Although population ageing is progressing, seniors migrate with increasing frequency. This paper explores the question why Polish pensioners decide to migrate, as existing research has not provided ...satisfactory explanations. Reasons for migrations were determined on the basis of pensioners' answers to a questionnaire survey. The results show that migration decisions are taken for a number of reasons, which depend, inter alia, on the respondents' education level, age, and sex. For women as well as for men, the economic aspect plays a crucial role (e.g., building or buying a new house). Ward's method was employed to distinguish five main migration types according to the main motivating factor; that is, family and finance, family, environmental, economic, and health. An analysis of internal as well as external migrations of Polish seniors shows that they differ considerably from migrations of seniors in other countries. Due to their unsatisfactory finances as well as deficits in knowledge of foreign languages, Polish pensioners, unlike their peers in other countries, rarely decide to settle down abroad. The Polish model of multigenerational family in which seniors assist their children in raising their grandchildren also contributes to lower emigration.
Due to the declining of physiological functions, the thermal requirements of elderly people at different ages are different. This paper aims to propose different indoor design parameters for ...different age intervals. Firstly, environmental parameters and subjective sensation are measured in two pensioners’ buildings. Elderly people are divided into three age groups: 60–74, 75–88 and 89+ years. The temperature and humidity sensitivity of the three age groups are analyzed, and the summer indoor design parameters for the three age groups are proposed. Finally, the energy benefits of the strategy of “different design parameters for different age intervals” are studied. The results indicate that, the temperature and humidity sensitivity of elderly people gradually decreases with age. The indoor design temperature of the three age groups is 27.5, 27.7 and 28.8°C, respectively. The indoor design relative humidity range is 56.5–66.1, 54.8–74.3 and 52.0–78.3%, respectively. When adopting different indoor design parameters for different age intervals, the energy consumption and CO2 emission are reduced by 680,000 kWh and 680,000 kg in Baoding, China. This study can provide data reference and design suggestions for controlling indoor environments in pensioners’ buildings balancing energy conservation and thermal comfort.
•The elderly people are divided into three age groups: 60–74, 75–88 and 89+ years.•Temperature sensitivity and humidity sensitivity of three age groups are compared.•Strategy of “different design parameters for different age intervals” is proposed.•Indoor design temperature for the three age groups is 27.5, 27.7 and 28.8 °C.•The strategy can significantly reduce the energy consumption and CO2 emission.
The focus of the article is construction of old age and gender in the late Soviet sociology. The author is engaged in secondary analysis of the texts based on the empirical research conducted in the ...1970s-1980s. The author argues that Soviet sociologists produced empirically based knowledge about Soviet elderly, which contradicted with ideological claims of the party state. Their texts were balancing between ideological loyalty and positivist knowledge. Researchers were well informed about international sociological discussion of the time: they criticized ‘bourgeois’ disengagement theory of ageing and hailed active ageing paradigm. Empirical studies confirmed however that the life of Soviet elderly was very different from the normative model of active ageing Soviet style. Not many aged citizens were engaged in social activities, most of them experienced shortage of contacts, loneliness and social exclusion. Biographical passage to retirement has been fearful and traumatic experience with lack of institutional help and family care as the preferred option. Men showed more vulnerability to the losses of retirement than women did who are claimed to be better adapted to the life outside paid job due to the Soviet gender contract. Thus, Soviet sociologists in fact were critical to the elderly care regime of the late-Soviet period, though expressed their criticisms in the veiled way under the disguise of the ideological clichés. Though Soviet sociological research was mostly policy oriented and is criticized for its ‘theoretical poverty’, the author argues that certain theoretical insights are fruitful and relevant for the current research on ageing in Russian society.
How do welfare state policies affect the political support for environmental action of economically vulnerable social groups? Two competing hypotheses can be delineated. On the one hand, a synergy ...logic would imply that welfare state generosity is associated with higher support for environmental action among economically vulnerable groups due to the insecurity reducing effects of the welfare state. On the other hand, a crowding-out logic would suggest that welfare state generosity is associated with lower support for other policy priorities like environmental action. We test these two hypotheses using 2019 Eurobarometer survey data and country-level indicators of welfare state generosity in 22 European countries. We find that the working class and the elderly are particularly opposed to individual and national environmental action and that the welfare state plays a complex moderating role. Consistent with a synergy logic, welfare state generosity increases pro-environmental behaviour among the working class, but its association with more positive attitudes towards national environmental policies is less strong. Consistent with a crowding-out logic, the elderly appear less likely to behave in environmentally friendly ways if retirement benefits are high. To explore the mechanisms behind this association, we show that the working class who struggle to pay their bills are most opposed to environmental action. Overall, economic insecurities are key obstacles for support of environmental actions and the effects of the welfare state depend both on which social group is concerned and whether individual behaviour versus policy preferences are considered.
Abstract
Objectives
Mental health is determined by social, biological, and cultural factors and is sensitive to life transitions. We examine how psychosocial working conditions, social living ...environment, and cumulative risk factors are associated with mental health changes during the retirement transition.
Method
We use data from the Finnish Retirement and Aging study on public sector employees (n = 3,338) retiring between 2014 and 2019 in Finland. Psychological distress was measured with the General Health Questionnaire annually before and after retirement and psychosocial working conditions, social living environment, and accumulation of risk factors at the study wave prior to retirement.
Results
Psychological distress decreased during the retirement transition, but the magnitude of the change was dependent on the contexts individuals retire from. Psychological distress was higher among those from poorer psychosocial working conditions (high job demands, low decision authority, job strain), poorer social living environment (low neighborhood social cohesion, small social network), and more cumulative risk factors (work/social/both). During the retirement transition, greatest reductions in psychological distress were observed among those with poorer conditions (work: absolute and relative changes, p Group × Time interactions < .05; social living environment and cumulative risk factors: absolute changes, p Group × Time interactions < .05).
Discussion
Psychosocial work-related stressors lead to quick recovery during the retirement transition but the social and cumulative stressors have longer-term prevailing effects on psychological distress. More studies are urged incorporating exposures across multiple levels or contexts to clarify the determinants of mental health during the retirement transition and more generally at older ages.
We study the employment effects of a large increase in the early retirement age (ERA) of women. Raising the ERA has the potential to extend contribution periods and to reduce the number of pensioners ...at the same time. However, workers may not be able to work longer or may choose other social support programs as exit routes from employment. Results suggest that the reform increases employment, unemployment, and inactivity rates of women aged 60 and older. However, this is mainly because women remain longer in their respective labor market status, rather than active substitution from employment into unemployment or inactivity.
In many countries population ageing will increase the share of retirees in the coming years. Energy poverty is a particular problem for older people (due to fixed and often relatively low incomes and ...the need for additional energy due to underlying health conditions). This can have cost implications for the healthcare sector if the health of older people deteriorates due to energy poverty. The burden of population ageing and the increasing dependency ratio has meant the government is moving towards individuals funding their own retirement via compulsory superannuation schemes. Our study is based in Australia where there is a difference in retirement income sources between publicly funded Age Pensioners, Part-pensioners and Self-Funded Retirees leading to differences in energy poverty beyond income effects. Using 15 annual waves of the HILDA survey from 2005 to 2019, this study investigates drivers of energy poverty inequalities among retirees. Our main finding is that Age Pensioners are the worst off and Self-Funded Retirees the best off on a Low Income–High Cost measure of energy poverty and on a subjective indicator of inability to heat the home. Therefore, not all retirees have the same probability of experiencing energy poverty. However, wealth, assets, social connections and good health are significant mediators that soften the impact of subjective concerns regarding energy bills for retirees. Government-funded pensions are a safety net and need to be sufficient in times of energy price inflation. Moreover, we need to reduce the gap between state-funded pensions and self-funding arrangements to ensure equity in elderly populations.
•We examine the effect of retirement income source on energy poverty in Australia.•We use 15 waves of longitudinal data from the HILDA survey from 2005 to 2019.•We find differences in retirement income arrangements lead to energy poverty differences.•Pensioners are worst off and Self-Funded Retirees best off on the main measures of energy poverty.•Wealth, assets, social connections and good health may reduce subjective energy poverty.
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