Jeanne Shea
University of Vermont, Anthropology, Faculty Member
- Anthropology, Gender Studies, China, Narrative, Social Change, Aging, and 30 moreGerontology, Modernization, Health and Social Care, Interpretive research methodology, Compassion, Public Health, Women's Studies, Women's Health, Post-Socialist Societies, Social Reform, Menopause, Social Suffering, Individualization, Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis, Self-healing materials, Gender and Sexuality, Medical Anthropology, Evidence Based Medicine, Evidence Based Nursing, Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Evidence Based Practice, Chinese Medicine, Sociology of Biomedicine and Health, Long Term Care, Qualitative Research, IRB Regulations, Research Ethics, Ethics, Social and Cultural Anthropology, and Social Careedit
- Dr. Jeanne L. Shea earned her Ph.D. and M.A. in Anthropology from Harvard University and her B.A. in Asian Studies: C... moreDr. Jeanne L. Shea earned her Ph.D. and M.A. in Anthropology from Harvard University and her B.A. in Asian Studies: Chinese Language and Literature at Dartmouth College. Her specializations include cultural anthropology, medical anthropology, global health, social gerontology, research methods, and Chinese culture and society. She joined the faculty at the University of Vermont in 1998, where she now serves as Director of the Health and Society Program and the Global Health Concentration in Anthropology.edit
Abstract Based on longitudinal mixed methods ethnographic research conducted in China from the mid-1990s to 2018, this article argues that Chinese lay language use divides what Americans and Canadians refer to as “menopause” into two... more
Abstract
Based on longitudinal mixed methods ethnographic research conducted in China from the mid-1990s to 2018, this article argues that Chinese lay language use divides what Americans and Canadians refer to as “menopause” into two distinct though overlapping concepts of the narrow juejing or end of menstruation and the broader non gender specific gengnianqi or “transition between middle and old age.” While comparison with research done by Lock in Japan shows that Japanese language uses a similar set of two overlapping yet distinct terms called heikei and könenki, there are important differences between Chinese and Japanese views and experiences of female midlife amidst the similarities. While views and experiences of juejing in China are very similar to notions of heikei in Japan, gengnianqi is quite different from könenki. Like in Japan, the end of menstruation tends to be welcomed by women in China. Also like in Japan, midlife women in China had a lower prevalence of hot flashes than that found in the US and Canada. Also similar to Japan, Chinese women rarely associate hot flashes with embarrassment. However, unlike in the Japanese sample, the Chinese women reported a higher rate of irritability than even the American and Canadian samples. Contrasting with könenki, which is primarly associated with bodily aches and self-restraint in Japan, gengnianqi is commonly viewed as a time of vulnerability to irritable outbursts which
must be allowed, though managed carefully. Overall, I show how menopause and midlife aging as concepts and as lived experiences are subject to variation related to differences in language, cultural ideas and practices, local biologies, and culturally-mediated generational experiences of historical change.
Keywords China . Chinese . Menopause . Middle age . Midlife
Based on longitudinal mixed methods ethnographic research conducted in China from the mid-1990s to 2018, this article argues that Chinese lay language use divides what Americans and Canadians refer to as “menopause” into two distinct though overlapping concepts of the narrow juejing or end of menstruation and the broader non gender specific gengnianqi or “transition between middle and old age.” While comparison with research done by Lock in Japan shows that Japanese language uses a similar set of two overlapping yet distinct terms called heikei and könenki, there are important differences between Chinese and Japanese views and experiences of female midlife amidst the similarities. While views and experiences of juejing in China are very similar to notions of heikei in Japan, gengnianqi is quite different from könenki. Like in Japan, the end of menstruation tends to be welcomed by women in China. Also like in Japan, midlife women in China had a lower prevalence of hot flashes than that found in the US and Canada. Also similar to Japan, Chinese women rarely associate hot flashes with embarrassment. However, unlike in the Japanese sample, the Chinese women reported a higher rate of irritability than even the American and Canadian samples. Contrasting with könenki, which is primarly associated with bodily aches and self-restraint in Japan, gengnianqi is commonly viewed as a time of vulnerability to irritable outbursts which
must be allowed, though managed carefully. Overall, I show how menopause and midlife aging as concepts and as lived experiences are subject to variation related to differences in language, cultural ideas and practices, local biologies, and culturally-mediated generational experiences of historical change.
Keywords China . Chinese . Menopause . Middle age . Midlife
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• • • DOI: 10.1007/s10823-020-09408-6 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Menopause and Midlife Aging in Cross-Cultural Perspective: Findings from Ethnographic Research in China JeanneL.Shea1✉Email Jeanne.Shea@uvm.edu 1 Anthropology Department... more
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• DOI: 10.1007/s10823-020-09408-6
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Menopause and Midlife Aging in Cross-Cultural Perspective: Findings from Ethnographic Research in China
JeanneL.Shea1✉Email Jeanne.Shea@uvm.edu
1 Anthropology Department University of Vermont 509 Williams Hall, 72 University Place Burlington VT 05405 USA
Abstract
Based on longitudinal mixed methods ethnographic research conducted in China from the mid-1990s to 2018, this article argues that Chinese lay language use divides what Americans and Canadians refer to as “menopause” into two distinct though overlapping concepts of the narrow juejing or end of menstruation and the broader non-gender-specific gengnianqi or “transition between middle and old age.” While comparison with research done by Lock in Japan shows that Japanese language uses a similar set of two overlapping yet distinct terms called heikei and könenki, there are important differences between Chinese and Japanese views and experiences of female midlife amidst the similarities. While views and experiences of juejing in China are very similar to notions of heikei in Japan, gengnianqi is quite different from könenki. Like in Japan, the end of menstruation tends to be welcomed by women in China. Also like in Japan, midlife women in China had a lower prevalence of hot flashes than that found in the US and Canada. Also similar to Japan, Chinese women rarely associate hot flashes with embarrassment. However, unlike in the Japanese sample, the Chinese women reported a higher rate of irritability than even the American and Canadian samples. Contrasting with könenki, which is primarly associated with bodily aches and self-restraint in Japan, gengnianqi is commonly viewed as a time of vulnerability to irritable outbursts which must be allowed, though managed carefully. Overall, I show how menopause and midlife aging as concepts and as lived experiences are subject to variation related to differences in language, cultural ideas and practices, local biologies, and culturally-mediated generational experiences of historical change.
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• DOI: 10.1007/s10823-020-09408-6
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Menopause and Midlife Aging in Cross-Cultural Perspective: Findings from Ethnographic Research in China
JeanneL.Shea1✉Email Jeanne.Shea@uvm.edu
1 Anthropology Department University of Vermont 509 Williams Hall, 72 University Place Burlington VT 05405 USA
Abstract
Based on longitudinal mixed methods ethnographic research conducted in China from the mid-1990s to 2018, this article argues that Chinese lay language use divides what Americans and Canadians refer to as “menopause” into two distinct though overlapping concepts of the narrow juejing or end of menstruation and the broader non-gender-specific gengnianqi or “transition between middle and old age.” While comparison with research done by Lock in Japan shows that Japanese language uses a similar set of two overlapping yet distinct terms called heikei and könenki, there are important differences between Chinese and Japanese views and experiences of female midlife amidst the similarities. While views and experiences of juejing in China are very similar to notions of heikei in Japan, gengnianqi is quite different from könenki. Like in Japan, the end of menstruation tends to be welcomed by women in China. Also like in Japan, midlife women in China had a lower prevalence of hot flashes than that found in the US and Canada. Also similar to Japan, Chinese women rarely associate hot flashes with embarrassment. However, unlike in the Japanese sample, the Chinese women reported a higher rate of irritability than even the American and Canadian samples. Contrasting with könenki, which is primarly associated with bodily aches and self-restraint in Japan, gengnianqi is commonly viewed as a time of vulnerability to irritable outbursts which must be allowed, though managed carefully. Overall, I show how menopause and midlife aging as concepts and as lived experiences are subject to variation related to differences in language, cultural ideas and practices, local biologies, and culturally-mediated generational experiences of historical change.
Research Interests: Social Change, Asian Studies, Anthropology, Psychological Anthropology, Medical Anthropology, and 13 moreWomen's Studies, Chinese Studies, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Global Health, Aging, Culture, Cross-Cultural Studies, China, Menopause, Mixed Methods Research, Social Gerontology, Middle Aged, and Local Biologies
Co-Authors: Jeanne Shea, Katrina Moore, and Hong Zhang. This chapter recaps the volume’s findings on contemporary trends at the intersection of aging and caregiving in East Asian societies, noting issues of change over time and... more
Co-Authors: Jeanne Shea, Katrina Moore, and Hong Zhang. This chapter recaps the volume’s findings on contemporary trends at the intersection of aging and caregiving in East Asian societies, noting issues of change over time and similarities versus differences across settings. Then it turns to issues of demographic projections and imagined futures of aging and care in relation to debates about population aging as crisis or opportunity. Finally, it suggests directions for future policy and research at the nexus of aging and caregiving in East Asian communities.
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Author: Jeanne Shea. This chapter examines longitudinal data on Chinese spousal dementia caregivers regarding the meanings of spousal caregiving. Meanings included: not wanting to burden children; no other viable options; “not a burden;”... more
Author: Jeanne Shea. This chapter examines longitudinal data on Chinese spousal dementia caregivers regarding the meanings of spousal caregiving. Meanings included: not wanting to burden children; no other viable options; “not a burden;” self-reliance or capability; spousal reciprocity; marital responsibility; feelings of affection; notions of fate; and issues of regret. The same caregiver often expressed many meanings, both positive and negative, with the happily married the most positive. Widowed caregivers talked of continued caregiving in dying and death, both by them for the deceased, and by the deceased for the family. Some found “liberation” for themselves or their partner in spousal death.
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Co-Authors: Youcai Tang and Jeanne Shea. This chapter reviews the issue of old-age support in rural China and examines case study data on the “Jiangxiang Model.” A reform-era innovation in a village in Jiangsu, this “model” involves... more
Co-Authors: Youcai Tang and Jeanne Shea. This chapter reviews the issue of old-age support in rural China and examines case study data on the “Jiangxiang Model.” A reform-era innovation in a village in Jiangsu, this “model” involves retaining and reviving collective agriculture and enterprise to generate public revenue to support local seniors. Driven by the local party secretary’s moral authority, this approach aims to generate warm affective and interpersonal relations across generations by removing the need for material support from children. The village has leveraged their resulting reputation as a model socialist filial village to generate added revenue through tourism; however, sustainability and scalability is uncertain.
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Co-Authors: Jeanne Shea, Katrina Moore, and Hong Zhang. This chapter provides an overview of the unprecedented population aging and related sociocultural transformation sweeping the East Asian societies of China, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong,... more
Co-Authors: Jeanne Shea, Katrina Moore, and Hong Zhang. This chapter provides an overview of the unprecedented population aging and related sociocultural transformation sweeping the East Asian societies of China, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore. In dialogue with Ikels’ classic Filial Piety volume, it explores intersections of aging and caregiving in these societies across themes of traditional ideals versus contemporary realities, the role of the state, patterns of familial and non-familial care, social stratification, and intersections of caregiving and death. Examining caregiving both for and by elders, it reveals both common patterns and diverging trends in emerging cultural meanings of and social responses to population aging beyond conventional filial piety.
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Author: Jeanne Shea. Based on the authors’ ethnographic and archival research in Shanghai over the years from 2012 to the present this analysis examines a program there involving senior volunteering in support of aging in place in China.... more
Author: Jeanne Shea. Based on the authors’ ethnographic and archival research in Shanghai over the years from 2012 to the present this analysis examines a program there involving senior volunteering in support of aging in place in China. Called the Senior Companions Program, it has interesting similarities and differences in comparison with a program by the same name in the U.S.
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Ageing International, 2019. This article examines dominant Chinese national policies on aging to assess the extent to which they attend to caregiving for the elderly by seniors. While seniors’ contributions to eldercare do receive... more
Ageing International, 2019. This article examines dominant Chinese national policies on aging to assess the extent to which they attend to caregiving for the elderly by seniors. While seniors’ contributions to eldercare do receive scattered mention in such policies,
the focus is on elders’ need for and traditional right to support and care, together with the obligation of younger adult sons and daughters to resist social decline in filial values. Where mentioned, it is the sporadic extraordinary offerings of skilled professionals that are highlighted, rather than the informal everyday
efforts of ordinary senior men and women. International sources focused on productive aging recommend that aging societies forge a better policy balance between meeting seniors’ needs and tapping their continuing potential. This balance may be especially important for China, as a developing nation that has “gotten old before getting rich.”
the focus is on elders’ need for and traditional right to support and care, together with the obligation of younger adult sons and daughters to resist social decline in filial values. Where mentioned, it is the sporadic extraordinary offerings of skilled professionals that are highlighted, rather than the informal everyday
efforts of ordinary senior men and women. International sources focused on productive aging recommend that aging societies forge a better policy balance between meeting seniors’ needs and tapping their continuing potential. This balance may be especially important for China, as a developing nation that has “gotten old before getting rich.”
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Jeanne Shea, Senior Honors Thesis, Dartmouth College.
Author Jeanne Shea (邵镜虹). Translated by Francis Yu Lu.
Thesis (Ph. D.)--Harvard University, 1998. Includes bibliographical references. Photocopy.
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Ageing International, • DOI: 10.1007/s12126-016-9270-6: Abstract: In this article, I examine recent ethnographic data on the subjective meanings of volunteering expressed by Chinese older adult volunteers working within community-based... more
Ageing International, • DOI: 10.1007/s12126-016-9270-6:
Abstract: In this article, I examine recent ethnographic data on the subjective meanings of volunteering expressed by Chinese older adult volunteers working within community-based nongovernmental organization (NGO) projects supporting aging in place for ailing elders and their family caregivers in Shanghai, China. In examining this data, I analyze what older adults’ community-based volunteering means to them in the context of broader questions about the potential for bringing together gerontological agendas for productive aging and community-based social support for the aged. I argue that these Chinese older adult volunteers bring special strengths to community volunteering in support of the aged, and that their choice to serve community members of advanced age also brings distinctive benefits to them as volunteers. This pairing of older volunteers with senior community recipients has demonstrated excellent potential, as well as some important challenges. Keywords: Productive aging, Social support, Senior volunteers, Aging in place, China.
Abstract: In this article, I examine recent ethnographic data on the subjective meanings of volunteering expressed by Chinese older adult volunteers working within community-based nongovernmental organization (NGO) projects supporting aging in place for ailing elders and their family caregivers in Shanghai, China. In examining this data, I analyze what older adults’ community-based volunteering means to them in the context of broader questions about the potential for bringing together gerontological agendas for productive aging and community-based social support for the aged. I argue that these Chinese older adult volunteers bring special strengths to community volunteering in support of the aged, and that their choice to serve community members of advanced age also brings distinctive benefits to them as volunteers. This pairing of older volunteers with senior community recipients has demonstrated excellent potential, as well as some important challenges. Keywords: Productive aging, Social support, Senior volunteers, Aging in place, China.
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Co-Authors: Jeanne Shea and Yan Zhang. Published in Ageing International: DOI: 10.1007/s12126-016-9262-6. While existing media and policy discourse on aging and caregiving in China is dominated by attention to the burden of elder... more
Co-Authors: Jeanne Shea and Yan Zhang. Published in Ageing International: DOI: 10.1007/s12126-016-9262-6. While existing media and policy discourse on aging and caregiving in China is dominated by attention to the burden of elder dependency, this article provides an ethnographic glimpse of the under-recognized role of older adults in providing informal care to the elderly in Chinese society today. The analysis is based on a quantitative survey and ethnographic fieldwork involving participant observation and interviews conducted in a residential area of Shanghai Municipality, the Chinese city with the highest degree of population aging in the nation. Conducted between 2010 and 2014, our research examined whether and how older adults in Shanghai can be considered as not just persons in need of care but also as active contributors of eldercare. While we observed senior aid to the aged occurring both within and outside family households in Shanghai, in this article we focus on elder caregiving within the context of the family, with particular attention to caregiving provided by elders’ spouses. Overall, we found that patterns of eldercare in Shanghai today are much more complex than public discourses dominated by the elder dependency concept might lead one to believe. Our study found that many older adult women and men in Shanghai are making significant contributions to eldercare in the form of both spousal mutual aid and spousal primary caregiving. We further found several ways in which the identification of a primary caregiver can be quite complicated in a methodological sense, whether in quantitative or qualitative research. We conclude that more careful scholarly and policy attention to older adults’ contributions is needed to better understand and address the challenges and potentials of China’s aging society. Keywords: China, Eldercare, Productive ageing, Ethnography.
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Author: Jeanne Shea (邵镜虹). Translated by Francis Yu Lu
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Author Jeanne Shea (邵镜虹)
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Research Interests: Social Change, Emotion, Asian Studies, Geriatrics, Gender Studies, and 25 moreAnthropology, Psychological Anthropology, Medical Anthropology, Social Anthropology, Women's Studies, Feminist Theory, Women's History, Chinese Studies, Gerontology, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Anthropology of the Body, Marriage & Family Therapy, Embodiment, Qualitative Health Research, China, Qualitative Research, Phenomenology of the body, Adult Development And Aging, Menopause, Cultural Anthropology, Midlife (Jungian psychology), Ageing and Health, Aging & the life course, Sociology of Ageing, and Social Gerontology
This article examines Chinese discourses on dressing the aging female body as a window into the tensions involved in the historical transformation of habitus in early post-Mao China. Drawing on Chinese media articles and ethnographic... more
This article examines Chinese discourses on dressing the aging female body as a window into the tensions involved in the historical transformation of habitus in early post-Mao China. Drawing on Chinese media articles and ethnographic interviews conducted with Chinese women in their 40s-60s, the analysis compares depictions of new official ideals for older women’s dress that appeared in Chinese government-sponsored feminist mass media with ordinary older Chinese women’s personal sensibilities about dress. Assessing the applicability of dominant western feminist theories of gender, dress, and age, this article provides a historicized culture-specific application of practice theory, examining older women’s struggles with competing moral logics associated with past and present, and with official media versus personal experience. Overall, it documents experiences of ambivalence and compromise accompanying lifecycle adjustment in embodiment in the context of rapid social change.
Research Interests: Social Change, Asian Studies, Gender Studies, Anthropology, Medical Anthropology, and 28 moreVisual Anthropology, Social Anthropology, Women's Studies, Feminist Theory, Women's History, Ethnography, Chinese Studies, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Anthropology of the Body, Aging, East Asian Studies, Chinese Language and Culture, China, Qualitative Research, Post-Socialist Societies, Sociology of the Body, Phenomenology of the body, China studies, Cultural Anthropology, Women and Culture, Clothing Culture, Women and Gender Studies, Social Gerontology, Global Fashion, History of clothing and fashion, Active Ageing, Post-Communist Studies, and Anthropology of Socialism and Postsocialism
Author: Jeanne Shea
Research Interests: Asian Studies, American Studies, Anthropology, Psychological Anthropology, Medical Anthropology, and 51 moreEducation, Social Anthropology, Teaching English as a Second Language, Feminist Theory, Social Research Methods and Methodology, Ethnography, Chinese Studies, Qualitative methodology, Children and Families, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Anthropology of Food, Parenting, Child Development, Case Study Research, International Education, Cross-Cultural Psychology, Family, Cross-Cultural Collaborations, Cross-Cultural Studies, East Asian Studies, Travel & Tourism, Food and Nutrition, Feminism, China, Qualitative Research, Relativism, Teaching English As A Foreign Language, Cross-Cultural Management, Parent Child Relationships, International education (Education), Cultural Anthropology, Cross-cultural studies (Culture), Socio-cultural, Cross-Cultural Communicaiton, Cross-Cultural Communication, International Higher Education, Study Abroad, Internationalization of higher education, Cultural Relativism, Study Abroad Programs, Ethical relativism, Foreign Exchange, Cross-cultural Study, Adjustment of students, abroad study, Cultural and Social Anthropology, Cross Cultural Research, Impact of Study abroad on host population, Protocol and etiquette, Adult Education of Immigrants, Effects of Parenting Styles in Childhood, Cross cultural Training In Study Abroad Programs, and Childrearing
Drawing upon interviews and participant observation conducted with hundreds of middle-aged and elderly Chinese women in rural and urban neighborhoods in Beijing Municipality between 1993 and 2012, this paper explores the emergence of... more
Drawing upon interviews and participant observation conducted with hundreds of middle-aged and elderly Chinese women in rural and urban neighborhoods in Beijing Municipality between 1993 and 2012, this paper explores the emergence of revolutionary
new narratives of self-compassion among older women in reform-era Beijing. Taught before 1949 that they should first and foremost serve their families and after 1949 that they should put their own individual needs aside and serve the party and the masses, many older Chinese women in Beijing – after the seeds of market reform were sown in the late 1970s – slowly began to focus more attention than before on themselves, their past and present experiences, sources of and solutions to past and present distress, and their own personal enjoyment of everyday life. The analysis shows how western theories of both gero-transcendence and individualization as modernization are insufficient to account for the complex cultural formations of self-care that have developed among older women in the first decades of post-Mao China.
new narratives of self-compassion among older women in reform-era Beijing. Taught before 1949 that they should first and foremost serve their families and after 1949 that they should put their own individual needs aside and serve the party and the masses, many older Chinese women in Beijing – after the seeds of market reform were sown in the late 1970s – slowly began to focus more attention than before on themselves, their past and present experiences, sources of and solutions to past and present distress, and their own personal enjoyment of everyday life. The analysis shows how western theories of both gero-transcendence and individualization as modernization are insufficient to account for the complex cultural formations of self-care that have developed among older women in the first decades of post-Mao China.
Research Interests: Social Change, Asian Studies, Gender Studies, Anthropology, Psychological Anthropology, and 29 moreMedical Anthropology, Social Anthropology, Women's Studies, Women's History, Chinese Studies, Gerontology, Narrative, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Anthropology of the Body, Embodiment, Aging, Modernization, East Asian Studies, Interpretive research methodology, Compassion, China, Post-Socialist Societies, Sociology of the Body, Phenomenology of the body, Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis, China studies, Cultural Anthropology, Contemporary China, Traditional Healing Practices (anthropology), Individualization, Health and Social Care, Self-healing materials, Social Suffering, and Social Reform
Research Interests: Emotion, Anthropology, Biological Anthropology, Psychological Anthropology, Medical Anthropology, and 27 moreSocial Anthropology, Women's Studies, Anger, Chinese Studies, Gerontology, Linguistic Anthropology, Narrative, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Anthropology of the Body, Postsocialism, Aging, Gender, Body, Chinese Language and Culture, Meaning, China, Menopause, Gerontology (Social Sciences), Gerontology (in Sociology ), Cultural Anthropology, Women and Culture, Women and Gender Studies, Social Gerontology, Anthropology of Socialism and Postsocialism, Midlife Transitions, Cultural Gerontology, and Ageing
Based upon field research conducted in China in the 1990s and 2000s, this article examines older Chinese women’s views and practices surrounding sexual interaction in later life. In contrast to local clinical depictions of middle-aged and... more
Based upon field research conducted in China in the 1990s and 2000s, this article examines older Chinese women’s views and practices surrounding sexual interaction in later life. In contrast to local clinical depictions of middle-aged and elderly Chinese women as repressed by feudal superstitions concerning sex in later life, this research shows that more middle-aged and elderly Chinese women are sexually active than such clinical sources assume. Furthermore, there is no neat correspondence between sexual attitudes and sexual activity, and Chinese women’s attitudes concerning later life sex are often much more liberal than their behavior. Absence of sexual activity among older Chinese women is more closely related to problems in the marital relationship in general and/or to health problems than it is to attitudes about age and sex. At the same time, many Chinese women challenge the claims of western sexology that presume the marital relationship and sexual interaction to be a top necessity for a good quality of life in the later years. These findings have important implications for public health education, clinical training, and health and social service delivery in China.
Research Interests: Social Change, Anthropology, Medical Anthropology, Social Anthropology, Sex and Gender, and 22 moreWomen's Studies, Family studies, Chinese Studies, Gerontology, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Personal Relationships, Gender and Sexuality, Marriage & Family Therapy, History of Sexuality, Family, Aging, China, Marriage and Divorce, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Adult Development And Aging, China studies, Cultural Anthropology, Ageing and Health, Contemporary China, Chinese history (History), Marriage and Family, and Family and marital relationship
Research Interests: History of Science and Technology, Anthropology, Medical Anthropology, Social Anthropology, Biomedicine, and 25 moreEffectiveness, Chinese Studies, History of Medicine, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Evidence Based Medicine, Evidence Based Practice, History of Science, Integrative Medicine, Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Chinese Medicine, Philosophy of Medicine, Evidence Based Nursing, Cross-Cultural Studies, Traditional, Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Cultural Anthropology, Social History of Medicine, Medicine, RCTs, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Randomized Controlled Trials, Complementary Medicine, Alternative Medicine, EBM, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), and Sociology of Biomedicine and Health
Drawing on ethnographic and survey research conducted by the author in a general population sample in mainland China, this article presents findings on Chinese women’s midlife symptom reporting in comparison with pivotal studies conducted... more
Drawing on ethnographic and survey research conducted by the author in a general population sample in mainland China, this article presents findings on Chinese women’s midlife symptom reporting in comparison with pivotal studies conducted by Lock, Kaufert, and McKinlay in Japan, Canada, and the U.S. Analysis of the China survey data (N = 156 women, age 45–55) reveals for sixteen core symptoms a reporting frequency that is much lower than depicted in classic biomedical models of menopause. At the same time, however, the China data indicates problems with the popular extrapolation that midlife Asian women are virtually symptom-free compared to their North American peers. Finding the Chinese level of symptom-reporting low to moderate depending on the symptom, the article reveals important differences between Chinese and Japanese women in their level and pattern of symptom reporting, as well as substantial overlap with North American women in this regard. Referencing ethnographic materials on Chinese women and the cross-cultural literature on menopause, the article assesses potential explanations for the cross-cultural variation observed, including: local reproductive endocrinology, phytoestrogen consumption, aspects of East Asian culture, the nature of social change, the cultural acceptability of monitoring and voicing symptoms, and differences in dominant conceptions of midlife.
Research Interests: Medical Sociology, Asian Studies, Anthropology, Biological Anthropology, Medical Anthropology, and 21 moreSocial Anthropology, Women's Studies, Gerontology, Mixed Methods, Qualitative methodology, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Cross-Cultural Psychology, Aging, Cross-Cultural Studies, East Asian Studies, China, Survey Research, Adult Development And Aging, Menopause, China studies, Cultural Anthropology, Ageing and Health, Contemporary China, Diagnosis, Symptoms, and Cross Cultural Comparisons
Research Interests: Asian Studies, Gender Studies, Anthropology, Biological Anthropology, Medical Anthropology, and 18 moreSocial Anthropology, Sex and Gender, Women's Studies, Sexual and Reproductive Health, Gerontology, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Women's Health, Sexuality, Gender and Sexuality, History of Sexuality, Aging, Gender, East Asian Studies, China, Post-Socialist Societies, China studies, Cultural Anthropology, and Contemporary China
This report draws on data from the author's China Study of Midlife Women (CSMW) to test the popular notion that East Asian women have a low level of midlife symptom reporting compared with North American women. Symptom-reporting... more
This report draws on data from the author's China Study of Midlife Women (CSMW) to test the popular notion that East Asian women have a low level of midlife symptom reporting compared with North American women. Symptom-reporting frequencies from a general population sample of 156 Chinese women of age 45–55 in China are compared with rates from published studies on midlife women in Japan, Canada, and the U.S. While the Japanese women's rates of reporting 16 core symptoms are uniformly low, the Chinese women's frequencies range from low to moderate. Except on hot flashes and headaches, the Chinese women's symptom-reporting rates tend to be more similar to the North American than to the Japanese sample. This analysis demonstrates that women's midlife symptom reporting in China cannot be equated with findings on women in Japan. Sources should be more cautious in making generalizations about East Asian women in this regard. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 18:219–222, 2006. © 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
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Research Interests: Social Change, Gender Studies, Anthropology, Biological Anthropology, Medical Anthropology, and 21 moreSocial Anthropology, Gerontology, Linguistic Anthropology, Narrative, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Anthropology of the Body, Aging, Modernization, Interpretive research methodology, Compassion, China, Post-Socialist Societies, Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis, Cultural Anthropology, Traditional Healing Practices (anthropology), Individualization, Health and Social Care, Self-healing materials, Social Suffering, Social Reform, and Anthropology of Religion
Research Interests: Gender Studies, Anthropology, Biological Anthropology, Medical Anthropology, Social Anthropology, and 22 moreWomen's Studies, Gerontology, Linguistic Anthropology, Mixed Methods, Qualitative methodology, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Anthropology of the Body, Global Health, Cross-Cultural Psychology, Aging, Gender, Cross-Cultural Studies, China, Qualitative Research, Survey Research, Public Health, Menopause, Attitudes (Social Psychology), Cultural Anthropology, Cross-cultural studies (Culture), Mixed Methods Research, and Diagnosis
Research Interests: Anthropology, Biological Anthropology, Medical Anthropology, Social Anthropology, Globalization, and 20 moreChinese Studies, History of Medicine, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Evidence Based Medicine, History of Science, Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Chinese Medicine, Clinical Trials, Evidence Based Nursing, Qualitative Health Research, China, China Going Global, Traditional, Complementary and Alternative Medicine, China studies, Cultural Anthropology, Contemporary China, Chinese history (History), Traditional Chinese Medicine, Clinical research, and Alternative Medicine
Research Interests: Asian Studies, Gender Studies, Anthropology, Biological Anthropology, Medical Anthropology, and 24 moreSocial Anthropology, Women's Studies, Chinese Studies, Mixed Methods, Qualitative methodology, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Women's Health, Global Health, Cross-Cultural Psychology, Gender, Cross-Cultural Studies, East Asian Studies, China, Qualitative Research, Survey Research, Adult Development And Aging, Public Health, Menopause, Cultural Anthropology, Ageing and Health, Cross-cultural studies (Culture), Mixed Methods Research, Diagnosis, and Symptoms
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Research Interests: Social Theory, Anthropology, Philosophy, Social Anthropology, Linguistic Anthropology, and 11 moreSocial and Cultural Anthropology, Cultural Theory, Causal reasoning, Causation, Nature Culture, Cultural Anthropology, Causality, Causal Inference, Dualism, Marshall Sahlins, and Knowledge Representation and Reasoning
Research Interests: History, Ethnic Studies, Asian Studies, Canadian Studies, Japanese Studies, and 27 moreChinese Studies, Canadian History, Diasporas, Asian American Studies, Immigration, Immigration Studies, Global Citizenship, Race and Ethnicity, East Asian Studies, Ethnic and Racial Studies, Ethnic minorities, Immigration History, Diaspora Studies, Ethnicity, Racial and ethnic discrimination, Diaspora and transnationalism, Canadian Culture & Identity, Immigration and identity (Anthropology), Ethnicity & Ethnic Conflicts, Citizenship, International Migration and Immigration Policy, Immigrants, Asian-Canadian Studies, Ethnicity and National Identity, Ethnic politics, Immigration Status & Nationality, and Ethnicity and Identity Politics
Research Interests: Anthropology, Ethics, Applied Ethics, Social Anthropology, Social Research Methods and Methodology, and 10 moreResearch Methodology, Research Ethics, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Cross-Cultural Studies, Research, Cultural Anthropology, Cross-cultural studies (Culture), IRB Regulations, Human Research Subjects, and Research Ethics, Ethics Review, Human Subjects
Research Interests:
Research Interests: History, Social Change, Asian Studies, Anthropology, Social Anthropology, and 21 moreChinese Studies, Gerontology, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Aging, Cross-Cultural Studies, Taiwan Studies, China, Modern Chinese History, History of Taiwan, Gerontology (Social Sciences), China studies, Anthropology of Taiwan, Cultural Anthropology, Contemporary China, Chinese history (History), Generational Differences, Generations, Social Gerontology, Taiwan, Generational Change, and Modern Taiwan History
Known for Confucian filial piety, the East Asian societies of China, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore have some of the oldest and most rapidly aging populations on earth. They are experiencing unprecedented social challenges... more
Known for Confucian filial piety, the East Asian societies of China, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore have some of the oldest and most rapidly aging populations on earth. They are experiencing unprecedented social challenges to the tradition of children caring for aging parents at home. This volume explores complexities of aging and caregiving in contemporary East Asia. Questioning romantic visions, chapters examine emerging cultural meanings of and social responses to population aging, including caregiving both for and by the elderly. Themes include traditional ideals versus contemporary realities, role of the state, patterns of familial and non-familial care, social stratification, and death and dying.