1. Economic problems brought about by the epidemic: In Chinatown, our survey found that the turnover of most of the merchants still could not return to the level before the epidemic. There is still an imbalance between income and expenditure.
2. Violence: There have been a number of robberies in Chinatown. There are a lot of criminals who enter Chinatown stores with weapons and demand money. This has had a very negative impact on the stability and security of Chinatown. It also has to be recognized that gun violence is a problem that needs to be taken seriously throughout Chicago.
3. Refugee resettlement in the Chinese community: Last winter there was a large influx of refugees into the Chinese community. This influx of refugees has not only placed a large economic burden on the Chicago government, but also on the safety and resources of the community. They have also had a significant impact on the safety and resources of the community.
4. Network Benefits: Recently, the government canceled the network benefits for the ACP program that I was responsible for. The government canceled the ACP’s internet benefit, which was $30 per month. This has had a great impact on many elderly people. It is important to know that the internet is very important for the elderly, but the 30 dollars will also cause a great financial burden to the elderly.
5. Popularization of the right to vote: There are many people in Chinatown who do not know that they have the right to vote. Those who do know about their rights remain unconvinced of the power of the vote. This situation reflects the people’s distrust of the government. It is also a reflection of the government’s lack of awareness and popularization of the right to vote.
On loss of access to internet and hence loss of social connections
Bakshi, T., & Bhattacharyya, A. (2021). Socially Distanced or Socially Connected?
Well-being through ICT Usage among the Indian Elderly during COVID-19.
Millennial Asia, 097639962198991. doi:10.1177/0976399621989910
The researchers investigate how elderly people in India cope with the restrictions posed by the COVID pandemic. They find that the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) allowed the elderly people to cope with the isolation caused by the pandemic.
When social distancing is involuntary, elderly people find ways to adapt to the new
norm and challenge themselves with learning technology.
Factors such as valuing of privacy, fear of being financially defrauded, and
unfamiliarity with the technology deter some elderly people from using ICT.
Baldassare, M., Rosenfield, S., & Rook, K. (1984). The types of social relations
predicting elderly well-being. Research on aging, 6(4), 549–559.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0164027584006004006
The researchers use a sample of NorCal elderly people to investigate the effects of social relations on self-reported happiness. They find that even when controlling for demographic
differences, perceived companionship is the best predictor of happiness among all the social relations variables.
Perceived companionship is a better predictor of happiness in elderly people than
instrumental support and emotional support.
The internet is one of the best places to find perceived companionship, defined as
how much companionship people believe they have. Instrumental and emotional support are more likely to be found offline, yet they are not significant predictors of happiness in
elderly people.
Lee, G. R., & Ishii-Kuntz, M. (1987). Social interaction, loneliness, and emotional
well-being among the elderly. Research on aging, 9(4), 459–482.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0164027587094001
The researchers use a sample of Washington state residents over age 55 to investigate the
differential effect of friendship and kinship on subjective feelings of loneliness.
–
Loneliness has a large negative effect on morale.
Loneliness is reduced and morale improved by interaction with friends and, to a
lesser extent, neighbors. Interaction with family has virtually no effect on loneliness and morale.
Bianchi, C. (2021). Exploring how internet services can enhance elderly well-being.
Journal of Services Marketing, 35(5), 585-603.
The author uses a qualitative design to investigate the challenges and benefits of adopting internet use among the elderly.
Learning to use the internet positively affected the elderly people sampled in the
following five areas: enjoyment, personal growth, mastery, autonomy, and social
connectedness.
Teaching their elders to use the internet has also enhanced the subjects’ children’s
wellbeing.
Mellor, D., Firth, L., & Moore, K. (2008). Can the internet improve the well-being of
the elderly?. Ageing international, 32, 25-42.
The researchers sampled 20 residents at a senior living facility as they learned to navigate the internet. The results showed that there’s a discrepancy between qualitative and quantitative findings.
Specifically, the participants reported, through interviews, positive notions of the
internet. However, their survey results longitudinally showed a decline in all the areas in question, including subjective wellbeing, self-esteem, positive affect, and need for social re-assurance. Only optimism and social connectedness saw a slight increase.
The relationship between internet use and subjective experience may be more
nuanced and complex than originally thought.
On financial stress caused by having to pay out-of-pocket for internet
Krause, N., & Liang, J. (1993). Stress, social support, and psychological distress
among the Chinese elderly. Journal of Gerontology, 48(6), P282-P291.
The researchers investigated elderly people from China in an attempt to determine how
financial stress mobilize them to seek assistance from others.
Financial strain may increase economic support at the cost of erosion of emotional
support.
It is perhaps surprising that the same finding holds for the elderly population in both
the US and China. However it’s worth noting that this consistency may be due to
completely different underlying reasons.
Kee-Lee Chou & Iris Chi (2001) Financial strain and depressive symptoms in Hong
Kong elderly Chinese: The moderating or mediating effect of sense of control,
Aging & Mental Health, 5:1, 23-30, DOI: 10.1080/13607860020020609
The authors looked at a large sample of Hong Kongese elderly adults to see if financial strain and depressive symptoms are mediated by a sense of control over their lives.
A generalized sense of control both mediated and moderated the link between
financial strain and depression, but this is not specific to a sense of control over finances.
This may indicate that an insecurity of finances generalizes to a loss of control in all
areas of life for elderly people.
Mendes de Leon, C. F., Rapp, S. S., & Kasl, S. V. (1994). Financial strain and
symptoms of depression in a community sample of elderly men and women:
A longitudinal study. Journal of Aging and Health, 6(4), 448-468.
This paper looks at how financial strain contributes to symptoms of depression and makes the distinction between the different effects on men and on women.
Not surprisingly, financial strain is significantly correlated to worse symptoms of depression.
Men tend to suffer from the long-term effects of depression; moreover, emotional
support for men buffered the adverse effect of financial strain. Connecting to a previous
literature cited here, however, we know that financial strain also tends to erode emotional
support.
Chi, I., & Chou, K. L. (2000). Financial strain and depressive symptoms among Hong
Kong Chinese elderly: A longitudinal study. Journal of Gerontological Social
Work, 32(4), 41-60.
This study is similar to the last one by Mendes in that they both investigate the same relationship between financial strain and depressive symptoms and came to the same conclusion. However, this particular study did not find differences between men and women.
Moreover, the data in this study do not show a buffering effect of emotional support on
depressive symptoms.
Interestingly, Hong Kong does not have (at the time of this study) a comprehensive
retirement scheme for elderly people. This may be comparable to certain elderlies here
in the US who are without significant work history or are undocumented.
Financial strain induces depressive symptoms regardless of education, marital
status, and indicators of health status and social support, a finding that previous
literature corroborated.
K.-L. Chou, I. Chi & N. W. S. Chow (2004) Sources of income and depression in
elderly Hong Kong Chinese: mediating and moderating effects of social
support and financial strain, Aging & Mental Health, 8:3, 212-221, DOI:
10.1080/13607860410001669741
The authors investigate how different sources of income for elderly adults in Hong Kong contribute to differential outcomes in depressive symptoms.
Welfare participation and financial independence contributed to a higher level of
depressive symptoms whereas people whose source of income was their adult children were more likely to report a lower level of depression than the others who were not.
Interestingly, those who are financially independent are more prone to depression,
which points to the important protective factor of social support, tying back to the theme of connections afforded by access to internet.
Ecosystem theory: Developed by Yuri Bronfenbrenner, this theory emphasizes the
importance of multiple interrelated systems (e.g., family, community, society) in
shaping human development. In fact, the community environment is a large
ecosystem. And the relationship between national welfare policies and people’s
satisfaction that I have studied is also related to this theory. Inside the huge
ecosystem of the community, welfare policy is an important factor that affects the
well-being of individuals. Just like the acp program cancellation led to two different
outcomes. For seniors who have a need for a useful net, they will have more
financial pressure and expenses every month. If they can’t afford this financial
pressure then it will cause a lot of inconvenience in the life of the elderly. So the
ecosystem theory supports my research question very well.
Create a qualitative interview guide created by you to help you address your research question.
General questions / Opening questions
Demographics
– What is your name?
– What is your age?
– What is your ethnicity?
– Do you identify as male, female, or other?
– What language(s) do you speak?
– Where were you born and raised?
– What is your main source of income?
Family makeup
– What is your marital status?
– How many children do you have?
– How many grandchildren?
– Are your parents alive?
Social makeup
– Please list 5 of your closest contacts, their relationships to you, and approximately how
often you have contact with each other per week, excluding your immediate family (i.e.,
excluding your parents, spouse, children, and grandchildren).
Exposure to the internet
– At what age did you first begin to use the internet?
– How often do you use the internet?
– On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being not at all and 10 being extremely, what would you
rate your concern if your internet becomes unavailable?
– Please elaborate your answer.
– Please rank the following uses of internet from your most frequent to least frequent:
– Communication (e.g., online messaging, FaceTime or video-calling, email, social
media)
– Information (e.g., Google, Wikipedia)
– Shopping (e.g., Amazon, websites of major retailers such as Target, Walmart)
– Entertainment (e.g., video games, Netflix, YouTube)
– Education (e.g., Coursera)
– Other uses not listed above
– Would you say the access to the internet significantly enhances, somewhat enhances,
does not enhance or diminish, somewhat diminishes, or significantly diminishes your
quality of life? Your happiness? Your sense of community?
– Please elaborate on each answer.
On loss of access to internet and hence loss of access to its services:
– Communication
– Thinking about your immediate family (i.e., your parents, spouse, children, and
grandchildren) as well as the 5 contacts listed above, what method of
communication with them (e.g., in-person, phone calls, through the internet) do
you rely on the most?
– About what percentage of your contact with these people is through the internet?
– What is your alternative method of communication without the internet?
– What would happen to your social network if your internet became unavailable?
– Information
– Currently, what is your main source of information (e.g., newspaper, TV,
conversation with others, the internet)?
– About what percentage of your information comes from the internet (e.g., news
websites, videos, Google)
– What is your alternative method of obtaining information without the internet?
– What would happen to your information source if your internet became unavailable?
– Questions regarding shopping, entertainment, education, and other uses would follow the same template of questions.
On financial stress caused by having to pay out-of-pocket for internet
– Currently, what is your willingness to pay, in dollars, for the internet per month?
– What other costs in your life would you have to cut down if you had to pay out-of-pocket
for the internet?
– How financially healthy would you say you are?
– Please elaborate on your answer.
– If the internet was provided to you free of charge, how would that enhance or diminish
your quality of life? Your happiness? Your sense of community?
– If you had to pay for the internet, how would that enhance or diminish these
factors?
– How is your financial health related to your physical health?
– To your mental health?
– To what extent do you think the government should be responsible for the cost of the
internet for someone like you?
– What does a good policy for access to the internet look like to you?