Anne E. Barrett

You know, this whole thing about feeling like you have to look much younger than you are – especially when people are living longer. Women succumb to these pressures, and I think it does a number o...

Digital spaces, including online communities, are increasingly vital components of the social networks in which individuals age. These communities can prevent isolation and strengthen social connections during a life stage when networks often shrink. Studies, however, have given limited attention to examining how these communities challenge ageism—a pervasive, but often overlooked, form of inequality. To address this issue, we use data from Gransnet, a popular social networking site for older adults that was created in the United Kingdom in 2011. We conducted thematic and discourse analyses of 110 thread posts and more than 5000 comments made in the site's ‘Everyday Ageism’ discussion forum. Analyses revealed that participants challenged ageism in three ways. First, they legitimized older adults' knowledge through the exchange of support among age peers. Second, they asserted older adults' value by identifying ways they contribute to broader society. Third, they promoted a critique of ageism and shared strategies for navigating it. Our study underscores the importance of considering the broader system of age inequality in which online communities for older adults are located. It shapes the social relationships that emerge in these communities and the content of the interactions that sustain them—which, in turn, can challenge ageism both in and outside digital spaces.

Drowsy driving is a major cause of motor vehicle injuries and fatalities, yet little is known about its impact on older adults. This group may face heightened risk due to age-related sleep issues. Using survey data from 3,411 Floridians aged 60 and older (collected in 2020/2021), we examined how self-rated sleep quality relates to two indicators of driving safety: frequency of self-reported distracted driving behaviors (e.g., texting, eating, and grooming) and involvement in a crash or near-crash in the past year. Regression results showed that poor sleep quality did not significantly predict distracted driving but was associated with increased odds of a crash or near-crash. Our findings, which partially align with studies of younger drivers, highlight the need to understand how the relationship between sleep and driving safety may change with age.

A central mantra of aging centers on staying socially engaged - a prescription supported by numerous studies reporting how social engagement enhances well-being in later life. Research in this area has primarily focused on interaction with family and friends, paid work, and unpaid activities such as volunteering, while devoting less attention to involvement in organizations with explicitly political goals. Political engagement - particularly activism oriented toward social change - may not only shape communities but also transform how individuals experience and understand their own aging. This transformative potential may be especially significant for women, who are often devalued as they age beyond youth. To explore this possibility, we draw on nine semi-structured interviews with members of the Older Feminist Network (OFN), an organization established in 1982 in the United Kingdom in response to the mainstream feminist movement's limited attention to older women's issues. Consistent with prior studies of other women-centered organizations, we found evidence that involvement in OFN provided social interaction, as well as physical and cognitive activity, that can enrich well-being in later life. Our analyses, however, revealed that its impact extended beyond social connection: It fostered a sense of purpose through shared political commitments and reframed aging through feminist consciousness. By turning the focus from social to political engagement in later life, our study reveals how activism can provide women with an empowering perspective on aging.

Ageing is often framed through the lens of independence, with a strong emphasis on not burdening younger family members. Little attention, however, has been given to how this framing reflects and reinforces age inequality by devaluing older adults relative to younger ones. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 43 Italians aged 65 and older, conducted in 2018/2019 and 2022, we identify an orientation we term ‘altruistic ageing’ – a perspective that centres younger people’s needs by expecting older adults to adopt a selfless concern for others’ wellbeing. This orientation emerged in participants’ definitions of burden, which centred on receiving long-term or intensive assistance or co-residing with younger family members. These definitions reflected a privileging of younger adults’ time, personal freedom, social relationships and commitment to paid work. Altruistic ageing had consequences: It encouraged healthy behaviours but also narrowed acceptable long-term care options and constrained definitions of a ‘good death’. By unpacking the framing of older adults as burdens, our study reveals how age inequality operates through a culturally sanctioned ideal that morally justifies prioritizing the young over the old.

Little is known about widowhood's effects on externalizing expressions of distress, like substance use, among sexual minorities. Our study is the first to address this issue using a large national sample of LGB individuals living in the United States. Using the 2010 Aging with Pride: National Health, Aging, and Sexuality/Gender Study ( n = 2,258), we ran logistic regression models predicting current smoking, past 30-day binge drinking, and past year drug use. Widowhood predicted higher odds of drug use. These results were found for currently partnered individuals, suggesting that widowhood's effects are not completely offset by current partnership. In contrast, widowhood did not predict smoking or binge drinking. All results held for women and men. Results suggest that LGB widowhood's effects on substance use vary by current partner status and substance type. These findings contrast with those of studies examining widowhood's effects on internalized expressions of distress, which consistently find detrimental effects.

Relatively little is known about how social relationships affect later life planning. Our study focuses on an underexamined aspect of social relationships, frequency of contact – not only with family members but also with friends. Using data from a survey of Floridians aged 50 and older conducted between December 2020 and April 2021 (n = 3,832), we examine the association between frequency of contact and five planning types: finances, health care, living arrangements, driving retirement, and end-of-life. We found that more frequent contact was associated with greater likelihood of planning, and this result was largely consistent across types of relationships and types of planning. Our findings suggest that contact with family members and friends may encourage more planning, which could reduce the stress that can accompany later life transitions. Our study offers further evidence of social relationships’ centrality to later life well-being and points to the many benefits of enhancing them.