Vulnerable Age Phenomenon, The

Vulnerable Age Phenomenon, The

Michael Inbar
Series: Social Science Frontiers
Copyright Date: 1976
Published by: Russell Sage Foundation
Pages: 64
https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7758/9781610446501
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  • Book Info
    Vulnerable Age Phenomenon, The
    Book Description:

    A volume in the Social Science Frontiers series, which are occasional publications reviewing new fields for social science development.

    These occasional publications seek to summarize recent work being done in particular areas of social research, to review new developments in the field, and to indicate issues needing further investigation. The publications are intended to help orient those concerned with developing current research programs and broadening the use of social science in the policy-making process.

    A Volume in the Russell Sage Foundation's Social Science Frontiers Series

    eISBN: 978-1-61044-650-1
    Subjects: Health Sciences, Law, Sociology

Table of Contents

  1. Front Matter
    (pp. [i]-[ii])
  2. Table of Contents
    (pp. [iii]-[iv])
  3. Preface
    (pp. 1-4)
  4. Introduction: The Finding
    (pp. 5-10)

    The Vulnerable Age phenomenon was first documented in a study initiated in Israel by Chaim Adler and myself (Inbar and Adler, 1976a; 1976b). It revolves around the finding that children in about the 6 to 11-year-old age bracket may be more vulnerable to crises in their environment than either younger or older youths. In the following chapters I shall show the extent to which the finding is generalizable to Canada and to the United States and discuss some of the theoretical questions and research problems that the Vulnerable Age effect raises. As a background to this discussion, it is useful...

  5. Additional Evidence
    (pp. 11-22)

    The first piece of additional evidence bearing on the Vulnerable Age phenomenon stems from a replication carried out with the Canadian Census of 1971.²

    By implication, the preceding discussion has indicated that attempting to replicate the Vulnerable Age phenomenon requires that a very specific set of data be available. In particular, with “crises” defined as immigration or migration, the following two conditions must be met.

    1.Sample characteristics. The sample must be of immigrants or migrants, and the respondents must be old enough to have had a chance to attend college; allowing for a margin of security, this means that the...

  6. The TALENT Data
    (pp. 23-42)

    The data bank known as TALENT was started in 1960. It is a nationally respresentative sample of United States high school students in that year. To date there have been three follow-up studies of the original sample. The last was the eleven-year follow-up which at the time of this writing has been carried out for three grades: the 10th, 11th, and 12th.

    The master sample includes over 400,000 cases. It is kept and managed in Palo Alto by the American Institutes for Research. The staff in charge of the data bank has developed weighting procedures to overcome the problem of...

  7. Theoretical Interpretations
    (pp. 43-50)

    It is probably fair to say that one conclusion which emerges from the evidence that we have reviewed is that a Vulnerable Age effect in mid-childhood is clearly and recurrently observable for boys; for girls too, the effect is noticeable, although not invariably so. A school selection effect is distinguishable as well; however, its impact on migrants is somewhat less predictable for boys, and even less so for girls, than is the Vulnerable Age phenomenon proper.

    These, then, are the trends which require a theoretical explanation. In this chapter I shall attempt to provide a few plausible interpretations of this...

  8. Needed Research
    (pp. 51-54)

    As I have repeatedly stated, the purpose of this volume is to invite replications of the findings that I have reported. Should I have made my case, I would like to mention a few topics and issues which, to my mind, deserve particular attention in future research.

    To put these research problems into perspective, it is useful to distinguish among the tasks of validation, explication, and intervention. (The reader looking for a more detailed discussion of developmental research paradigms than the one which follows, is invited to consult Baltes and Goulet, 1971, and Baltes and Schaie, 1973.)

    The first task...

  9. References
    (pp. 55-56)