and two recently factorial solutions for the Brazilian CASP-19 were initially examined. Exploratory Factor Analyses and Exploratory Structural Equation Models were estimated in the first half of the sample, selected at random. In the second half, Confirmatory Factor Analyses determined the most tenable configural and metric model for the instrument. Neither the original nor the two Brazilian solutions were supported by our data. Instead, we suggest that two factors underlie CASP-19's configural structure: while the first one groups the control and autonomy dimensions, the second combines self-realization and pleasure. Except for four items, all others presented moderate to strong loadings, and only two showed a theoretically meaningful and sufficiently large residual correlation, which was worthy of inclusion in the final model. Cross-loadings were not detected. When assessed in a population-based sample of older respondents, this Brazilian version of the CASP-19 appeared to have two factors, moderate to strong loadings and a pair of redundant items. Future studies should evaluate the consistency of these findings, examine the scalar structure of the instrument, and assess configural, metric and scalar invariance across social groups.

Care-giving to older adults with disabilities could lead to relatively high levels of care-giving burden and low levels of life satisfaction among their family care-givers. However, there is a lack of research examining the role of care-giver wisdom in the above stress process model. This study examined the moderator role of wisdom in the relationship between care-giver burden and life satisfaction among family care-givers of disabled older adults in urban China. A multi-stage quota sampling method was used to recruit 789 disabled older adult–family care-giver dyads in Shanghai in 2013. The average age of older adults and their family care-givers was 84 and 63 years old, respectively. Multiple-group path analysis was conducted to examine the proposed hypotheses. The results showed that care-giver wisdom played a moderator role in the association between care-giver burden and life satisfaction. Care-giver burden was found to only negatively affect life satisfaction among care-givers with relatively low wisdom levels. The findings highlight the influences of care-giver wisdom on the relationship between burden and life satisfaction in Chinese contexts. The concept of wisdom should be used in needs assessment among family care-givers of older adults with disabilities. Future social interventions should focus on promoting care-givers' capacities of reflective thinking, their understandings of reality and their feelings of compassion.

Older adults have been statistically proved to be at a higher risk of getting severely infected by the coronavirus COVID-19, evoking sweeping narratives of compassionate ageism surrounding them in different discourses. By analysing the media content, scholars from different areas have alerted us about the amplified ageism aroused by the pandemic crisis. However, we are still short of empirical evidence to learn how ageism is constructed in diverse sociocultural contexts in the wake of this global pandemic crisis. This study provides the case of Hong Kong to reflect on how ageism, as a set of social inequalities, is constructed. By examining 814 articles collected from the three most popular newspapers with different political orientations in Hong Kong, this study uses quantitative and qualitative content analysis to examine how older people have been generally represented. Then it further compares how these representations have been influenced by the media's liberal or conservative preferences. Third, it examines the relationship between the political orientation of newspapers and how different forms of ageism are constructed. The findings indicate that despite the liberal or conservative inclination of the three newspapers, they portray the older population as frail, dependent and deprived not only at the biomedical level but in all aspects of life. This study also reveals that the newspapers with a populist inclination in both camps have shown more hostile attitudes in representing compassionate ageism. In contrast, liberal and conservative-leaning media affirmed the government's dominant role in taking full responsibility for caring for the older population. The findings indicate that the polarised ageism frame cannot fully explain the underpinnings of ageism and implied policy processing in different contexts.

Drawing primarily upon data from the various censuses conducted in Ireland after the Act of Union in 1800, this paper seeks to elucidate the changing position of older people in Ireland during the Victorian period. Following the Great Famine of 1845–1849, it is argued, Ireland was transformed from a young, growing country to one that, by the end of the 19th century, had become ‘prematurely’ old. By the end of Victoria's reign, not only had Ireland grown ‘old’, but its older population were more likely to be identified as paupers. Later-life expectancy decreased and sickness and infirmity among the over-60 s increased. By employing a stricter form of ‘less eligibility’ in the drafting and implementation of the Irish Poor Law, proportionately more older people received indoor relief than outdoor relief compared with the rest of the British Isles. Not until the Old Age Pensions Act in 1908 did these disparities begin to change, by which time many of these ‘other’ Victorians had passed away.

The tradition of intergenerational care and support exchanges in Indian families is assumed to be disturbed because of changes in family structure brought on by modern life, which is mainly based on studies investigating experiences of older adults regarding the impact of socio-economic change on their care arrangement. However, there is a large gap in understanding the experiences of adult children from a larger relational perspective, more than just care provision to their older relatives. Drawing on 26 in-depth interviews with adult children living in modern and traditional living arrangements from South India, the study explores their experiences with their parents with regard to reciprocity of care and support, the challenges they experience and strategies they adopt to overcome those challenges. The analysis shows adult children perceive the increased demands of modern work life and their older kin's preferences to be heard, lack of flexibility and related extra domestic work and costs, do cause a bigger burden for them in both living arrangements. However, adult children strive to uphold the traditional values of caring for their older kin and sharing emotional bonding with them. This inspiration helps them to employ strategies to accept their older relatives as they are, focus their attention on the benefits they receive from them and distribute care tasks with other relatives to overcome the challenges.

Person-centred care (PCC) in residential care facilities (RCFs) is valuable but creates challenges for care professionals balancing involvement and a partnership approach for residents while considering the health and safety outcomes of all residents. This review evaluates what is known about the substance use and misuse of residents living in RCFs and what is important to study in future research to enhance PCC, especially in cases in which residents wish to choose unhealthy behaviours. A scoping review was conducted and exclusion criteria were set. The included papers were assessed on methodological quality using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool and the results were qualitatively analysed. The included papers consisted of studies regarding alcohol, tobacco and illicit drugs. The results showed that care professionals are involved in facilitating and regulating alcohol and tobacco. The focus of the included papers is on alcohol and tobacco. Five of the 16 papers assessed the residents’ perspective. This review highlights the importance of incorporating the perspectives of residents, care professionals and the organisation to enhance PCC and enable residents to make shared and well-informed decisions in dialogue with care professionals. Future research should also assess the distinction between substance use and misuse, and how this affects implementing PCC in RCFs.

Companion animals, or ‘pets’, are integral to many people's lives and to their sense of home. However, older people living with companion animals are vulnerable to separation from their animals when moving to a care home. Such separation is often a highly significant loss which, combined with other losses, may reinforce experiences of dislocation. Existing research draws attention to the importance of developing a sense of ‘home’ in a care home through reinforcing and preserving personal connections. However, there is a paucity of research examining the preservation of connections between older people resident in care homes and their animal/s. This study draws on thematic analysis of 29 qualitative interviews with older people living in care homes, relatives, care home staff and other relevant stakeholders. It highlights that retaining existing, often long-term, bonds with companion animals represent important continuities and connections which may contribute to positive adjustment to life in a care home and creating a sense of home. However, participants highlighted that supporting an older person to move into a care home with their companion animal may be challenged by real or perceived constraints such as use of shared space, concerns about the risks posed by animals and staff implications. While our study found examples of good practice of how shared residence between an older person and companion animal can be achieved in a care home, other examples highlighted that the time, complexity of planning and structures required to accommodate animals were prohibitive to merit a change of policy and practice. Our research concludes that more attention should be given to the older person–animal bond as an important source of continuity and connection.

This paper is concerned with intercultural relationships within the trigenerational family. As part of our study of sociostructural changes affecting the family, we have looked at these relationships from a basis of the concepts: generation gap and seriality between generations. The information reported in this paper was obtained from twenty inter-generational triads (ten female, six male, four mixed) who were given a series of highly structured and open ended questions by trained interviewers. The results showed significant differences in the definitions of culture given by the three generations. The most important result in analysing ‘taste cultures’ and cultural activities within trigenerational families is that within the trigenerational family there are varying relationship structures and that these are perceived differently by the different generations. This is attributed to an overall process of individualisation in society. The findings indicate that similar taste cultures and shared activities in grandparent-grandchild generations are not common and that consecutive generations resemble each other more in tastes and activities. In general, the position of the old in relation to the youngest generation can be described as remote. Grandparents are not important in the cultural life of young adult grandchildren and vice versa. On the basis of our findings, it would appear that the family is declining as a factor in the sociocultural integration of the elderly.

Involuntary retirement is associated with diminished mental health. However, little is known about the mechanism that connects involuntary retirees' coping resources to their loneliness. Gender patterns in the mechanism of involuntary retirement are also unclear. This study examines gender differences in the link between involuntary retirement and loneliness through secondary stressors (material and physical vulnerability) and coping resources (social support and self-efficacy). Two-step structural equation modelling was used to examine the effects of several mediators. For both men and women, involuntary retirement was associated with increased loneliness in terms of physical vulnerability and social efficacy. We found the female involuntary retirees are facing loneliness with multiple mediating factors. The layers of experiencing loneliness among female retirees are (a) directly from involuntary retirement; (b) indirectly from involuntary retirement and secondary stressors (material vulnerability and physical vulnerability); and (c) indirectly from involuntary retirement, secondary stressors (material vulnerability and physical vulnerability) and coping resources. The specific gender differences in the complex mechanism leading to later-year loneliness among the retirees may inform the interventions and policies that mitigate the disadvantages among involuntarily retired older adults in the United States of America.

This essay considers recent ethical literatures on the question of the direct killing of newborns and of the severely demented elderly. At various points, the arguments in these literatures are brought together for comparison and contrast. Finally, a constructive argument against infanticide and geronticide is developed.

Social inclusion of the older population in employment, housing, social protection and other livelihood aspects was predicted to suffer because of the financial tsunami in Hong Kong in 2008. An expected mitigating factor of the impact on social inclusion was social cohesion, which is the focus of the present study. A total of 1,352 Hong Kong Chinese adults were surveyed in 2009. The results show that social cohesion is perceived in Hong Kong to have mitigated the negative impact of the financial tsunami in terms of support for public policy relating to social inclusion of the older population. These results have implications for sustaining social cohesion as a means to promote the social inclusion of the older population.

The three-way intersection of gender, relationship-to-care-recipient and care-giving demands has not, to our knowledge, been examined in relation to the wellbeing of family care-givers. We explore inequalities in depressive symptoms and life satisfaction, comparing wives, husbands, daughters and sons providing very-intensive care (36+ hours/week) with those providing less care and disparities between these groups in the factors related to disadvantage. Data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (N = 5,994) support the existence of differences between the groups. Very-intensive care-giving wives report the most depressive symptoms and lowest life satisfaction; less-intensive care-giving sons report the fewest depressive symptoms, and less-intensive care-giving daughters report the highest life satisfaction. However, group differences in life satisfaction disappear among very-intensive care-givers. Drawing on Intersectionality and Stress Process theories, data from regression analyses reveal a non-significant gender–relationship–demand interaction term, but, health, socio-economic and social support resources play a strong mediating role between care demand and wellbeing. Analyses of the eight groups separately reveal diversity in the care-giving experience. Among less-intensive care-givers, the mediating role of resources remains strong even as differences are evident. Among very-intensive care-givers, the role of resources is less and differences in wellbeing between the groups are magnified. Policy implications emphasise the imperative to personalise services to meet the varied needs of care-givers.

Previous research has demonstrated that family transitions, specifically births and deaths of preceding and following generations within families, are associated with individuals' later-life wellbeing and health. However, lifecourse, family systems and role theories suggest that this relationship might be complex because, as individuals age, they can experience multiple such events and their effects might be interconnected. Therefore, this study asks whether and how transitions into and out of multiple intergenerational family roles are associated with later-life wellbeing and health. We account for the occurrence, timing and ordering of the parents' death and the birth of the first child and grandchild. To this end, we use the concept of ‘generational placement trajectories’. They capture the vertical position of individuals in their intergenerational family over age and reflect the changing family roles and kinship reservoir of individuals across their lifecourse. Applying sequence, cluster and regression analyses to data from the German Ageing Survey (N = 3,617), we investigate associations between generational placement trajectories from birth to age 60 and four dimensions of later-life wellbeing and health, namely life satisfaction, depressiveness, functional limitations and physical health problems. Results support, first, the notion of salutary effects of a larger kinship reservoir and multiple social roles in the family and, second, indicate that ‘off-time’ transitions are associated negatively with various later-life wellbeing and health outcomes. Importantly, the effect of temporal deviations from the ‘normative’ family lifecourse might be affected by individual socio-economic differences. We enhance previous research by demonstrating that the occurrence, timing and ordering of transitions into and out of multiple kin relations and family roles across the lifecourse relate to individuals' later-life wellbeing and health.

Older adults' participation in gambling is increasing internationally. Due to their lifestage, older adults may be vulnerable to gambling-related harm. When investigating older adults' gambling, researchers have mostly focused on the individual characteristics of ‘problem gamblers’. Less is known about the socio-cultural, environmental and commercial factors that may influence older adults' gambling behaviours. Utilising Social Practice Theory, this critical qualitative inquiry of N = 40 Australian older adults (aged 55 and over) explored how social practices influenced gambling participation. Using a Constructivist Grounded Theory approach, data were interpreted using a reflexive thematic analysis. Theme 1 identified how gambling practices fulfilled older adults' social needs. Gambling was embedded in social activities and created a sense of belonging. Theme 2 highlighted how gambling became an everyday part of some participants' lives, with a range of routines constructed around gambling. While social factors influenced routinised gambling behaviours, the accessibility of gambling products in everyday settings contributed to engagement with gambling. This study demonstrates that a range of social, environmental and commercial factors may influence and routinise the gambling practices of older adults. Interventions aimed at preventing and reducing routine gambling participation among older adults should acknowledge the interplay between agency and social structure. Public health responses should aim to disrupt routine behaviours associated with gambling for older adults.