Social change confronts individuals with demands that index a new state of affairs as compared to what they were accustomed to. This book is a psychological investigation about how individuals deal with these demands in the domains of work and family when opportunities for their mastery are unfavorable. Theoretical considerations and empirical research suggest that with unattainable goals and unmanageable demands motivational disengagement and self-protective cognitions bring about superior outcomes than continued goal striving. Building on research on developmental deadlines by Jutta Heckhausen and colleagues, this paper introduces the concept of developmental barriers to address socioeconomic conditions of severely constrained opportunities in certain geographical regions. Mixed-effects methods were used to model cross-level interactions between individual-level compensatory secondary control and regional-level opportunity structures in terms of social indicators for the economic prosperity and family friendliness. Results showed that disengagement was positively associated with general life satisfaction in regions that were economically devastated and has less than average services for families. In regions that were economically well off and family-friendly, the association was negative. Similar results were found for self-protection concerning domain-specific satisfaction with life. These finding, however, seem to refer only to individuals who have found alternative fields of engagement such as a civic initiative or the parish community. This indicates that the central functionality of self-protection and disengagement is to free up resources for pursuing alternative goals that would be otherwise wasted into futile goal striving with the blocked goal. The results furthermore showed that dispositional optimism has a positive association with self-protection and disengagement under unfavorable ecologic conditions. All these findings suggest that compensatory secondary control can be an adaptive way of mastering demands when primary control is not possible.

Today's world is characterized by a set of overarching trends that often come under the rubric of social change. In this innovative volume, Rainer K. Silbereisen and Xinyin Chen bring together, for the first time, international experts in the field to examine how changes in our social world impact on our individual development. Divided into four parts, the book explores the major socio-political and technological changes that have taken place around the world - from post- from the rapid upheavals in 1990s Europe to the gradual changes in parts of East Asia - and explains how these developments interplay with human development across the lifespan. Human Development and Social Change is a useful resource for students and researchers involved in all areas of human development, including developmental psychology, sociology and education.

This eight-volume encyclopedia brings together a comprehensive collection of work highlighting established research and emerging science in all relevant disciplines in gerontology and population aging. It covers the breadth of the field, gives readers access to all major sub-fields, and illustrates their interconnectedness with other disciplines. With more than 1300 cross-disciplinary contributors—including anthropologists, biologists, economists, psychiatrists, public policy experts, sociologists, and others—the encyclopedia delves deep into key areas of gerontology and population aging such as ageism, biodemography, disablement, longevity, long-term care, and much more. Paying careful attention to empirical research and literature from around the globe, the encyclopedia is of interest to a wide audience that includes researchers, teachers and students, policy makers, (non)governmental agencies, public health practitioners, business planners, and many other individuals and organizations.

Social isolation and loneliness are serious yet underappreciated public health risks that affect a significant portion of the older adult population. Approximately one-quarter of community-dwelling Americans aged 65 and older are considered to be socially isolated, and a significant proportion of adults in the United States report feeling lonely. People who are 50 years of age or older are more likely to experience many of the risk factors that can cause or exacerbate social isolation or loneliness, such as living alone, the loss of family or friends, chronic illness, and sensory impairments. Over a life course, social isolation and loneliness may be episodic or chronic, depending upon an individual's circumstances and perceptions. A substantial body of evidence demonstrates that social isolation presents a major risk for premature mortality, comparable to other risk factors such as high blood pressure, smoking, or obesity. As older adults are particularly high-volume and high-frequency users of the health care system, there is an opportunity for health care professionals to identify, prevent, and mitigate the adverse health impacts of social isolation and loneliness in older adults. Social Isolation and Loneliness in Older Adults summarizes the evidence base and explores how social isolation and loneliness affect health and quality of life in adults aged 50 and older, particularly among low income, underserved, and vulnerable populations. This report makes recommendations specifically for clinical settings of health care to identify those who suffer the resultant negative health impacts of social isolation and loneliness and target interventions to improve their social conditions. Social Isolation and Loneliness in Older Adults considers clinical tools and methodologies, better education and training for the health care workforce, and dissemination and implementation that will be important for translating research into practice, especially as the evidence base for effective interventions continues to flourish.

This book examines the multi-layered aspects and the complexities of inclusive development in South Asia based on recent data and using innovative methodology. The book offers an analysis of the existing ground realities in terms of economic and inclusive development, presenting relevant discussion and findings. It discusses lower castes, tribes, religious/ethnic minorities, and other socially vulnerable people, as well as gender, rural–urban, and educational disparities in South Asia, and highlights that all these issues are interrelated. Structured in two parts—Spatial Dimensions, Labour, and Migration, and Social Dimensions and Beyond Inclusion—the chapters present emerging new concepts related to socio-economic and inclusive development and use effective and valid methods and methodology covering the ground realities-based information and secondary data-based analysis. Evaluating the extent to which inclusive development has been realised in South Asia, the contributors explore a new approach towards the concept of ‘inclusiveness’ by drawing on the experiences of the diverse societies in South Asia. An immensely useful contribution to the analysis of different economic and social issues in different countries in South Asia, focusing on inclusivity, this book will be of interest to researchers working on South Asian Politics and Development Economics.

Your expert resource to activate, manage, and maintain lasting student success! Education expert Jennifer Fredricks empowers teachers to reengage students at all levels with clear-eyed implementation strategies that build essential 21st century learning skills. Teachers learn to confidently: Identify students most at risk for disengagement Implement student-centered, project-based learning practices for maximum educational outcomes Work effectively with diverse groups of disengaged youth Build positive peer cultures and high-quality student-teacher relationships Straightforward how-to’s from practicing classroom teachers, print and web-based resources, and assessment tips help educators cultivate lasting student engagement and transform educational outcomes with this must-have resource!