This innovative text emphasizes how communicative processes develop, are maintained, and change throughout the life span. Topics covered include language skills, interpersonal conflict management, socialization, care-giving, and relationship development. Core chapters examine specific communication processes from infancy through childhood and adolescence into middle age and later life.
In its exploration of the role of communication in human development, this volume:
*overviews the theoretical and methodological issues related to studying communication across the life span;
*discusses foundations of communication: cognitive processes and language;
*examines communication in relational contexts and communication competencies;
*considers communication in leisure and the media with relevance to the life-span perspective; and
*presents the implications of the life-span perspective for future research.
This text is intended to be used in life-span communication courses and in interpersonal communication courses with a life-span focus, at an advanced or graduate level. It may also be used in courses on family communication, aging, and language development. It will serve as a supplemental text for courses in psychology, family studies, personal relationships, linguistics, and language studies.

Language, Communication, and Intergroup Relations presents the current state of knowledge at the intersection of language, communication, and intergroup relations, drawing on interdisciplinary work from the fields of communication, social psychology, and sociolinguistics. Building from that existing work, it presents a series of provocative and innovative new directions in this area. The work is organized around a series of five themes: * Language and Culture * Intergroup Communication * Intergenerational Relations * Interpersonal Accommodation * Institutional Accommodation. Within each theme, prominent scholars present reviews of the literature, which are followed by responses, reactions, and extensions from a multidisciplinary group of researchers. These responses often move beyond typical academic prose and engage with the material in novel ways, including graphical theoretical models, short personal reflections, and creative prose. It is essential reading for students and academics in the interdisciplinary fields of communication, language, and social psychology.

Language, Communication, and Intergroup Relations presents the current state of knowledge at the intersection of language, communication, and intergroup relations, drawing on interdisciplinary work from the fields of communication, social psychology, and sociolinguistics. Building from that existing work, it presents a series of provocative and innovative new directions in this area. The work is organized around a series of five themes: * Language and Culture * Intergroup Communication * Intergenerational Relations * Interpersonal Accommodation * Institutional Accommodation. Within each theme, prominent scholars present reviews of the literature, which are followed by responses, reactions, and extensions from a multidisciplinary group of researchers. These responses often move beyond typical academic prose and engage with the material in novel ways, including graphical theoretical models, short personal reflections, and creative prose. It is essential reading for students and academics in the interdisciplinary fields of communication, language, and social psychology.

This collection highlights the current efforts by scholars and researchers to understand the aging process as it relates to the health of older adults. With contributions from international scholars in communication, psychology, public health, medicine, nursing, and other areas, this volume emphasizes communication as a critical research, education, policy, and practice issue for the design, provision, and evaluation of health and social services for older adults. Organized into sections addressing communication developments in the healthcare arena, issues in provider-patient communication, and the relationships between family communication and health. The chapters cover critical topics related to successful aging, such as Alzheimer's disease, managed care and older adults, communication issues of severe dementia, and healthcare decision-making within families. The editors have designed this volume to be accessible to a broad audience, including scholars and students of aging and communication, healthcare practitioners with older clients, and aging individuals and their families who are pursuing strategies for successful aging. The chapters represent the highest levels of current scholarship on communication, aging, and health, providing a strong foundation for future research. Each contribution also addresses the applied implications of this research, offering practical guidance to readers dealing with these issues in their own lives. As a whole, Aging, Communication, and Health represents a major advance toward understanding the importance and application of communication for successful aging.

This second edition of the Handbook of Communication and Aging Research captures the ever-changing and expanding domain of aging research. Since it was first recognized that there is more to social aging than demography, gerontology has needed a communication perspective. Like the first edition, this handbook sets out to demonstrate that aging is not only an individual process but an interactive one. The study of communication can lead to an understanding of what it means to grow old. We may age physiologically and chronologically, but our social aging--how we behave as social actors toward others, and even how we align ourselves with or come to understand the signs of difference or change as we age--are phenomena achieved primarily through communication experiences. Synthesizing the vast amount of research that has been published on communication and aging in numerous international outlets over the last three decades, the book's contributors include scholars from North America and the United Kingdom who are active researchers in the perspectives covered in their particular chapter. Many of the chapters work to deny earlier images of aging as involving normative decrement to provide a picture of aging as a process of development involving positive choices and providing new opportunities. A recuring theme in many chapters is that of the heterogeneity of the group of people who are variously categorized as older, aged, elderly, or over 65. The contributors review the literature analytically, in a way that reveals not only current theoretical and methodological approaches to communication and aging research but also sets the future agenda. This handbook will be of great interest to scholars and researchers in gerontology, developmental psychology, and communication, and, in this updated edition, will continue to play a key role in the study of communication and aging.

This second edition of the "Handbook of Communication and Aging Research" captures the ever-changing and expanding domain of aging research. Since it was first recognized that there is more to social aging than demography, gerontology has needed a communication perspective. Like the first edition, this handbook sets out to demonstrate that aging is not only an individual process but an interactive one. The study of communication can lead to an understanding of what it means to grow old. We may age physiologically and chronologically, but our social aging--how we behave as social actors toward others, and even how we align ourselves with or come to understand the signs of difference or change as we age--are phenomena achieved primarily through communication experiences.
Synthesizing the vast amount of research that has been published on communication and aging in numerous international outlets over the last three decades, the book's contributors include scholars from North America and the United Kingdom who are active researchers in the perspectives covered in their particular chapter. Many of the chapters work to deny earlier images of aging as involving normative decrement to provide a picture of aging as a process of development involving positive choices and providing new opportunities. A recuring theme in many chapters is that of the heterogeneity of the group of people who are variously categorized as older, aged, elderly, or over 65. The contributors review the literature analytically, in a way that reveals not only current theoretical and methodological approaches to communication and aging research but also sets the future agenda.
This handbook will be of great interestto scholars and researchers in gerontology, developmental psychology, and communication, and, in this updated edition, will continue to play a key role in the study of communication and aging.

This collection highlights the current efforts by scholars and researchers to understand the aging process as it relates to the health of older adults. With contributions from international scholars in communication, psychology, public health, medicine, nursing, and other areas, this volume emphasizes communication as a critical research, education, policy, and practice issue for the design, provision, and evaluation of health and social services for older adults. Organized into sections addressing communication developments in the healthcare arena, issues in provider-patient communication, and the relationships between family communication and health. The chapters cover critical topics related to successful aging, such as Alzheimer's disease, managed care and older adults, communication issues of severe dementia, and healthcare decision-making within families.
The editors have designed this volume to be accessible to a broad audience, including scholars and students of aging and communication, healthcare practitioners with older clients, and aging individuals and their families who are pursuing strategies for successful aging. The chapters represent the highest levels of current scholarship on communication, aging, and health, providing a strong foundation for future research. Each contribution also addresses the applied implications of this research, offering practical guidance to readers dealing with these issues in their own lives. As a whole, "Aging, Communication, and Health" represents a major advance toward understanding the importance and application of communication for successful aging.

Individuals of all ages interact with one another, and their interactions have significance throughout their lives. This distinctive volume acknowledges the importance of these interactions and provides a life-span developmental view of communication and aging, attempting to capture the many similarities and changes that occur in people's lives as they age. The authors move the study of intergenerational contact closer to the actual participants, examining what happens within intergenerational interactions and how people evaluate their intergenerational experiences. The volume concentrates on the micro-context of the intergenerational interaction and the cognitions, language, and relationship behaviors related to intergenerational communication across the life span.
The volume employs the perspective that the understanding of human behavior across the life span is enhanced by studying communicative behavior in intergenerational interaction. The authors integrate research from multiple disciplines concerned with intergenerational communication, which is framed by several unique theoretical perspectives drawn from the communication discipline. As a resource for the study of intergenerational communication across the life span, this monograph offers important insights to scholars, students, and all who are involved in intergenerational communication.

This text employs a communication perspective to examine the aging process and the ability of individuals to adapt successfully to aging. It continues the groundbreaking work of the first edition, emphasizing a life-span approach toward understanding the social interaction that occurs during later life. The edition provides a comprehensive update on the existing and emerging research within communication and aging studies and considers such topics as notions of successful aging, positive and negative stereotypes toward older adults, and health communication issues. It raises awareness of the barriers facing elderly people in conversation and the importance such conversations have in elderly people's lives. The impact of nonrelational processes, such as hearing loss, are considered as they impact relationships with others and affect the ability to age successfully.
The book is organized into 14 chapters. Each chapter is written so that the reader is presented with an exhaustive review of the pertinent and recent literature from the social sciences. As in the first edition, when the literature is empirically based, the communicative ramifications are then discussed.
Readers of this volume will gain greater understanding of the importance of their communicative relationships and how significant they remain across the life span. Developed for students in communication, psychology, nursing, social gerontology, sociology, and related areas, "Communication and Aging" provides important insights on communication to all who are affected by the aging process.

This text employs a communication perspective to examine the aging process and the ability of individuals to adapt successfully to aging. It continues the groundbreaking work of the first edition, emphasizing a life-span approach toward understanding the social interaction that occurs during later life. The edition provides a comprehensive update on the existing and emerging research within communication and aging studies and considers such topics as notions of successful aging, positive and negative stereotypes toward older adults, and health communication issues. It raises awareness of the barriers facing elderly people in conversation and the importance such conversations have in elderly people's lives. The impact of nonrelational processes, such as hearing loss, are considered as they impact relationships with others and affect the ability to age successfully.
The book is organized into 14 chapters. Each chapter is written so that the reader is presented with an exhaustive review of the pertinent and recent literature from the social sciences. As in the first edition, when the literature is empirically based, the communicative ramifications are then discussed.
Readers of this volume will gain greater understanding of the importance of their communicative relationships and how significant they remain across the life span. Developed for students in communication, psychology, nursing, social gerontology, sociology, and related areas, "Communication and Aging" provides important insights on communication to all who are affected by the aging process.

Individuals of all ages interact with one another, and their interactions have significance throughout their lives. This distinctive volume acknowledges the importance of these interactions and provides a life-span developmental view of communication and aging, attempting to capture the many similarities and changes that occur in people's lives as they age. The authors move the study of intergenerational contact closer to the actual participants, examining what happens within intergenerational interactions and how people evaluate their intergenerational experiences. The volume concentrates on the micro-context of the intergenerational interaction and the cognitions, language, and relationship behaviors related to intergenerational communication across the life span.
The volume employs the perspective that the understanding of human behavior across the life span is enhanced by studying communicative behavior in intergenerational interaction. The authors integrate research from multiple disciplines concerned with intergenerational communication, which is framed by several unique theoretical perspectives drawn from the communication discipline. As a resource for the study of intergenerational communication across the life span, this monograph offers important insights to scholars, students, and all who are involved in intergenerational communication.

This innovative text emphasizes how communicative processes develop, are maintained, and change throughout the life span. Topics covered include language skills, interpersonal conflict management, socialization, care-giving, and relationship development. Core chapters examine specific communication processes from infancy through childhood and adolescence into middle age and later life.
In its exploration of the role of communication in human development, this volume:
*overviews the theoretical and methodological issues related to studying communication across the life span;
*discusses foundations of communication: cognitive processes and language;
*examines communication in relational contexts and communication competencies;
*considers communication in leisure and the media with relevance to the life-span perspective; and
*presents the implications of the life-span perspective for future research.
This text is intended to be used in life-span communication courses and in interpersonal communication courses with a life-span focus, at an advanced or graduate level. It may also be used in courses on family communication, aging, and language development. It will serve as a supplemental text for courses in psychology, family studies, personal relationships, linguistics, and language studies.

Communication is at the heart of any complete understanding of the end of life. While it is true that individuals physically die as a single entity, the process of ending an individual life is located within a complex system of relationships and roles connected and constructed through communicative processes. In this volume, top scholars from numerous disciplines showcase the latest empirical investigations and theoretical advances that focus on communication at the end of life. This multi-contextual approach serves to integrate current findings, expand our theoretical understanding of the end of life, prioritize the significance of competent communication for scholars and practitioners, and provide a solid foundation upon which to build pragmatic interventions to assist individuals at the end of life as well as those who care for and grieve for those who are dying. This book is suitable for undergraduate and graduate courses in Death and Dying, Communication and Aging, Health Communication, Life Span Development, Life Span Communication, Long term care, Palliative care and Social Work.

The readings in the anthology "Readings in Communication Research Methods" are written by communication researchers who share true stories of how they use particular research methods within their own research programs.
The book helps students understand how researchers face the numerous challenges of conducting communication research, and how they produce knowledge that adds to our theoretical understanding of communication. Students get a real sense of the many decisions made by researchers who are attempting to design and conduct research that follows the ideal steps outlined in textbooks.
The book begins with an introductory chapter that links theory to conceptualization and hypothesis development. The three subsequent chapters focus on different research methods including survey research, experimental research, and various forms of analysis. Topics include: Measurement and Sampling; Internal and External Validity; Physiological Laboratory Methods; Network, Rhetorical, Conversation, and Discourse Analysis; and Ethnography.
The insight into real-world scenarios is a direct and useful contrast to many textbooks on communication research methods that do a fine job of explaining the process and relative merits of various methods, but fail to give students a clear understanding of how the research is actually performed.
"Readings in Communication Research Methods" is a supplemental text for courses in Communication Research. Paired with a required textbook, it enhances students' understanding of how research methods can be successfully used in the real world. Written in a jargon-free, accessible style, the book is ideal for undergraduate students.
Jon Nussbaum earned his Ph.D. at Purdue University. He is a Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences, and Human Development and Family Studies at Penn State University. Dr. Nussbaum has served as President of the International Communication Association, and the International Society of Language and Social Psychology. He is a former editor of the Journal of Communication, and was a Fulbright Research Fellow in the United Kingdom. He is a Fellow of the International Communication Association, and a Fellow within the Adult Development and Aging Division of the American Psychological Association. Dr. Nussbaum has published extensively, with thirteen books, and over 85 journal articles and book chapters to his credit. He focuses on investigating communication behaviors and patterns across the life span including research on family, friendship, and personal relationships with well and frail older adults. In 2010 Dr. Nussbaum received the B. Aubrey Fisher mentor award.

As we grow up and grow old, embrace new experiences, try new roles, and adopt new technologies, our senses of time, space, connection, and identity are fundamentally explored through communication. Why, how, with whom, and to what end humans communicate reflect and shape our ever-changing life span position. And while the "life span" can be conceived as a continuum, it is also one hinged by critical junctures and bound by cultural differences that can be better understood through communication. The chapters in this collection, chosen from among the invited plenary speakers, top research papers, and ideas discussed in San Juan, explore the multiple ways communication affects, reflects, and directs our life transition. Capturing the richness and diversity of scholarship presented at the conference, chapters explore communication technologies that define a generation; communication and successful aging; stereotyping and family communication; sexual communication and physiological measurement; life span communication and the digital divide; and home-based care contexts across the world, among others.

As we grow up and grow old, embrace new experiences, try new roles, and adopt new technologies, our senses of time, space, connection, and identity are fundamentally explored through communication. Why, how, with whom, and to what end humans communicate reflect and shape our ever-changing life span position. And while the "life span" can be conceived as a continuum, it is also one hinged by critical junctures and bound by cultural differences that can be better understood through communication. The chapters in this collection, chosen from among the invited plenary speakers, top research papers, and ideas discussed in San Juan, explore the multiple ways communication affects, reflects, and directs our life transition. Capturing the richness and diversity of scholarship presented at the conference, chapters explore communication technologies that define a generation; communication and successful aging; stereotyping and family communication; sexual communication and physiological measurement; life span communication and the digital divide; and home-based care contexts across the world, among others.

The Handbook of Lifespan Communication is the foundational scholarly text that offers readers a state of the art view of the varied and rich areas of lifespan communication research. The fundamental assumptions of lifespan communication are that the very nature of human communication is developmental, and, to truly understand communication, change across time must be incorporated into existing theory and research. Beginning with chapters on lifespan communication theory and methodologies, chapters are then organized into the various phases of life: early childhood, adolescence, emerging adulthood, middle adulthood, and older adulthood. Top scholars across several disciplines have contributed to chapters within their domains of expertise, highlighting significant horizons that will guide researchers for years to come.

The Handbook of Lifespan Communication is the foundational scholarly text that offers readers a state of the art view of the varied and rich areas of lifespan communication research. The fundamental assumptions of lifespan communication are that the very nature of human communication is developmental, and, to truly understand communication, change across time must be incorporated into existing theory and research. Beginning with chapters on lifespan communication theory and methodologies, chapters are then organized into the various phases of life: early childhood, adolescence, emerging adulthood, middle adulthood, and older adulthood. Top scholars across several disciplines have contributed to chapters within their domains of expertise, highlighting significant horizons that will guide researchers for years to come.