Contemplative practices offer a promising lens for thinking about how people navigate change, vulnerability, and the emotional texture of later life. This article examines how such practices extend ideas of healthy aging, drawing on interviews and focus groups (n = 24) from an 8-week mind–body course. Participants reported strong satisfaction with the course, noting improvements in physical and mental health, and a notable shift towards greater kindness, openness, and curiosity towards themselves and others. Aiming to understand the key elements of contemplative training, our analysis identified three notable themes: learning to be with emotionally challenging experiences; normalizing change and vulnerability; and the ongoing development of a toolkit. Participants also reported a heightened ability to cope with challenges, make intentional life choices, and foster a positive attitude. From a gerontological perspective, the program offered helpful resources for adapting to change and embracing vulnerability as fundamental components of healthy aging. We also suggest the value of a life course perspective, which enables us to imagine contemplative practice as a form of training for aging well.

In federal states, immigration regulation is frequently shared with subnational levels of governance. In Canada, provinces even have immigration selection powers. This is significant, as an increasing proportion of new permanent residents (1) are now selected by a province, and (2) previously held a temporary residence permit. However, the ways in which the interaction between the federalization of immigration and two-step migration impacts migrants’ experiences is still not well understood. This article contributes to the literature by providing deeper insights into the effects of the federalization of immigration on migrants. Based on the case of Quebec, it analyzes how the federalization of two-step migration affects migrants’ transitions from temporary to permanent status, whereby immigrants become “included.” The article contends that rather than functioning as an administrative process of linear inclusion, the federalization of two-step migration produces an ambiguous process of inclusion which reflects contradictory federal-provincial political agendas and tensions.

Our research is interested in understanding how the elderly evaluate their past, so the aims of this study are, first, to understand if there are age differences within the older population in terms of positivity effect, and second, to test if perception of happiness and vulnerability are two independent recall systems. To test our hypotheses, we used the Vivre / Leben / Vivere survey on a population of 65 years and older (n=4200), in Switzerland. Findings show that happiness depends on social and cultural norms, while there is an age effect for vulnerability. For happiness, there are no age differences, but this is not the case for vulnerability: the oldest age groups are less likely to report episodes of vulnerability during most of their lives.

This research examines obstacles faced by older people living with HIV in maintaining their significant social ties (family, friends) in the light of a double theoretical framework, inter-sectionality and the course of life. Favoring a qualitative methodology, this research is based on in-depth, semi-directed interviews with a diverse sample of 38 people living with HIV, aged 50-73 years. Analysis reveals that a significant proportion of participants have experienced ruptures or deterioration of close ties with intimates at the level of family or friends. The principal factors behind these difficulties are the past and present stigma associated with HIV and /or other social positions, long-term effects of HIV, issues related to aging and crosscutting effects of HIV and aging.

Population aging is likely to lead to an increase in the number of people in need of assistance. It is well known that a large part of this assistance originates, and will continue to originate, from the network of relatives and friends. However, the effects of the provision of care on individuals’ employment trajectories when this care is combined with employment of varying intensity or with childcare responsibilities have rarely been examined. The present study used proportional hazards models with the General Social Survey, Cycles 20 and 21, to assess the impact of providing care to a partner, a parent or parent-in-law, another relative, or a non-relative on the risk of leaving employment. The analyses show that providing care to a parent or parent-in-law increases the probability of leaving employment only among women employed full-time and among men and women who have no children or only adult children.

A qualitative study, within a life course perspective, explored the transition into marriage for mid- to later-life same-sex couples. Twenty individuals (representing 11 couples) were interviewed – 12 lesbians, seven gay men, and one bisexual man. At the time of their marriages, participants were between 42 and 72 years old (average age: 54) and had been with their partners from six months to 19 years (average: 7.5 years). Three processes highlighted the ways in which these same-sex couples’ experiences of deciding to marry were influenced by their life course experiences. First, individuals had to integrate marriage into their psyches (integration). Second, they had to consider why they would marry their specific partner (rationale). Third, the study participants demonstrated how their experiences of wedding planning and their wedding characteristics were imbued with intentionality as a result of lifetime experiences of homophobia and/or heterosexism (intentionality).

High divorce rates over the past 40 years have affected multiple generations and have long-term consequences for family relationships. This article applies a life course perspective as it explores the reverberation of relationship dissolution beyond the nuclear family. Qualitative data from a study involving 86 adults from 10 three-generation families illustrate the extensive reach of divorce across time and generations. An intensive analysis of two families reveals six key areas of negotiation following divorce: relationship dissolution itself; balancing work and family obligations; inlaw ties; parent-child ties; sibling ties; and intimate relationships. Multiple voices from three generations demonstrate the complexity of family relationships over time and the reverberation of individual life course transitions throughout family networks. Applying the concept of ambivalence highlights variations among social groups in the ongoing renegotiation of relationships and situations that follows the dissolution of long-term unions.