Browsing by Subject "Life course"
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Item Dressing the dead : social practices of clothing and adornment at the historic Head and Adams Cemeteries in central East Texas, 1850 to 1900(2019-05-09) Basse, Karissa Anne; Franklin, Maria; Strong, Pauline; Rodriguez-Alegría, Enrique; Anderson, Nesta; Ramey Berry, DainaI explore social identity as mortuary displays of age and gender during the period of 1850 to 1900 in the historic, rural community of Headsville, Texas. I contend that material remains of clothing and adornment aid in the interpretation of social expectations of dress and presentation according to prevalent nineteenth-century ideologies of maturity and gender. Building on multiple lines of evidence, including artifacts recovered from the relocation of the Head and Adams Cemeteries, I outline clothing artifact assemblages related to gender during the life course informed by nineteenth-century dress history and socio-political movements within the context of an emerging, rural European American frontier community. I examine dress artifact types, materials, frequencies, sizes, and proveniences to systematically compare inferences of clothing from similar groupings of artifacts within known burials to unknown burials. I identified a male artifact assemblage and a female and gender-neutral non-adult artifact assemblage. Diagnostic artifacts within the male assemblage suggested burial in pants, shirts, jackets, and waistcoats and, within the female and gender-neutral assemblage, one- to two-piece dresses in adult burials and children’s gowns and diapers in juvenile and infant burials. I conclude that individuals were buried in their daily dress, work clothing, and Sunday’s best attire. Pants were the most archaeologically accessible trait of male clothing, which served to reaffirm masculine ideals in boys as young as the age of three years. More elaborate male ensembles, specifically cuff and collar closures, were reserved for older men indicating a status linked to the longevity of manhood. Adult female and children’s clothing were much more nuanced, and I assert that commonalities in closure means might have represented a subtle link between femininity and childhood; however, landmarks in the maturation of female dress through childhood were inaccessible without the presence of textiles. Additionally, adult female clothing lacked many of the extravagant constrictions of women’s clothing such as corsets, which I assert speaks to the limitations of burial and the pragmatism of women living in a rural, farming community. My categorization and exploration of dress provides a foundation for analyzing dress remains not only from other cemeteries but also other archaeological contexts.Item Food insecurity and health outcomes in U.S. school-aged children(2017-05) Mangini, Lauren Dominica; Davis, Jaimie Nicole; Forman, Michele R.; Briley, Margaret E; Hayward, Mark D; Beretvas, Susan NIn the U.S. in 2015, 16.6% of households with children experienced food insecurity, which is associated with adverse health outcomes. Yet, little to no research has examined the relationship between food insecurity and asthma, the most common chronic childhood disease. Furthermore, studies of the association between food insecurity and overweight/obesity, an ongoing pediatric health crisis, have yielded mixed findings. Thus, the three aims of this research are: 1) to determine the association between household food security status and asthma in a cross-section of U.S. 3rd graders; 2) to examine the association between repeated exposures to food insecurity in early to mid-childhood and the risk of asthma; and 3) to determine the association between repeated exposures to food insecurity in early to mid-childhood and the risk of overweight/obesity. Data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study- Kindergarten cohort (ECLS-K), a diverse cohort of school-aged children followed from kindergarten to 8th grade, were analyzed. Household food insecurity was assessed using the validated 18-item Household Food Security Survey Module. Child asthma was assessed by parent report of a clinical diagnosis. Direct anthropometric assessments yielded age- and sex-specific BMI z-scores, categorized as normal or overweight/obese. Multivariate logistic regression models were computed in Aims 1 and 2 to test the association between food insecurity and asthma. In Aim 3, sex-specific multivariable Poisson regression models were used to calculate relative risk for overweight/obesity by exposure to food insecurity. Odds of asthma doubled in children that lived in households that were food-insecure and poor (OR 2.00 [95% CI 1.97 to 2.03]). Any exposure to food insecurity between kindergarten and 8th grade was associated with increased odds of asthma; the highest odds were among those with 2 years of exposure (OR 1.82 [95% CI 1.80 to 1.85]). Two years of exposure (but not fewer or more) also were associated with a 39% higher risk of overweight/obesity in 8th grade (RR 1.39 [95% CI 1.15 to 1.69]). Repeated exposures to household food insecurity increased the risk of both asthma and overweight/obesity in 8th grade. These findings are important for public health policy as well as asthma and obesity prevention efforts.Item Gender differences in the life course origins of adult functioning and mortality(2011-08) Montez, Jennifer Karas; Hayward, Mark D.; Hummer, Robert A.; Umberson, Debra J.; Pudrovska, Tetyana; Osborne, CynthiaA high degree of physical functioning is necessary for independently performing the numerous routine and valued tasks of daily life. Poor functioning not only hinders independent living, it can lower the quality of life, impede full social participation, and elevate the risk of death. However, not all adults are at equal risk of poor functioning: women experience worse functioning and live a greater number of years functionally impaired compared with men. Studies of this gap have focused on inequities in adult circumstances, such as socioeconomic status, but have generally fallen short of fully accounting for it. Recasting this research within a life-course, epidemiological framework points to the potential role of early-life circumstances. Early-life circumstances may impart a biological imprint, and they may also launch long-term trajectories of social circumstances, that could differentially shape functioning for men and women. Thus, this dissertation examines the life course origins of the gender gap in functioning and active life expectancy among older U.S. adults using two nationally-representative datasets: the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States and the Health and Retirement Study. In sum, the findings reveal that: (a) a host of early-life circumstances, such as parents’ education levels, leave an indelible stamp on functional ability and active life expectancy for women and men, irrespective of adult circumstances, (b) while some early-life adversities, such as extreme poverty, were marginally more consequential for women’s than men’s functioning, they appear to be primarily more consequential for precipitating metabolic conditions such as diabetes and obesity rather than directly impacting functioning, (c) explanations of the gap must incorporate endogenous biological differences between men and women; explanations that focus exclusively on socially-structured inequities are insufficient, and (d) exposures to socioeconomic resources accumulate across the life course to shape functioning differently for men than women; particularly between white men, who enjoy better functioning with higher educational attainment irrespective of early-life socioeconomic exposures, and white women whose functioning gains plateau if they experienced early-life socioeconomic adversities. Overall, the results underscore the importance of a life course perspective in explicating gender disparities in functioning, longevity, and active life expectancy.Item Life course origins and the race disparity in dementia : how early life shapes cognitive health(2020-05-13) Farina, Matthew Paul; Hayward, Mark D.; Umberson, Debra; Goosby, Bridget; Crimmins, Eileen MDementia risk has been tied to multiple social and biological risk factors throughout the life course. Dementia is a debilitating cognitive condition where the individual is unable to maintain independence due to low cognitive functioning. It has serious implications for communities, families, and individuals. In this dissertation, I examine how the life course, and in particular, early life shapes dementia risk using longitudinal data from the Health and Retirement Study. I also analyze how life course risks and pathways contribute to the race disparity in dementia onset. I find that early life risk factors greatly impact dementia risk, and are cumulative with later life risks. I also find that the race disparity in dementia onset is rooted in racial differences in early life conditions. But these risk factors are not universal. I find race-specific pathways that suggest that blacks may be greatly affected by southern birth (and the Jim Crow regimes associated with the South) that individual health differences do not factor into dementia onset of blacks. I further consider how pathogeneses and cognitive reserve building processes in early life contribute to population health disparities. Moreover, pathogenic exposure at birth and education are independent of one another, and are large contributing factors to dementia risk in later life. These results point to the importance of sociobiological pathways established in early to determining risk of dementia in later life, but that these pathways can differ for key demographic groups. This is especially important given the aging population, the lack of a medical breakthrough to treat dementia, and the growing diversity of the older population.Item Sexing the midlife: women's experiences across same-sex and different-sex couples(2015-12) Paine, Emily Allen; Umberson, Debra; González-López, GloriaThis paper examines the experiences of women navigating sex amidst midlife transitions within same-sex and different sex long term couples. Data from in-depth interviews with women in 18 same-sex and 18 different-sex couples were analyzed to reveal how transitions related to caregiving, health and aging work to change women’s intra- and interpersonal experiences of sex and sexuality. I extend theories of gender and sexual scripts to examine how women framed and made sense of their changing sex lives in light of larger cultural schemas of gender and sexuality. For example, lesbian women negotiated their discordance from heterosexual scripts by framing their changing sex lives as either similar to those of heterosexual long term couples or too different to be understood through such scripts. Whereas straight women cited their alignment with the script of sexless long term heterosexual marriages, lesbian women negotiated stigmatized heterosexist scripts of lesbian asexuality. I introduce the term of lesbian “bed work” to describe the sense of responsibility and work undertaken to keep up sexual relationships discussed by lesbian women.Item Social ties and physical activity patterns over the life course : gender, race, and age variations(2014-05) Lodge, Amy Caroline; Umberson, Debra; Angel, Jacqueline; Crosnoe, Robert; Gonzalez-Lopez, Gloria; Hayward, MarkIn this dissertation I explore the lived experiences and meanings underlying population patterns linking social ties and exercise. To do so, I frame an analysis of qualitative data from 60 in-depth interviews with 15 white women, 15 black women, 15 white men, and 15 black men with life course theory and critical perspectives on gender, race, and age. In Article 1, I examine how parental influence matters for individuals’ exercise trajectories (i.e., lived experiences of change or stability in exercise patterns) from childhood into adulthood, how adult life course transitions (e.g., parenthood) and turning points (e.g., injury) matter in relation to this influence for exercise trajectories, and how they matter differently at the intersection of race and gender. I develop the concepts of disrupted advantage and disadvantage to refer to my key finding that adult life experiences can disrupt processes of cumulative (dis)advantage around exercise in ways that differ at the intersection of race and gender. In Article 2, I examine the gendered processes through which intimate relationship formation and dissolution result in shifts in exercise habits and find that relationship formation shapes men’s and women’s exercise habits in distinctive ways. Further, these gendered processes are shaped by men’s and women’s relational gendered performances, which reveal the importance of a gender-as-relational perspective for understanding the links between relationship formation and gendered changes in exercise habits. Finally, in Article 3 I examine how body image, as socially constituted, shapes individuals’ motivation to exercise in ways that differ by gender, age, and race. I further examine how, through exercise intentions and practices, individuals craft meanings about the body, gender, race, and age.Item The effects of early life exposures on health outcomes throughout the life course(2018-07-12) Tahir, Muna Jamil; Bray, Molly S.; Forman, Michele R.; Davis, Jaimie N; Jolly, Christopher A; Willett, Walter CObesity is on the rise worldwide. The goal of this research is to examine the effects of important early life exposures, notably age at solid food introduction during infancy, and television viewing and physical activity during childhood, on obesity across the life course. Chapter 1 summarizes prior research on these exposures in relation to incidence of obesity and changes in anthropometric trajectories over time. The gaps in the literature that led to development of these aims are also described in this chapter. Chapter 2 describes results of an analysis of the association between age at solid food introduction, an important turning point in infant feeding practices, and obesity throughout life. Late age at solid food introduction (≥9 months versus 6-9 months) was associated with marginally higher odds of obesity at age five among girls, but this association did not persist at later ages. Chapter 3 discusses research on the effects of television viewing in childhood alone, and in combination with physical activity, on overweight and obesity in childhood, adolescence and adulthood. Compared to girls who watched no television at 3-5 and 5-10 years, girls who watched television for four or more hours per day had higher odds of obesity throughout the life course. The joint effects of long hours of television viewing and low physical activity during childhood resulted in higher odds of obesity that persisted from childhood to adulthood. Chapter 4 describes the association between childhood television viewing and change in body mass index and weight Z-scores from childhood through adolescence, and waist circumference and waist-to-height ratio Z-scores in adolescence in a Norwegian population. Children who watched ≥2 hours of television/day, versus ≤0.5 hours/day, had a higher body mass index Z-score trajectory from childhood to adolescence, but not weight Z-score trajectory, or waist circumference and waist-to-height ratio Z-scores in adolescence. Finally, these findings are summarized, their public health implications are discussed and future directions are indicated in Chapter 5Item Understanding the career trajectories of mid-career female athletics administrators : a life course approach(2015-08) Hartzell, Allyson Camille; Dixon, Marlene A., 1970-; Holahan, Carole K; Steinhardt, Mary A; Harrison, Tracie C; Angel, Jacqueline LThough there has been progress over the past decades, women continue to be underrepresented in intercollegiate athletics administration (Acosta & Carpenter, 2014). This is especially true in higher-level positions, such as that of athletic directors or those considered to be in the pipeline to that top seat in the administrative structure of athletics programs (Acosta & Carpenter, 2014; Lapchick, Agusta, Kinkopf, & McPhee, 2012). Past approaches to the study of this phenomenon have primarily been from a singular angle, such as the macro-, meso-, or micro-levels of analysis. While such research has yielded important information and added to the knowledge base in this area, understanding of the problem is still piecemeal. There is a paucity of research that considers the underrepresentation of women in this field in a holistic fashion. What is needed is research that takes into account the combination of various factors at multiple levels. It is important to consider the context within which people live their lives along with the circumstances and events that influence career decisions and shape life paths. The purpose of this study was to examine the lived experiences of women who work in intercollegiate athletics administration in a multi-level manner and identify the factors within their experiences that have influenced the decisions they have made regarding their careers and have helped shape their trajectories. Qualitative methods were used along with the guiding framework of the life course perspective. Using data gleaned from a life/career map, interviews, and field notes, subthemes were identified within the four themes of the life course framework: life and historical times, timing of lives, linked lives, and human agency (Elder, 1994). Results demonstrate that women’s careers within intercollegiate athletics administration are influenced by multiple factors and are susceptible to impact from the circumstances preceding and surrounding them. The career paths of the women who participated in this study were affected by each of the four themes outlined by the life course perspective and more specifically by the subthemes identified within each of those broader themes.