Amy C. Lodge

Age and embodied masculinities: Midlife gay and heterosexual men talk about their bodies

This article integrates critical gerontology and masculinities theories to examine how midlife gay and heterosexual men experience their bodies in relation to cultural discourses of aging. Analyses of in-depth interviews with 15 gay and 15 heterosexual men ages 40-60 reveal that while both groups of men describe their bodies as deteriorating or declining in terms of functionality and are often distressed by these changes, midlife gay men also articulate a concern with a perceived decline in bodily appearance. Both gay and heterosexual midlife men frame their bodies as fundamentally different from womens, possibly in an attempt to protect a masculine identity in response to the threat that aging bodies pose to that identity. We argue that midlife mens embodied experiences are shaped by a discourse of midlife decline as well as inequalities between gay and heterosexual men. We also discuss the implications of embodiment for midlife mens well-being.

Do Support and Strain With Adult Children Affect Mothers’ and Fathers’ Physical Activity?

Physical activity is central to health. Parents tend to have lower levels of physical activity than the childless, however, little is known about how adult child–parent relationship quality matters for mothers’ and fathers’ physical activity trajectories. Nationally representative panel data from the Americans’ Changing Lives survey (1986–2012) are used to analyze multilevel-ordered logistic regression models. Greater social support from adult children is associated with more frequent active exercise, and higher strain with adult children is related to more frequent active exercise and walking. A significant gender interaction suggests that strain with adult children is related to greater exercise among men more so than women, but this interaction is attenuated after adjusting for cigarette smoking, another gendered way of coping with stress. This study contributes to a more nuanced understanding of how different dimensions of intergenerational relationships shape health behaviors across the life course.

Initial development of the recovery-oriented services assessment: A collaboration with peer-provider consultants.

Objective: The Recovery Self-Assessment (RSA) is a reliable and valid tool used to measure recovery-oriented services. Recent studies, however, suggest that the length and reading level of the RSA makes its routine use in service settings difficult. Recognizing the importance of including people with lived experience of a mental health challenge in research processes and the need to enhance the utility of tools that measure recovery-oriented services, this paper describes an innovative researcher-peer provider consultant multistep process used to revise the provider version of the RSA to create a new instrument—the Recovery-Oriented Services Assessment (ROSA). Methods: The authors conducted an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with principal axis factoring extraction and direct oblimin rotation to evaluate the underlying structure of the provider RSA using data from mental health employees (n = 323). To triangulate the findings of the EFA, quantitative and qualitative data were collected from peer provider consultants (n = 9) on the importance of and language of RSA items. Results: EFA results indicated that a 1-factor solution provided the best fit and explained 48% of the total variance. Consultants triangulated EFA results and recommended the addition of 2 items and language revisions. These results were used to develop the ROSA—a 15-item instrument measuring recovery-oriented services with accessible language. Conclusions and Implications for Practice: Two versions of the ROSA were developed: a staff version and a people-in-services version. The ROSA may provide organizations with a more accessible way to measure the extent to which their services are recovery oriented.

Sexuality in Long-Term Relationships

This chapter provides a broad overview of current research on sex in long-term relationships. First, I review descriptive research on sexual frequency, sexual satisfaction, sexual attitudes, sexual desire, and sexual dysfunction. I then review research that applies theoretical perspectives on emotion work and the performance of gender, age, and desire to the study of sex in long-term relationships. After reviewing the current literature, I examine methodological challenges and strategies for studying sex in long-term relationships. Finally, I discuss directions for future research on sex in long-term relationships, which include the need for more theoretically-informed studies, studies on gay and lesbian relationships, and studies that examine racial/ethnic, cultural, and socioeconomic diversity.