How can we be happier, healthier and more satisfied in life? This edited collection examines various dimensions of wellbeing among older people, including its measurement; social, environmental and economic determinants; and how research can be translated into policy to improve quality of life for older people. With an increasingly ageing population across countries and an increasing population of older adults, there is growing interest in improving older people's ability to live healthily and happily. With a focus on retirement and aged care, this book is important reading for those interested in Welfare Economics, Health Economics and Development.

This volume advocates an optimistic new conceptual and practical approach to adulthood, aging, and education for individuals with intellectual disability (ID) across the lifespan. The compensation age theory (CAT) at the heart of this book suggests that the adulthood period in populations with ID may be characterized by processes of cognitive development, growth, and neural sprouting, rather than stagnation or even decline. Empirical findings indicate the contribution of chronological age, maturity, and accumulating life experiences to adults' continued cognitive growth and intelligence, as a result of direct mediation, cognitive intervention, and academic learning as well as exposure to indirect learning. Grounded in cumulative evidence for the CAT, the book presents comprehensive analysis of a practical holistic educational intervention model for enhancing adults' Cognition (literacy), Affect (including autonomy), and Behavior (adaptive behavior skills), including operative strategies, mediational parameters, and guidance for change agents in diverse settings. This triple CAB model offers detailed tools for promoting the cognitive improvement and invigoration of adults with ID in during ADL, vocational and leisure activities, at all severity levels ranging from mild and moderate to severe and profound, across different ID etiologies including Down syndrome, and even at advanced ages for adults with ID exhibiting comorbid Alzheimer's.

"Aging and Everyday Life" presents a balanced and penetrating view of the aging experience. The research in this book reveals that many, if not most, of the triumphs and trials experienced in later years are not unlike those confronted at other points in life. Just like younger people, the elderly experience both change and stability, shedding old roles and entering new ones. The process takes place in varied spheres of life: the worlds of home and family, work, and friendship.

This thoughtful, engaging text brings together twenty-eight essays by leading researchers in social gerontology to explore the everyday aspects of aging. Readers will come away viewing the elderly as people whose lives are as complex and diverse, and therefore as nuanced, as any.

As you age, you may find yourself worrying about your memory. Where did I put those car keys? What time was my appointment? What was her name again? With more than 41 million Americans over the age of 65 in the United States, the question becomes how much (or, perhaps, what type) of memory loss is to be expected as one gets older and what should trigger a visit to the doctor. Seven Steps to Managing Your Memory addresses these key concerns and more, such as... * What are the signs that suggest your memory problems are more than just part of normal aging? * Is it normal to have concerns about your memory? * What are the markers of mild cognitive impairment, dementia, Alzheimer's, and other neurodegenerative diseases? * How should you convey your memory concerns to your doctor? * What can your doctor do to evaluate your memory? * Which healthcare professional(s) should you see? * What medicines, alternative therapies, diets, and exercises are available to improve your memory? * Can crossword puzzles, computer brain-training games, memory aids, and strategies help strengthen your memory? * What other resources are available when dealing with memory loss? Seven Steps to Managing Your Memory is written in an easy-to-read yet comprehensive style, featuring clinical vignettes and character-based stories that provide real-life examples of how to successfully manage age-related memory loss.

The demographic and social structure of most industrialized and developing countries are changing rapidly as infant mortality is reduced and population life span has increased in dramatic ways. In particular, the oldest-old (85+) population has grown and will continue to grow. This segment of the population tends to suffer physical and cognitive decline, and little information is available to describe how their positive and negative distal experiences, habits, and intervening proximal environmental influences impact their well-being, and how social and health policies can help meet the unique challenges they face. Understanding Well-Being in the Oldest Old is the outcome of a four-day workshop attended by U.S. and Israeli scientists and funded by the U.S.-Israel Bi-National Science Foundation to examine both novel and traditional paradigms that could extend our knowledge and understanding of the well-being of the oldest old. This volume engages social scientists in sharing methods of understanding, and thereby possibly improving, the quality of life of older populations, especially among the oldest old.

A comprehensive review of psychopathology in older adults–combining theory, research, and practice

The tremendous growth of the aging population has dramatically increased the importance of clinical geropsychology as a major area of research, theory, and practice. The unique ways in which psychological disorders manifest in the later years of life create special challenges for professionals working with older clients. Edited by a well-known expert in aging, and with contributions from leading clinical researchers, Psychopathology in Later Adulthood addresses the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment issues health professionals encounter in late adulthood.

Combining theory, research, and case examples, this book explores both the physical and cognitive changes that occur as adults age. Each chapter focuses on a specific disorder and includes a relevant clinical case study, which is integrated into the substantive content. Some of the subjects covered are:

• Personality, anxiety, mood, and sexual disorders
• Dementia
• Suicide
• Substance abuse disorders
• Schizophrenia and related disorders
• Sleep-related disorders
• General principles of therapy

Thorough and practical, Psychopathology in Later Adulthood provides the reader with the insight needed to understand and successfully treat the complex aspects of aging.

This book highlights international efforts to better understand the role of individual differences in healthy aging by exploring new directions, methods, and questions within the field. The book considers how to measure personality and personality change during adulthood, the associations between personality and healthy aging outcomes over time, and the role of personality in building interventions to promote healthy aging. The first section considers the value of personality constructs for healthy aging outcomes beyond the broad Big Five personality dimensions. It discusses the role of attachment, purpose, and affect, and also touches on the issue of psychopathology. The second section presents innovative assessment methods, research designs beyond classical longitudinal approaches, as well as sophisticated and integrative techniques for analyzing personality change processes. The third section raises new important questions, such as how interventionists from non-personality domains can incorporate personality processes in their intervention programs. It also discusses how different domains of individual functioning may interact in concert to predict healthy aging outcomes, as well as how more integrative lifespan models of healthy aging may advance research on personality and healthy aging. Overall, this book will spark interest and chart new directions for researchers, practitioners and interventionists in healthy aging, gerontology and applied fields.

Personality Development across the Lifespan examines the development of personality characteristics from childhood, adolescence, emerging adulthood, adulthood, and old age. It provides a comprehensive overview of theoretical perspectives, methods, and empirical findings of personality and developmental psychology, also detailing insights on how individuals differ from each other, how they change during life, and how these changes relate to biological and environmental factors, including major life events, social relationships, and health. The book begins with chapters on personality development in different life phases before moving on to theoretical perspectives, the development of specific personality characteristics, and personality development in relation to different contexts, like close others, health, and culture. Final sections cover methods in research on the topic and the future directions of research in personality development.

"Will 69 million baby boomers suddenly drop out of the workforce when they turn 65? It is difficult to imagine this generation, with its talent, education, and experience, idling away the last thirty years of life."--From the Foreword, by Robert N. Butler, M.D., The Mount Sinai Medical Center

Old age has been historically thought of as a period of frailty and dependence, yet studies show that with the help of advances in health and medicine, current populations will live longer and remain healthier than previous generations. As average life expectancies rise, traditional concepts of retirement need to be reconsidered on all levels--from government policy to business practice to individual life planning. In this volume, leaders in the field of gerontology explore these changing conditions through the concept of "productive aging," which has been developed by leaders in the field to promote older adults' contributions to society in social and economic capacities.

"Productive Aging: Concepts and Challenges" treats the implications of productive aging for the discipline of gerontology and for society in general. The first section defines the principles, historical perspectives, and conceptual frameworks for productive aging. The second section takes a disciplinary approach, treating the biomedical, psychological, sociological, and economic implications of a more capable older generation. The third section considers advances in theories of gerontology, and the fourth section suggests future directions in practice, theory, and research.

Contributors: W. Andrew Achenbaum, University of Houston - Scott A. Bass, University of Maryland-Baltimore - Vern L. Bengtson, University of Southern California - James E. Birren, UCLA - Francis G. Caro, University of Massachusetts Boston - Carroll L. Estes, University of California-San Francisco - Marc Freedman, Civic Ventures (co-founder of Experience Corps) - James Hinterlong, Washington University - James S. Jackson, University of Michigan - Jane L. Mahakian, Pacific Senior Services - Harry R. Moody, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation - Nancy Morrow-Howell, Washington University - Philip Rozario, Washington University - James H. Schulz, Brandeis University - Michael Sherraden, Washington University - Alvar Svanborg, University of Illinois-Chicago and Goteburg University, Sweden - Brent A. Taylor, San Diego State University

Designing User Interfaces for an Aging Population: Towards Universal Design presents age-friendly design guidelines that are well-established, agreed-upon, research-based, actionable, and applicable across a variety of modern technology platforms. The book offers guidance for product engineers, designers, or students who want to produce technological products and online services that can be easily and successfully used by older adults and other populations. It presents typical age-related characteristics, addressing vision and visual design, hand-eye coordination and ergonomics, hearing and sound, speech and comprehension, navigation, focus, cognition, attention, learning, memory, content and writing, attitude and affect, and general accessibility. The authors explore characteristics of aging via realistic personas which demonstrate the impact of design decisions on actual users over age 55.

This book focuses on descriptions of the developments in legal frameworks and policies regarding the human rights of older persons. First, it covers the policies adopted and practices developed at the universal system, particularly within the sphere of the United Nations. Second, it includes a side-by-side comparison of the work of regional human rights mechanisms, which have picked up some momentum in the past decade. Through its inclusion of law, policy, and current processes, the widest net possible has been cast to collect a descriptive resource for advocates. Overall, we hope that this book contributes to a better understanding of the current limitations and possibilities that international institutions offer to uphold the human rights of older persons. We expect that this information will allow states and other policy makers to move forward with the international recognition of the human rights of older persons. We know this is only a first effort in compiling and reporting the standards that are being produced by different international institutions. But we have no doubt that many others will follow with their expert analysis of these emerging standards, and that the ongoing discussion will finally crystalize in international human rights binding instruments explicitly recognizing the universal rights of older persons.

This book integrates the economics of aging and insight based on political economy and explores generational conflict in the context of governmental spending. This problem is general, as the Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted: lockdowns protect the elderly, but hurt the young. Policies to address global warming impose taxes on the elderly, but would bring benefits largely in the future. This book addresses intergenerational problems by placing its focus on budget allocation, taxation, and regulation. By using Japanese and US data, the authors conduct statistical analysis of whether regions with aging populations may adopt policies that generate benefits during a short period of time instead of policies that could benefit current young generations for an extended period of time. If the policy preferences of voters depend on their age, and if policy adoption by a government reflects public opinion, the change in demographic composition in a region may affect governmental policies. In an aged society, the elderly are pivotal voters. Budgets may be reallocated from policies favored by younger generations, such as education, to policies the elderly prefer, such as welfare programs. This generates an intergenerational externality problem: voters with short life expectancy do not take into consideration long-term benefits. Moreover, the current tax bases may be replaced by other tax bases that do not harm the elderly. The results reported in the book largely support these hypotheses. Evidence also shows that the gender and racial composition and institutional factors, including the extent of fiscal decentralization, are important in anticipating effects of population aging in other countries.

This book offers a unique multi-generational approach to saving Social Security. Public programs have adapted to societal aging, but fears overwhelm hopes for Social Security's future prospects. Conservatives want to privatize operations that liberals seek to expand. Younger workers are happy that Social Security protects their elders, but most do not expect benefits when needed. Achenbaum reframes conflicting perspectives and offers new models of respectful transgenerational dialogue that can mobilize pragmatic reforms. Designed for use in gerontology, social work, and public-policy courses, Safeguarding Social Security for Future Generations offers measured hope for leaving a legacy that safeguards the common good.

This book offers a unique multi-generational approach to saving Social Security. Public programs have adapted to societal aging, but fears overwhelm hopes for Social Security's future prospects. Conservatives want to privatize operations that liberals seek to expand. Younger workers are happy that Social Security protects their elders, but most do not expect benefits when needed. Achenbaum reframes conflicting perspectives and offers new models of respectful transgenerational dialogue that can mobilize pragmatic reforms. Designed for use in gerontology, social work, and public-policy courses, Safeguarding Social Security for Future Generations offers measured hope for leaving a legacy that safeguards the common good.

The United Nations Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing (MIPAA) offers a bold new agenda for handling the issue of ageing in the 21st-century. It focuses on three priority areas: older persons and development; advancing health and well-being into old age; and ensuring enabling and supportive environments. This book brings together global perspectives on the MIPAA and focusses on and assesses the success and failures of governments to implement its recommendations. Despite its pivotal importance in international ageing policy, the MIPAA has been relatively neglected by academics in their writings and studies. This book mitigates this analytical and empirical cavity. Each chapter focuses on one specific geographical region and addresses five key themes: National ageing situation; Twenty years of MIPAA; Ensuring ageing with dignity; Healthy and active ageing in a sustainable world; and Priorities for the future. It presents an overall summary of the findings, future challenges and opportunities related to ageing, recommendations for future actions to be taken, and policy adjustments needed. The authors also present lessons that were learnt from managing the impact of COVID-19 on older people, together with an outlook on the most immediate priorities for the future so that the recommendations in the MIPAA are achieved in post-COVID-19 and sustainable ethical scenarios. An important contribution towards the advancement of ageing policy, the book will be indispensable to students and researchers of gerontology, ageing, and health. It will also be of interest to policy makers, geriatricians, dementia care specialists, social policy makers responsible for ensuring active and healthy ageing, and all public sector departments which have specific responsibilities towards improving the quality of life of older adults.

The United Nations Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing (MIPAA) offers a bold new agenda for handling the issue of ageing in the 21st-century. It focuses on three priority areas: older persons and development; advancing health and well-being into old age; and ensuring enabling and supportive environments. This book brings together global perspectives on the MIPAA and focusses on and assesses the success and failures of governments to implement its recommendations. Despite its pivotal importance in international ageing policy, the MIPAA has been relatively neglected by academics in their writings and studies. This book mitigates this analytical and empirical cavity. Each chapter focuses on one specific geographical region and addresses five key themes: National ageing situation; Twenty years of MIPAA; Ensuring ageing with dignity; Healthy and active ageing in a sustainable world; and Priorities for the future. It presents an overall summary of the findings, future challenges and opportunities related to ageing, recommendations for future actions to be taken, and policy adjustments needed. The authors also present lessons that were learnt from managing the impact of COVID-19 on older people, together with an outlook on the most immediate priorities for the future so that the recommendations in the MIPAA are achieved in post-COVID-19 and sustainable ethical scenarios. An important contribution towards the advancement of ageing policy, the book will be indispensable to students and researchers of gerontology, ageing, and health. It will also be of interest to policy makers, geriatricians, dementia care specialists, social policy makers responsible for ensuring active and healthy ageing, and all public sector departments which have specific responsibilities towards improving the quality of life of older adults.

This stimulating, carefully-researched book on The Late Life Legacy of Very Early Life by Dr. Gabriele Doblhammer is the second volume of a new series of Demographic Research Monographs published by Springer Verlag. The topic of the book is fascinating. Is a person's lifespan influ enced by health and nutrition in-utero and shortly after birth? If so, why? The answers uncovered by the diligence, demographic and statistical ex pertise, and probing intelligence of the author are surprising but convinc ing. To pry open the mystery of the lingering impact of very early life, Dr. Doblharnmer focuses on month of birth. It turns out that people born in some months live substantially longer on average than people born in other months, not because of astrological forces but for reasons of health and nutrition. Dr. Doblhammer was educated in statistics and demography and earlier this year was the first person ever to receive the "Habilitation" de gree, the recognition given in the German-speaking world to proven scho lars who are qualified to become professors, in Demography. This book, which is evidence that she fully deserves this award, will not only provide important new fmdings about the legacy of early life but will also serve as a comprehensive foundation of knowledge on which future scholars can build. The series of Demographic Research Monographs is under the editorial supervision of the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research. Prof. James W. Vaupel, Founding Director of the Institute, is Editor-in-Chief."

Ageing is a part of life that all Singaporeans must face and, in fact, all families will have their next of kins undergoing that life stage. Singapore Ageing assembles a team of researchers, administrators, practitioners, advocates and academics from varied social service and care sectors, to share their thoughts, concerns and future challenges faced by an ageing Singapore in different arenas.With the Singapore demography showing a greying trend, it is increasingly vital for the government and the social, health and economic sectors to meet the needs of an ageing nation. The appropriate services and support have to be in place to respond to the issues faced by seniors. This edited volume serves as a useful resource for those who are working or researching in the field of ageing.

This book explores positive aging through the lens of precarity, aiming to ground positive aging theories in current social contexts. In recent years, research on aging has been branded by growing disagreements between supporters of the successful aging model and critical gerontologists who highlight the widening inequalities, disadvantages and precarity that characterize old age. This book comes to fill a gap in knowledge by offering an alternative view on positive aging, informed by precarity and its impact on projections concerning aging. The first part of the book places aging in broader theoretical and empirical context, exploring the complex links between views on aging, successful aging theories, policy and social reality. The second part uses results from a qualitative research conducted in Germany to illustrate the dissonance between successful aging ideals and both negative and positive views on aging as well as aging preparation strategies inspired by precarity. Findings from this section provide a solid starting point for comparisons with countries that are both similar and different from Germany in terms of welfare regimes and aging policies. The final part of the book discusses the psychological implications of these findings within and beyond the German case study and outlines potential solutions for practice. This book provides health psychologists, gerontologists, sociologists, social workers, health professionals as well as students and aging individuals themselves with better understanding of the meaning of aging in precarious times and builds confidence about aging well despite precarity.

This book provides an interdisciplinary focus on music, memory, and ageing by examining how they intersect outside of a formal therapeutic context or framework and by offering a counter-narrative to age as decline. It contributes to the development of qualitative research methodologies by utilizing and reflecting on methods for studying music, memory, and ageing across diverse and interconnected contexts. Using the notion of inheritance to trouble its core themes of music, memory, ageing, and methodology, it examines different ways in which the concept of inheritance is understood but also how it commonly refers to the practice of passing on, and the connections this establishes across time and space. It confronts the ageist discourses that associate popular music predominantly with youth and that focus narrowly, and almost exclusively, on music's therapeutic function for older adults. By presenting research which examines various intersections of music and ageing outside of a therapeutic context or framework, the book brings a much-needed intervention.

This book examines claims that aging populations will create serious economic problems for various nations. It examines the question in large part through the eyes of researchers and legislators in three target countries: Australia, Japan, and the United States. These countries were chosen because of similar states of economic development and because all were experiencing a rapid aging of their populations. A comprehensive overview is provided of the economic issues related to aging populations. Several aspects are explored in more depth. To date, it is the most complete and thorough study of economic issues associated with population aging. After a brief review of the phenomenon of demographic aging, the authors give a summary of the major economic programs offered to the aged. Extensive research is used to evaluate the concept of dependency ratios and to predict the impact on younger and older persons of future economic and demographic growth. This discussion then provides the basis for a review of evolving retirement policies in the three countries. Special attention is given to the way pension plans have been designed, especially early and mandatory retirement policies. An assessment of the adequacy of retirement income follows. The final three chapters are devoted to policy options for the future, given trends in demographic aging. Social scientists and economists will be most interested in this study.

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The Electrified Mind helps therapists understand and empathize with patients who rely heavily upon cell phones and the internet for the purposes of self-expression as well as for defensive avoidance of actual interpersonal contact. The chapters by distinguished mental health professionals delineate therapeutic strategies for dealing with the dilemmas that arise in working with children, adolescents, and adults excessively involved with cyberspace at the cost of meaningful human relationships.

Drawing on cutting-edge research, award-winning journalist Jonathan Rauch answers all these questions. He shows that from our 20s into our 40s, happiness follows a well-documented U-shaped trajectory, a "happiness curve", declining from the optimism of youth into what's often a long, low trough in middle age, before starting to rise again in our 50s.

This isn't a midlife crisis, though. Rauch reveals that this downturn is instead a natural stage of life - and an essential one. By shifting priorities away from competition and toward compassion, you can equip yourself with new tools of wisdom and gratitude to head positively into your later years.

And Rauch can testify to this personally - it was his own slump, despite acclaim as a journalist and commentator that compelled him to investigate the happiness curve. His own story and the stories of many others from all walks of life - from a steelworker and a limo driver to a telecoms executive and a philanthropist - show how the ordeal of midlife malaise can reboot our values and even our brains for a rebirth of gratitude.

Full of insights and eye-opening data, and featuring practical ways to endure the dip and avoid its perils and traps, The Happiness Curve doesn't just show you the dark forest of midlife, it helps you find a path through the trees.

For students and practitioners of gerontology, this indispensable text examines all aspects of administering services to older adults. Jeffrey A. Giordano and Thomas A. Rich, both professors of gerontology with extensive experience in administration, surveyed practicing administrators over a two-year period. The resulting integration of administrative theory and practice is evident throughout this book's 13 chapters, which address everything from leadership styles and management techniques to ethical issues and community relations. In addition, the authors thoroughly examine the most widely encountered facets of the typical gerontologist administrator's career, including communication, organizational structure, the role and function of human resources administration, motivation and productivity, supervisory responsibilities, staff development, financial management, strategic planning, program evaluation, and organizational change.

Both undergraduate and graduate students of gerontology will benefit from using Giordano and Rich's book as a core text for administration courses. Professors of gerontology administration will be relieved at last to have found a work that emphasizes the unique requirements of administrating older adult programs. The authors consider all three service sectors--private, public, and not-for-profit--in addressing those who are now in administration, those who aspire to be administrators, and those who will be surprised someday to be offered administrative responsibilities. Assuming a basic knowledge of gerontology, the text includes a learning experience following each chapter that allows readers to apply their knowledge of the field in a practical manner. Other special features include information on such contemporary challenges as how to use volunteers effectively, how to integrate ethics into programs for older adults, how to involve staff in administrative activities, how to make the most of public relations and fund-raising opportunities, and how to develop special projects.