This revision is submitted in response to NOT-OD-10-032: NIH Announces the Availability of Recovery Act Funds for Competitive Revision Applications (R01, R03,R15,R21,R21/R33, and R37) through the NIH Basic Behavioral and Social Science Opportunity Network (OppNet). The proposed revision grant, which focuses on a unique sample of Russian-born women age 65 and over, will expand the current research in several important ways. In the current research, we are exploring the concept of generativity, the meaning of childlessness and the future long- term care needs of 210 mostly childless older women. This will fill in an important gap in the aging research literature which has rarely researched these persons. In the Revision Application, we wish to interview a small sample of childless older women who have emigrated from Russia to the United States after 1989 (the fall of State Communism). The parent study has four specific aims: 1) to examine issues concerning generativity and lifestyles of the older population of women; 2) to better understand the caregiving needs and resources of this group; 3) to compare these issues among seven different groups of childless and childed older women;and 4) to contrast these issues among two ethnic groups, European-Americans and African- Americans. Based on the unique experiences of those women who lived in the former Soviet Union and have migrated to America in later life, we propose a one-year supplemental study to investigate the meaning of childlessness, views of caregiving and generativity, and healthcare needs in a sample of Russian women, age 65 and over, who have immigrated to the United States within the last 20 years. This proposed supplement builds on the research aims of the parent study and seeks to specifically explore the following: 1) to examine the impact of living in the former Soviet Union on life choices, childlessness, and generativity; 2) to explore the meaning of generativity and its relation to how their native culture will be preserved in a new setting; 3) to better understand the challenges of this aging cohort and their healthcare and caregiving needs as immigrants in a new country facing language and cultural barriers.
This proposed research explores the health and caregiving needs of childless older women who have emigrated from Russia. In America, adult daughters provide the vast majority of care for older parents. Lacking children, the study population must look to alternatives for care: what do they do in anticipation of their care needs?
| Hannum, Susan M; Black, Helen K; Rubinstein, Robert L et al. (2017) Chronic Illness and Generativity in Late Life: A Case Study. Gerontologist 57:171-178 |
| Black, Helen K; Hannum, Susan M; Rubinstein, Robert L et al. (2016) Generativity in Elderly Oblate Sisters of Providence. Gerontologist 56:559-68 |
| Black, Helen K; Hannum, Susan M (2015) Aging, Spirituality, and Time: A Qualitative Study. J Relig Spiritual Aging 27:145-165 |
| de Medeiros, Kate; Rubinstein, Robert; Ermoshkina, Polina (2015) The Role of Relevancy and Social Suffering in ""Generativity"" Among Older Post-Soviet Women Immigrants. Gerontologist 55:526-36 |
| Rubinstein, Robert L; Girling, Laura M; de Medeiros, Kate et al. (2015) Extending the Framework of Generativity Theory Through Research: A Qualitative Study. Gerontologist 55:548-59 |
| de Medeiros, Kate (2009) Suffering and Generativity: Repairing Threats to Self in Old Age. J Aging Stud 23:97-102 |
