Social Isolation In Women Research Articles

Relationships between non-communicable disease, social isolation and frailty in community dwelling adults in later life: findings from the Hertfordshire Cohort Study

BackgroundSocial relationships play a fundamental role in individuals’ lives and health, and social isolation is prevalent among older people. Chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and frailty are also common in older adults.AimsTo examine the association between number of NCDs and social isolation in a cohort of community-dwelling older adults in the UK, and to consider whether any potential association is mediated by frailty.MethodsNCDs were self-reported by 176 older community-dwelling UK adults via questionnaire. Social isolation was assessed using the six-item Lubben Social Network Scale. Frailty was assessed by the Fried phenotype of physical frailty.ResultsThe median (IQR) age of participants in this study was 83.1 (81.5–85.5) years for men and 83.8 (81.5–85.9) years for women. The proportion of socially isolated individuals was 19% in men and 20% in women. More women (18%) than men (13%) were identified as frail. The number of NCDs was associated with higher odds of being isolated in women (unadjusted odds ratio per additional NCD: 1.65, 95% CI 1.08, 2.52, p = 0.021), but not in men, and the association remained robust to adjustment, even when accounting for frailty (OR 1.85, 95% CI 1.06, 3.22, p = 0.031).DiscussionNumber of self-reported NCDs was associated with higher odds of social isolation in women but not in men, and the association remained after considering frailty status.ConclusionsOur observations may be considered by healthcare professionals caring for community-dwelling older adults with multiple NCDs, where enquiring about social isolation as part of a comprehensive assessment may be important.

The Use of Social Isolation (inqiṭāʿ) by Jewish Women in Medieval Egypt

Abstract Petitions from the Cairo Geniza often emphasize that the petitioner is lonely or “cut off” (munqaṭiʿ) from social support. Such claims are gendered, as they are more common in women’s petitions than in men’s, and women occasionally use explicitly gendered expressions to highlight their social isolation. Claiming to lack social support had a special valency in medieval Islamicate societies due to the primacy of reciprocal social relationships in these societies. Since women’s access to cultural and social capital was more limited than men’s, women lacking effective and supportive male kin were particularly vulnerable and were recognized as deserving justice. Studying claims of social isolation thus sheds light on the social predicament of Jewish women in medieval Egypt. Finally, recognizing the currency of social isolation in women’s petition helps identify an opposite trend of social belonging in men’s petitions.

Identification, systematization and analysis of the reasons for postnatal depression in women

This article is aimed at identifying, systematizing and analyzing the causes of postnatal depression in women. Despite the seeming limitations, this is a rather serious problem of a socio-psychological nature. Indeed, the manifestations of postnatal depression significantly affect not only the woman herself, but also her child, her other children, her husband, i.e. for the whole family. The feeling of social isolation in women who gave birth is very sharply reflected in her psyche, especially among successful women.

Sex-Specific Differences in Short-Term and Long-Term Outcomes in Acute Stroke Patients from Qatar

Background: Sex differences may determine presentation, utility of treatment, rehabilitation, and occurrences of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs) in acute stroke (AS). Objective:The purpose of the study was to evaluate the short-term prognosis and long-term outcomes in MACEs in Qatari nationals admitted with AS. Methods: All AS patients admitted between January 2014 and February 2019 were included. We evaluated the preadmission modified Rankin scale (mRS) score, etiology and severity of symptoms, complications, and functional recovery at discharge and 90 days. MACEs were recorded for 5 years. Results: There were 891 admissions for AS (mean age 64.0 ± 14.2 years) (male, n = 519 [mean age ± SD 62.9 ± 14.1 years]; female, n = 372 [mean age ± SD 65.6 ± 14.2 years] p = 0.005). There were no differences in the preadmission mRS and severity of symptoms as measured on National Institute of Stroke Scale. At discharge, the outcome was better (mRS 0–2) in men (57.8 vs. 46.0%), p = 0.0001. This difference persisted at the 90-day follow-up (mRS 0–2, male 69.4% vs. female 53.2%, p = 0.0001). At the 90-day follow-up, more women died (total deaths 70; women 38 [10.2%] versus men 32 [6.2%], p = 0.03). MACEs occurred in 25.6% (133/519) males and 30.9% (115/372) females over the 5-year follow-up period (odds ratio 0.77, 95% confidence interval 0.57–1.0, p = 0.83). Conclusions: Female patients have a poor short-term outcome following an AS when corrected for age and comorbidities. While our study cannot explain the reasons for the discrepancies, higher poststroke depression and social isolation in women may be important contributory factors, and requires further studies are required to confirm these findings.

Social isolation in women with endometriosis and chronic pelvic pain.

To evaluate the perceptions of women with endometriosis and chronic pelvic pain regarding their social ties. A qualitative study was undertaken of women with chronic pelvic pain and endometriosis. Focus groups discussions among four to six participants were performed until saturation at the Clinics Hospital of Ribeirão Preto Medical School, Ribeirão Preto, southwest Brazil, between February 2013 and January 2014. Transcripts were analyzed according to the grounded theory approach and the emerging categories were coded using the WebQDA platform. Six focus group discussions took place, with a total of 29 patients. Social isolation was the main emerging theme. Social isolation was associated with a lack of understanding about endometriosis symptoms and with resignation in face of recurrent pain episodes. Avoiding partner intimacy and isolation from family and friends were components of social isolation. Women with endometriosis develop progressive social isolation after the onset of chronic pelvic pain. This finding is important for the multidisciplinary management of the disease.

Spécificités de genre de la délinquance féminine en France, un support à l’expertise psychiatrique pénale

Women's criminality in its specific features currently remains quite unstudied in the French criminology. Yet, it can reveal helpful in the clinic tables in the frame of penal psychiatric expertises linked to the women. The main goal of our study is to underline the gender specificities in this field, in order to lead expertal practice, through official data analysis of female crime figures. Our study is focused on the 2004–2009 period, via the French National Institute for Statistical and Economics (Insee) analysis. It was comparatively completed between the men and women crime figures in both absolute and evolutive terms. In this study noticeable items are given. For both men and women and over 2004–2009, the facts evolution concerning property offence is decreasing (−17%) while physical integrity mugging and fraud are increasing (+16 and +12%). Physical integrity mugging is represented by villainous violence for 52.6% and non-villainous violence for 26%, it stands for 7.3 cases/1000 inhabitants. In this situation, property offences represent 22.4% of convictions, offences against individuals 18%, drug use 6.7% and road traffic offences 41.7%. About women participation to the criminality, we can notice an under representation compared to men: They represent 5.8% of all convictions for crime, 9.6% of convictions for offences and 9% of fines. These rates are stable with the passage of time. Women's criminality orientation shows a preference for offences linked to cheques, fines for assault and battery, fraud offences, offences linked to intentional injuries and murders (in these categories women respectively represent 35.7%, 22.5%, 19.8%, 18.4% and 13.1% of the conviction amount). Comparative analysis of the gender repartition for offences is quite similar between men and women, since the three first ranks are represented by road traffic offences, theft and concealment, as well as intentional injuries. However, the gender repartition for crimes is quite different: men firstly predominate in sexual molestation (especially rapes) and then in property offences, whereas women are over represented in murder then in assault and battery (61% of all women's crimes with these two items included). Nowadays, this specificity in women's criminality orientation and repartition is based on sociologic models, which are lauding women's social isolation and differencial sociabilisation between both genders (instead of former psychological or physiological theories). Crime's scability shows another gender specificity: the number of female involvement is consistently increasing (+15.5% between 2004–2009 and +3.2% between 2008–2009), while at the same period and for the first time, the number of male involvement is decreasing (−0.4% between 2008–2009). This increase is mainly linked to property offence, physical integrity mugging and frauds (respectively +7.4%, +6.2% and +4% between 2008–2009). Moreover, physical integrity mugging increase of 47% between 2004–2009. Conversively, drug use is decreasing inside women criminality (−3.8% for the same period). Eventually, it has to be noticed that imprisoned women represent only 3.1% of the prison population in 2009 (this rate keeps quite similar year in year out). The decrease of the rate of women concerned throughout the criminal justice process (15% of court implicated individuals, 10% of convictions, 3% of prison population) might let us think to some leniency from justice and police institutions towards them. However, some major variables need to be considered, as a bigger resistance to recidivism: in 2009 women only represented 5% of repeated offences and 1% of repeated crimes, the outcome of an improved sensibility to penal sanctions compared to men. Therefore a triple gender specificity concerning women's criminality comes up: a global and stable under representation, a specific criminal orientation against individuals, and an upward trend carried by physical integrity mugging.

Beyond the 50-minute hour: Increasing control, choice, and connections in the lives of low-income women.

Although poverty is associated with a range of mental health difficulties among women in this country, mainstream mental health interventions are not sufficient to meet the complex needs of poor women. This article argues that stress, powerlessness, and social isolation should become primary targets of our interventions, as they are key mediators of the relationship between poverty and emotional distress, particularly for women. Indeed, if ways are not found to address these conditions directly, by increasing women's control, choice, and connections, the capacity to improve the emotional well-being of impoverished women will remain limited at best. This is the first of 5 articles that comprise a special section of the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, called "Beyond the 50-Minute Hour: Increasing Control, Choice, and Connections in the Lives of Low-Income Women." Together, these articles explore the nature and impact of a range of innovative mental health interventions that are grounded in a deep understanding of the experience of poverty. This introduction: (a) describes briefly how mainstream approaches fail to address the poverty-related mental health needs of low-income women; (b) illuminates the role of stress, powerlessness, and social isolation in women's lives; (c) highlights the ways in which the articles included in this special section address each of these by either adapting traditional mental health practices to attend to poverty's role in participants' lives or adapting community-based, social-justice-oriented interventions to attend to participants' mental health; and (d) discusses the research and evaluation implications of expanding mental health practices to meet the needs of low-income communities.

Latina Immigrant Victims of Interpersonal Violence in New Jersey: A Needs Assessment Study

ABSTRACT Recent studies have stressed the seriousness of male-female intimate partner violence (MFIPV) suffered by Latina women and the need for more comprehensive and culturally sensitive services for this population. This article provides an overall understanding of the type and severity of abuse suffered by examining Latina victims in New Jersey, a state that has a remarkably diverse and numerous Latino population. Socio-economic and residence statuses are considered, and self-help seeking behaviors and the challenges of women's social isolation are addressed. In addition, risk factors related to MFIPV, such as substance abuse and witnessed/experienced violence in childhood, are explored. The understanding of these characteristics and risk factors are critical to the design of prevention and intervention programs.

Psychosocial Factors in Slovak Population Sample and Cardiovascular Diseases Interaction

ISEE-353 Objective: The fact that traditional risk factors account for approximately two-thirds of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) cases has stimulated increasing interest in the relationship between CVD and psychosocial factors. These factors may predict increased disease risk and are independently associated with CVD. Material and Methods: In 9983 subjects (35.3% men) from the Slovak region, mean age 48.3 ± 14.9 years, the educational level, occurrence of frequent occupational stressful events (SE), and SE in privacy, social isolation, and some mental health manifestations, especially depression symptoms, were followed. The associations of psychosocial factors, mental health, and some biologic factors (cholesterol level, BP, obesity) were tested. Results: High occurrence of occupational stressful events, lower prevalence of SE in privacy, more than 2-fold social isolation in women than in men, and high prevalence of depression, anxiety, and memory disorder symptoms, especially in women, were observed. SE in privacy are mostly stated by subjects with basic education, and occupational SE are significantly more stated by subjects with university education. Physical inactivity and smoking are mostly present in persons with basic education; men with basic education are more often overweight or obese (P < 0.05), with risky waist circumference (P < 0.001), have more often elevated systolic (P < 0.01) and diastolic (NS) BP level, but men with university education have the highest total serum cholesterol level (P < 0.001). Among the biologic risk factors, highly significant (negative) was the association of mental health only with the systolic and diastolic BP levels. Multiple linear regression revealed significant negative association of mental health with education, occupation, and physical activity and significant positive association with SE and social isolation. Conclusions: Results support the evidence of causal relationship between chronic stress, socioeconomic status, depression, and development of CVD. Reducing the cardiovascular risk due to these psychosocial factors will be one of the major public health challenges in the future.

Why women don’t report sexual harassment: A case study of an elite military institution

Sexual harassment affects the lives of women in a variety of organizational settings, and the United States military has been no exception. While several studies have documented the prevalence of women’s experiences with harassment among both the enlisted and officer ranks, little is known about women who are being trained to serve as future officers while attending the U.S. Department of Defense service academies. This paper summarizes the findings of a case study of the U.S. Naval Academy to examine the extent to which women experience sexually harassing behaviors and to analyze women's responses to harassment, focusing specifically on their reasons for not filing grievances. Drawing from survey and interview data, findings reveal that 96.8 percent of Academy women experienced some form of sexual harassment within a six-month period, while 48.4 percent reported experiencing harassment on a recurring basis. Despite the pervasiveness of harassment as well as the Academy’s provision of avenues for filing grievances, only 26 cases were formally reported within a five-year period. Women discussed two potential consequences of filing grievances, both of which prevented them from reporting incidents: the perception that nothing would be done and the possibility of negative repercussions, including social ostracism and retaliation. Moreover, the aforementioned consequences appear to be linked to the following aspects of Academy life: the midshipman chain of command as the dominant form of social organization, an informal code of silence that permeates Academy culture, and women's status as outsiders in a male-dominated institution. These findings suggest that any meaningful attempt to assist Academy students in responding to harassment should include policies that address women's social isolation as well as eliminating the student chain of command as a primary course of action in filing grievances.

Battered Women: Keeping the Secret

This report of a qualitative study of eight battered women in a rural Appalachian shelter disclosed that the women's social isolation was a product of their batterers' actions, the women's sense of shame, and the stigma associated with their abuse. It proposes a social dynamics model for planning intervention that considers the nature of privacy and secrecy in couple relationships, the myth of the happy family, and the power of labels of deviance.