Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T12:21:13.343Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Exploring underexposed stories: the experienced lifecourse of financially excluded older adults

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 October 2019

Sofie Van Regenmortel Open the ORCID record for Sofie Van Regenmortel [Opens in a new window] ,
An-Sofie Smetcoren ,
Sara Marsillas ,
Deborah Lambotte ,
Bram Fret  and
Liesbeth De Donder
Sofie Van Regenmortel*
Affiliation:
Department of Educational Sciences, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium
An-Sofie Smetcoren
Affiliation:
Department of Educational Sciences, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium
Sara Marsillas
Affiliation:
Matia Gerontological Institute, Madrid, Spain
Deborah Lambotte
Affiliation:
Department of Educational Sciences, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium
Bram Fret
Affiliation:
Department of Educational Sciences, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium
Liesbeth De Donder
Affiliation:
Department of Educational Sciences, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

To gain insights into vulnerable lifecourses and give a voice to those often underrepresented in quantitative research, this study examines the life stories (past, present and future) of 19 financially excluded older adults using an adapted version of McAdams’ life-story interview scheme. Although these life stories demonstrate an accumulation of many disadvantages and an uncertain future because of current financial situations, the stories also reflect the generativity, resilience, coping strategies and agency of financially excluded older adults. We demonstrate how the experienced lifecourse is built around both negative and positive turning points and transitions which go beyond the classical education–work–retirement triumvirate, and how socio-cultural life scripts are used as a framework to build one's own life story in order to achieve continuity. The discussion highlights the potential for deploying the life-story method as a qualitative resource for providing individualised care.

Keywords

life storylifecourse perspectivefinancially excluded older adultsvulnerable lifecourses
Type
Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 41 , Issue 4 , April 2021 , pp. 724 - 745
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Arber, S, Fenn, K and Meadows, R (2014) Subjective financial well-being, income and health inequalities in mid and later life in Britain. Social Science and Medicine 100, 12–20.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Atchley, RC (1989) A continuity theory of normal aging. The Gerontologist 29, 183–190.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Atchley, RC (1999) Continuity and Adaptation in Aging: Creating Positive Experiences. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Baars, J (2013) Critical turns of aging, narrative and time. International Journal of Ageing and Later Life 7, 143–165.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baars, J, Dannefer, D, Phillipson, C and Walker, A (2006) Introduction: Critical perspectives in social gerontology. In Baars, J, Dannefer, D and Phillipson, C (eds), Aging, Globalization and Inequality: The New Critical Gerontology. Amityville, NY: Baywood, pp. 1–16.Google Scholar
Barban, N (2013) Family trajectories and health: a life course perspective. European Journal of Population/Revue Européenne de Demographie 29, 357–385.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Biggs, S (2006) Psychodynamic approaches to the lifecourse and ageing. In Johnson, ML, Bengtson, VL, Coleman, PG and Kirkwood, TBL (eds), The Cambridge Handbook of Age and Ageing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 149–155.Google Scholar
Blonski, SC, Conradi, HJ, Oldehinkel, AJ, Bos, EH and de Jonge, P (2016) Associations between negative and positive life events and the course of depression: a detailed repeated-assessments study. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 204, 175–180.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bluck, S and Habermas, T (2001) Extending the study of autobiographical memory: thinking back about life across the life span. Review of General Psychology 5, 135–147.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bohn, A (2010) Generational differences in cultural life scripts and life story memories of younger and older adults. Applied Cognitive Psychology 24, 1324–1345.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Braun, V and Clarke, V (2006) Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology 3, 77–101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Browne-Yung, K, Walker, RB and Luszcz, MA (2017) An examination of resilience and coping in the oldest old using life narrative method. The Gerontologist 57, 282–291.Google ScholarPubMed
Bynner, J (2016) Institutionalization of life course studies. In Shanahan, MJ, Mortimer, JT and Kirkpatrick, Johnson M (eds), Handbook of the Life Course (Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research). Cham, Switzerland: Springer, pp. 27–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Canvin, K, Marttila, A, Burstrom, B and Whitehead, M (2009) Tales of the unexpected? Hidden resilience in poor households in Britain. Social Science & Medicine 69, 238–245.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cappeliez, P, Beaupré, M and Robitaille, A (2008) Characteristics and impact of life turning points for older adults. Ageing International 32, 54–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carr, A, Helen, K and Biggs, S (2013) Looking Back, Looking Forward: Interpreting Personal Stories in Later Life. Available at http://library.bsl.org.au/jspui/handle/1/6036.Google Scholar
Castillo-Montoya, M (2016) Preparing for interview research: the interview protocol refinement framework. The Qualitative Report 21, 811–831.Google Scholar
Cavalli, S, Bickel, JF and Lalive D'Epinay, J (2007) Exclusion in very old age: the impact of three critical life events. International Journal of Ageing and Later Life 2, 9–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chamberlayne, P, Bornat, J and Wengraf, T (2000) The Turn to Biographical Methods in Social Science: Comparative Issues and Examples. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Clark, PG, Burbank, PM, Greene, G, Owens, N and Riebe, D (2011) What do we know about resilience in older adults? An exploration of some facts, factors, and facets. In Resnick, B, Gwyther, LP and Roberto, KA (eds), Resilience in Aging. New York, NY: Springer, pp. 51–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clarke, A and Warren, L (2007) Hopes, fears and expectations about the future: what do older people's stories tell us about active ageing? Ageing & Society 27, 465–488.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cohler, BJ and Hostetler, AJ (2003) Linking life course and life story: social change and the narrative study of lives. In Mortimer, JT and Shanahan, MJ (eds), Handbook of the Life Course (Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research). New York, NY: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, pp. 555–578.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coleman, PG, Ivani-Chalian, C and Robinson, M (1998) The story continues: persistence of life themes in old age. Ageing & Society 18, 389–419.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Corna, L and Sacker, A (2013) A lifetime of experience: modeling the labour market and family histories of older adults in Britain. Longitudinal and Life Course Studies 4, 33–56.Google Scholar
Cornwell, B, Schumm, LP, Laumann, EO, Kim, J and Kim, Y-J (2014) Assessment of social network change in a national longitudinal survey. Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences 69B, S75–S82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Da Costa, LP and Dias, JG (2014) What do Europeans believe to be the causes of poverty? A multilevel analysis of heterogeneity within and between countries. Social Indicators Research 122, 1–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cozzarelli, C, Wilkinson, AV and Tagler, MJ (2001) Attitudes toward the poor and attributions for poverty. Journal of Social Issues 57, 207–227.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crystal, S and Shea, D (1990) Cumulative advantage, cumulative disadvantage, and inequality among elderly people. The Gerontologist 30, 437–443.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cumming, E, Dean, LR, Newell, DS and McCaffrey, I (1960) Disengagement. A tentative theory of aging. Sociometry 23, 23–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dannefer, D (1984) Adult development and social theory: a paradigmatic reappraisal. American Sociological Review 49, 100–116.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dannefer, D (2003) Cumulative advantage/disadvantage and the life course: cross-fertilizing age and social science theory. Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences 58B, S327–S337.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dannefer, D and Settersten, RA (2010) The study of the life course: implications for social gerontology. In Dannefer, D and Phillipson, C (eds), The Sage Handbook of Social Gerontology. London: Sage, pp. 294–305.Google Scholar
de São José, JM, Timonen, V, Amado, CAF and Santos, S (2017) A critique of the Active Ageing Index. Journal of Aging Studies 40, 49–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Devanand, DP, Kim, MK, Paykina, N and Sackeim, HA (2002) Adverse life events in elderly patients with major depression or dysthymic disorder and in healthy-control subjects. American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry 10, 265–274.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dewilde, C (2003) A life-course perspective on social exclusion and poverty. British Journal of Sociology 54, 109–128.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dewilde, C (2012) Lifecourse determinants and incomes in retirement: Belgium and the United Kingdom compared. Ageing & Society 32, 587–615.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ekerdt, DJ (1986) The busy ethic: moral continuity between work and retirement. The Gerontologist 26, 239–244.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Elder, GH and George, LK (2016) Age, cohorts, and the life course. In Shanahan, MJ, Mortimer, JT and Kirkpatrick, Johnson M (eds), Handbook of the Life Course (Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research). Cham, Switzerland: Springer, pp. 59–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elder, GH, Johnson, MK and Crosnoe, R (2003) The emergence and development of life course theory. In Mortimer, JT and Shanahan, MJ (eds), Handbook of the Life Course (Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research). New York, NY: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, pp. 3–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Erikson, EH (1963) Childhood and Society, 2nd Edn. New York, NY: W.W. Norton and Norton.Google Scholar
Eurostat (2015) Labour Force Survey Statistics – Transitions from Work to Retirement. Available at http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Labour_force_survey_statistics_-_transition_from_work_to_retirement.Google Scholar
Evandrou, M (2000) Social inequalities in later life: the socio-economic position of older people from ethnic minority groups in Britain. Population Trends (London) 101, 11–18.Google Scholar
Fortuijn, JD, van der Meer, M, Burholt, V, Ferring, D, Quattrini, S, Hallberg, IR, Weber, G and Wenger, GC (2006) The activity patterns of older adults: a cross-sectional study in six European countries. Population, Space and Place 12, 353–369.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fry, CL (2003) The life-course as a cultural construct. In Settersten, R Jr (ed.), Invitation to the Life-course: Toward New Understandings of Later Life. Amityville, NY: Baywood, pp. 269–294.Google Scholar
Giele, JZ (1998) Innovation in the typical life course. In Giele, JZ and Elder, GH (eds), Methods of Life Course Research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, pp. 231–263.Google Scholar
Gilleard, C and Higgs, P (2016) Connecting life span development with the sociology of the life course: a new direction. Sociology 50, 301–315.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glück, J and Bluck, S (2007) Looking back across the life span: a life story account of the reminiscence bump. Memory & Cognition 35, 1928–1939.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Grenier, A (2012) Transitions and the Lifecourse. Challenging the Construct of ‘Growing Old’. Bristol, UK: The Policy Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gunnarsson, E (2002) The vulnerable life course: poverty and social assistance among middle-aged and older women. Ageing & Society 22, 709–728.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Habermas, T and Bluck, S (2000) Getting a life: the emergence of the life story in adolescence. Psychological Bulletin 126, 748–769.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hacısoftaoğlu, I and Pfister, G (2012) Transitions: life stories and physical activities of Turkish migrants in Denmark. Sport in Society 15, 385–398.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Handel, G (2000) Making a Life in Yorkville: Experience and Meaning in the Life-course Narrative of an Urban Working-class Man. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.Google Scholar
Hermanowicz, JC (2016) Longitudinal qualitative research. In Shanahan, MJ, Mortimer, JT and Johnson M, Kirkpatrick (eds), Handbook of the Life Course (Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research). Cham, Switzerland: Springer, pp. 491–513.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Higgs, P and Gilleard, C (2015) Rethinking Old Age: Theorising the Fourth Age. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huizing, W and Tromp, T (2013) Mijn Leven in Kaart. Met Ouderen in Gesprek Over Hun Levensverhaal. Houten, The Netherlands: Bohn Stafleu van Loghum.Google Scholar
Hutchison, ED (2005) The life course perspective: a promising approach for bridging the micro and macro worlds for social work. Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Services 86, 143–152.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jindra, IW (2014) Why American sociology needs biographical sociology – European style. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour 44, 389–412.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kendig, H, Loh, V, O'Loughlin, K, Byles, J and Nazroo, JY (2015) Pathways to well-being in later life: socioeconomic and health determinants across the life course of Australian baby boomers. Journal of Population Ageing 9, 49–67.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kenyon, G, Bohlmeijer, E and Randall, WL (eds) (2011) Storying Later Life. Issues, Investigations, and Interventions in Narrative Gerontology. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Komp, K (2013) Reimagining old age in Europe: effects of changing work and retirement patterns. In McDaniel, SA and Zimmer, Z (eds), Global Ageing in the Twenty-first Century. Challenges, Opportunities and Implications. Farnham, UK: Ashgate, pp. 175–193.Google Scholar
Komp, K and Hoffmeyer-Zlotnik, JHP (2011) The third age as a socio-demographic variable for cross-country comparisons. In Carr, DC and Komp, K (eds), Gerontology in the Era of the Third Age. Implications and Next Steps. New York, NY: Springer, pp. 107–126.Google Scholar
Komp, K and Hoffmeyer-Zlotnik, JHP (2012) Advancing Methods for Life-course Research. Available at http://www.kathrin-komp.eu/images/working_paper.pdf.Google Scholar
Komp, K and Johansson, S (2015) Introduction. In Komp, K and Johansson, S (eds), Population Ageing from a Lifecourse Perspective: Critical and International Approaches. Bristol, UK: Policy Press, pp. 1–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kraaij, V and de Wilde, EJ (2001) Negative life events and depressive symptoms in the elderly: a life span perspective. Aging and Mental Health 5, 84–91.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kruse, A and Schmitt, E (2015) Shared responsibility and civic engagement in very old age. Research in Human Development 12, 133–148.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laslett, P (1996) A Fresh Map of Life: The Emergence of the Third Age. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lemon, BW, Bengtson, VL and Peterson, JA (1972) An exploration of the activity theory of aging: activity types and life satisfaction among in-movers to a retirement community. Journal of Gerontology 27, 511–523.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Leonard, APR and Burns, A (2006) Turning points in the lives of midlife and older women: five-year follow-up. Australian Psychologist 41, 28–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lister, R (2007) From object to subject: including marginalised citizens in policy-making. Policy & Politics 35, 437–455.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lister, R (2008) Inclusive citizenship, gender and poverty: some implications for education for citizenship. Citizenship Teaching and Learning 4, 3–19.Google Scholar
Lodewijckx, E (2007) Ouderen van Vreemde Herkomst In het Vlaamse Gewest. Origine, Sociaaldemografische Kenmerken en Samenstelling van Hun Huishouden. Brussels: Studiedienst van de Vlaamse Regering.Google Scholar
Lucio, J, Jefferson, A and Peck, L (2016) Dreaming the impossible dream: low-income families and their hopes for the future. Journal of Poverty 20, 359–379.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marshall, VW (2005) Agency, events, and structure at the end of the life course. Advances in Life Course Research 10, 57–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marshall, VW and Clarke, PI (2010) Agency and social structure in aging and life-course research. In Dannefer, D and Phillipson, C (eds), The Sage Handbook of Social Gerontology. London: Sage, pp. 294–305.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McAdams, DP (2005) Studying lives in time: a narrative approach. Advances in Life Course Research 10, 237–258.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McAdams, DP (2008) The Life Story Interview. Available at http://www.sesp.northwestern.edu/foley/instruments/interview/.Google Scholar
McKeown, J, Clarke, A and Repper, J (2006) Life story work in health and social care: systematic literature review. Journal of Advanced Nursing 55, 237–247.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Merton, RK (1968) The Matthew effect in science. The reward and communication systems of science are considered. Science 159, 56–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moreira, P de A, Roriz, AKC, Mello, AL and Ramos, LB (2015) Quality of life of institutionalized elderly in Brazil. Social Indicators Research 126, 187–197.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Neugarten, BL, Moore, JW and Lowe, JC (1965) Age norms, age constraints, and adult socialization. American Journal of Sociology 70, 710–717.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nilsson, M, Sarvimäki, A and Ekman, S-L (2003) The meaning of the future for the oldest old. International Journal of Aging and Human Development 56, 345–364.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Randall, W, Baldwin, C, McKenzie-Mohr, S, McKim, E and Furlong, D (2015) Narrative and resilience: a comparative analysis of how older adults story their lives. Journal of Aging Studies 34, 155–161.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Reutter, LI, Stewart, MJ, Veenstra, G, Love, R, Raphael, D and Makwarimba, E (2009) ‘Who do they think we are, anyway?’: perceptions of and responses to poverty stigma. Qualitative Health Research 19, 297–311.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rippon, I, Kneale, D, de Oliveira, C, Demakakos, P and Steptoe, A (2014) Perceived age discrimination in older adults. Age and Ageing 43, 379–386.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rubin, DC, Berntsen, B and Hutson, M (2009) The normative and the personal life: individual differences in life scripts and life story events among USA and Danish undergraduates. Memory 17, 54–68.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Seematter-Bagnoud, L, Karmaniola, A and Santos-Eggimann, B (2010) Adverse life events among community-dwelling persons aged 65–70 years: gender differences in occurrence and perceived psychological consequences. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 45, 9–16.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sixsmith, A and Sixsmith, J (2008) Ageing in place in the United Kingdom. Ageing International 32, 219–235.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thompson, P (1992) ‘I don't feel old’: subjective ageing and the search for meaning in later life. Ageing & Society 12, 23–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomsen, DK, Pillemer, DB and Ivcevic, Z (2011) Life story chapters, specific memories and the reminiscence bump. Memory 19, 267–279.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thomsen, DK, Steiner, KL and Pillemer, DB (2016) Life story chapters: past and future, you and me. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition 5, 143–149.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Timonen, V (2016) Beyond Successful and Active Ageing. A Theory of Model Ageing. Bristol, UK: Policy Press.Google Scholar
Vaismoradi, M, Turunen, H and Bondas, T (2013) Content analysis and thematic analysis: implications for conducting a qualitative descriptive study. Nursing and Health Sciences 15, 398–405.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
van den Hoonaard, DK (2005) ‘Am I doing it right?’: older widows as interview participants in qualitative research. Journal of Aging Studies 19, 393–406.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Der Meer, M (2006) Productivity among older people in The Netherlands: variations by gender and the socio-spatial context in 2002–03. Ageing & Society 26, 901–923.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vanhoutte, B and Nazroo, J (2015) Life course pathways to later life wellbeing: a comparative study of the role of socio-economic position in England and the U.S. Journal of Population Ageing 9, 157–177.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
VERBI Software (2014) MAXQDA 11 (Computer program). Berlin: VERBI.Google Scholar
Wall, K and Aboim, S (2015) Gender in ageing Portugal: following the lives of men and women. In Komp, K and Johansson, S (eds), Population Ageing from a Lifecourse Perspective: Critical and International Approaches. Bristol, UK: Policy Press, pp. 65–83.Google Scholar
Warnes, AM and Williams, A (2006) Older migrants in Europe: a new focus for migration studies. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 32, 1257–1281.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, P (2006) Migrant populations approaching old age: prospects in Europe. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 32, 1283–1300.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wild, K, Wiles, JL and Allen, RES (2013) Resilience: thoughts on the value of the concept for critical gerontology. Ageing & Society 33, 137–158.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wiles, JL, Wild, K, Kerse, N and Allen, RES (2012) Resilience from the point of view of older people: ‘There's still life beyond a funny knee’. Social Science & Medicine 74, 416–424.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zaidi, A (2014) Life cycle transitions and vulnerabilities in old age: a review. UNDP Human Development Report Office, Occasional Paper.Google Scholar
Zaidi, A and Howse, K (2017) The policy discourse of active ageing: some reflections. Journal of Population Ageing 10, 1–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar