AGING IN SWITZERLAND, 1979 – 2011: DIMENSIONS OF ... · The National Centres of Competence in...
1
The National Centres of Competence in Research (NCCR) are a research instrument of the Swiss National Science Foundation 1) The first set of research questions concerns the development of a typology of vulnerability based on the above-described angles of Measurement (Vulnerability Types) and taking into account the social, economic and health dimensions of vulnerability (combining to Vulnerability Profiles) a. What are the most prevalent negative outcomes people are (or feel) vulnerable to, according to the three angles of measurement? b. Is there incongruence between the three angles of measurement (within Vulnerability Types)? c. Is there evidence for patterns of compensation, reinforcement etc. within vulnerability profiles? E.g. could the absence of perceived vulnerability on the economic situation despite negative objective measures be explained by the person’s excellent social network? 2) Based on the typology we will identify possible explanatory factors among individuals and social resources (including the experience of vulnerability in the past) that may lead to the different vulnerability profiles. For each vulnerability profile we will assess its discrete risk of exposure, threat and coping, using latent class analysis. (Cleveland, Collins, Lanza, Greenberg, & Feinberg, 2010) In the 2011 Survey, Life Event History Calendars was used to collect retrospective data on family, occupation, residence, health and migration status. 3) Comparing the three surveys we will then be able to reconstruct the evolution of vulnerabilities since 1979 and test, whether the relationship between the previously defined explanatory factors and the risk to encounter a certain type of vulnerability has remained stable over the last three decades. Here we will use decomposition methods, especially those models that allow disentangling age, period and cohort effects. (Fienberg and Mason, 1985; Yang, 2006) 4) A final step will consist of making future projections of prevalence of various types/ profiles of vulnerability based on the 3 rd wave (2011), using multi-state methods. (Lutz, Goujon, & Wils, 2008) SNSF Site Visit, University of Geneva, November 12-13, 2012 AGING IN SWITZERLAND, 1979 – 2011: DIMENSIONS OF VULNERABILITY IN OLD AGE Julia Henke IP 13 – Old Age Democratization? Progress and Inequalities in Switzerland Contact: [email protected] Supervisor: Michel Oris Conceptualizing Vulnerability "#$%&'( )*+&,#-( ./-(0$ 1&+234 Vulnerability Framework: Three sources of risk, constituting the overall vulner- ability to a given negative outcome (social, economic, health-related) Adapted from Schröder-Butterfill & Marianti (2006) Challenge No 1 – Measuring Vulnerability Bibliography The objective of this thesis is to study forms of vulnerability to low levels of social, economic and health- related well-being among elderly people. Although the concept of vulnerability has a long history, there is no universally accepted definition in social sciences. Chambers’ phrasing is among the most prominent ones: Vulnerability is 'the exposure to contingencies and stress, and difficulty coping with them. Vulnerability has thus two sides: an external side of risk, shocks and stress to which an individual or household is subject; and an internal side which is defenselessness, meaning a lack of means to cope without damaging loss.' (Chambers, 1989, p.1). Research on vulnerability among the elderly has mostly focused on specific 'high-risk-groups' characterized by a shared risk such as frailty, poverty or solitude but it has rarely been studied in an integrated manner, taking into account multiple dimensions. Schröder-Butterfill and Marianti (2006) propose a probabilistic framework based on Chambers’ definition, which is specifically adapted to the study of vulnerability in the elderly. It decomposes vulnerability into three discrete risks, leading to the undesirable outcomes: the exposure to a threat, the actual incidence of a threat occurring, and the capacity to deal with it successfully (coping) by avoiding the materializing of negative outcomes. Who defines vulnerability? – Or asked differently: What does 'aging well' look like? If well- being is to remain at the center, we need to consider subjective measures of vulnerability. However, what about the influences of local culture (ex. levels of 'acceptable' suffering), social- comparison ('I’m not as bad off as person X') and adaptation to suboptimal states of well- being, etc.? In order to disentangle these influences it is helpful to further divide the subjective dimension, according to the mode of assessment and the substance to be assessed (Veenhoven, 2007): While self-assessed vulnerability lets us know whether an individual is aware about his/her situation relative to others or to a previous state etc., perceived vulnerability provides us with the information on how he or she feels about the matter. Below is an example for assessing economic vulnerability using three angles of measurement, constituting a 'Vulnerability Type': Perceived Vulnerability Self- Assessed Vulnerability Objective Vulnerability ‘Do the following situations worry you: - Not having enough money to cover current expenses - Needing to ask someone for financial help - Needing social assistance' ‘Are you able to make ends meet ?' - type of financial resources - monthly income - fortune Challenge No 2 – Cross-Temporal Comparison The data used in this research project stems from a repeated cross-sectional survey on living and health conditions among the elderly in Switzerland. For reasons of comparability several questions have remained the same throughout the three waves. Chambers, R. (1989). Editorial Introduction: Vulnerability, Coping and Policy. IDS Bulletin, 20(2), 1–7. Cleveland, M. J., Collins, L. M., Lanza, S. T., Greenberg, M. T., & Feinberg, M. E. (2010). Does Individual Risk Moderate the Effect of Contextual-Level Protective Factors? A Latent Class Analysis of Substance Use. Journal of prevention & intervention in the community, 38(3), 213–228. Fienberg, S., & Mason, W. M. (1985). Specification and implementation of age, period and cohort models. In W. M. Mason & S. E. Fienberg (Eds.), Cohort analysis in social research (pp. 25–88). New York: Springer. Grundy, E. (2006). Ageing and vulnerable elderly people: European perspectives. Ageing & Society, 26(01), 105–134. Lutz, W., Goujon, A., & Wils, A. (2008). The Population Dynamics of Human Capital Accumulation. Population and Development Review, 34, 149–187. Schröder-Butterfill, E., & Marianti, R. (2006). A framework for understanding old-age vulnerabilities. Ageing & Society, 26(01), 9–35. Sen, A. K. (1999). Development as Freedom. Oxford University Press. Veenhoven, R. (2007). Subjective Measures of Well-being. In M. McGillivray (Hrsg.), Human Well-being: Concept and Measurement. (pp. 214 – 239). Palgrave MacMillan. Yang, Y. (2006). Age/Period/Cohort Distinctions. Encyclopedia of Health and Aging. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Research Questions Vulnerability Profile
Transcript of AGING IN SWITZERLAND, 1979 – 2011: DIMENSIONS OF ... · The National Centres of Competence in...
The National Centres of Competence in Research (NCCR) are a research instrument of the Swiss National Science Foundation
1) The first set of research questions concerns the development of a typology of vulnerability based on the above-described angles of Measurement (Vulnerability Types) and taking into account the social, economic and health dimensions of vulnerability (combining to Vulnerability Profiles)
a. What are the most prevalent negative outcomes people are (or feel) vulnerable to, according to the three angles of measurement?
b. Is there incongruence between the three angles of measurement (within Vulnerability Types)?
c. Is there evidence for patterns of compensation, reinforcement etc. within vulnerability
profiles? E.g. could the absence of perceived vulnerability on the economic situation despite negative objective measures be explained by the person’s excellent social network?
2) Based on the typology we will identify possible explanatory factors among individuals and social resources (including the experience of vulnerability in the past) that may lead to the different vulnerability profiles. For each vulnerability profile we will assess its discrete risk of exposure, threat and coping, using latent class analysis. (Cleveland, Collins, Lanza, Greenberg, & Feinberg, 2010) In the 2011 Survey, Life Event History Calendars was used to collect retrospective data on family, occupation, residence, health and migration status.
3) Comparing the three surveys we will then be able to reconstruct the evolution of vulnerabilities since 1979 and test, whether the relationship between the previously defined explanatory factors and the risk to encounter a certain type of vulnerability has remained stable over the last three decades. Here we will use decomposition methods, especially those models that allow disentangling age, period and cohort effects. (Fienberg and Mason, 1985; Yang, 2006)
4) A final step will consist of making future projections of prevalence of various types/profiles of vulnerability based on the 3rd wave (2011), using multi-state methods. (Lutz, Goujon, & Wils, 2008)
SNSF Site Visit, University of Geneva,
November 12-13, 2012
AGING IN SWITZERLAND, 1979 – 2011: DIMENSIONS OF VULNERABILITY IN OLD AGE
Julia Henke
IP 13 – Old Age Democratization? Progress and Inequalities in Switzerland
Contact: [email protected]
Supervisor: Michel Oris
Conceptualizing Vulnerability
!"#$%&'(!
)*+&,#-(!
!!./-(0$!!!
!!
!1&+234!!!!!!
Vulnerability Framework: Three sources of risk, constituting the overall vulner-ability to a given negative outcome (social, economic, health-related) Adapted from Schröder-Butterfill & Marianti (2006)
Challenge No 1 – Measuring Vulnerability
Bibliography
The objective of this thesis is to study forms of vulnerability to low levels of social, economic and health-related well-being among elderly people. Although the concept of vulnerability has a long history, there is no universally accepted definition in social sciences. Chambers’ phrasing is among the most prominent ones: Vulnerability is 'the exposure to contingencies and stress, and difficulty coping with them. Vulnerability has thus two sides: an external side of risk, shocks and stress to which an individual or household is subject; and an internal side which is defenselessness, meaning a lack of means to cope without damaging loss.' (Chambers, 1989, p.1).
Research on vulnerability among the elderly has mostly focused on specific 'high-risk-groups' characterized by a shared risk such as frailty, poverty or solitude but it has rarely been studied in an integrated manner, taking into account multiple dimensions. Schröder-Butterfill and Marianti (2006) propose a probabilistic framework based on Chambers’ definition, which is specifically adapted to the study of vulnerability in the elderly. It decomposes vulnerability into three discrete risks, leading to the undesirable outcomes: the exposure to a threat, the actual incidence of a threat occurring, and the capacity to deal with it successfully (coping) by avoiding the materializing of negative outcomes.
Who defines vulnerability? – Or asked differently: What does 'aging well' look like? If well-being is to remain at the center, we need to consider subjective measures of vulnerability. However, what about the influences of local culture (ex. levels of 'acceptable' suffering), social-comparison ('I’m not as bad off as person X') and adaptation to suboptimal states of well-being, etc.? In order to disentangle these influences it is helpful to further divide the subjective dimension, according to the mode of assessment and the substance to be assessed (Veenhoven, 2007): While self-assessed vulnerability lets us know whether an individual is aware about his/her situation relative to others or to a previous state etc., perceived vulnerability provides us with the information on how he or she feels about the matter. Below is an example for assessing economic vulnerability using three angles of measurement, constituting a 'Vulnerability Type':
Perceived Vulnerability
Self-Assessed
Vulnerability
Objective Vulnerability
‘Do the following situations worry you: - Not having enough money to cover
current expenses - Needing to ask someone for financial
help - Needing social assistance'
‘Are you able to make ends meet ?'
- type of financial resources
- monthly income - fortune
Challenge No 2 – Cross-Temporal Comparison The data used in this research project stems from a repeated cross-sectional survey on living and health conditions among the elderly in Switzerland. For reasons of comparability several questions have remained the same throughout the three waves.
Chambers, R. (1989). Editorial Introduction: Vulnerability, Coping and Policy. IDS Bulletin, 20(2), 1–7.
Cleveland, M. J., Collins, L. M., Lanza, S. T., Greenberg, M. T., & Feinberg, M. E. (2010). Does Individual Risk Moderate the Effect of
Contextual-Level Protective Factors? A Latent Class Analysis of Substance Use. Journal of prevention & intervention in the community, 38(3),
213–228.
Fienberg, S., & Mason, W. M. (1985). Specification and implementation of age, period and cohort models. In W. M. Mason & S. E.
Fienberg (Eds.), Cohort analysis in social research (pp. 25–88). New York: Springer.
Grundy, E. (2006). Ageing and vulnerable elderly people: European perspectives. Ageing & Society, 26(01), 105–134.
Lutz, W., Goujon, A., & Wils, A. (2008). The Population Dynamics of Human Capital Accumulation. Population and Development Review, 34,
149–187.
Schröder-Butterfill, E., & Marianti, R. (2006). A framework for understanding old-age vulnerabilities. Ageing & Society, 26(01), 9–35.
Sen, A. K. (1999). Development as Freedom. Oxford University Press.
Veenhoven, R. (2007). Subjective Measures of Well-being. In M. McGillivray (Hrsg.), Human Well-being: Concept and Measurement. (pp. 214
– 239). Palgrave MacMillan.
Yang, Y. (2006). Age/Period/Cohort Distinctions. Encyclopedia of Health and Aging. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Research Questions
Vulnerability Profile
![NCCR MUST :: NCCR MUST :: About NCCR MUST ...These originate from two-color absorption processes with one XUV photon and a variable number of IR photons [6, 7]. These di erent excitation](https://static.fdocuments.net/doc/165x107/60dd7453ebfe570f7618cb32/nccr-must-nccr-must-about-nccr-must-these-originate-from-two-color-absorption.jpg)
