As the Baby Boomer cohort moves from middle to later adulthood, it is likely this generation will redefine what it means to age. Growing older will no longer be synonymous with loss and decline. In fact, it is true that the majority of older adults today live fulfilling lives. This special issue discusses ways in which older adults can age successfully--that is--how individuals can maintain their physical and cognitive health, as well as maintain a healthy engagement with life. Also addressed are the universal challenges faced by older adults in their pursuit to age successfully. The objective of this collection is to serve as a stimulus to future research on aging and change in the later years of life. It presents an outstanding array of articles that cover a range of central issues in this area of study. Each author provides a unique insight into the mystery and challenge that awaits us all: the ability to age successfully.

Presenting the human side of Psychological Disorders. Susan Krauss Whitbourne's Abnormal Psychology: Clinical Perspectives on Psychological Disorders, shows students real-life portrayals of psychological disorders through an extensive use of clinical and online case studies, biographies, and first-person quotations.

As the Baby Boomer cohort moves from middle to later adulthood, it is likely this generation will redefine what it means to age. Growing older will no longer be synonymous with loss and decline. In fact, it is true that the majority of older adults today live fulfilling lives. This special issue discusses ways in which older adults can age successfully-that is-how individuals can maintain their physical and cognitive health, as well as maintain a healthy engagement with life. Also addressed are the universal challenges faced by older adults in their pursuit to age successfully. The objective of this collection is to serve as a stimulus to future research on aging and change in the later years of life. It presents an outstanding array of articles that cover a range of central issues in this area of study. Each author provides a unique insight into the mystery and challenge that awaits us all: the ability to age successfully.

The goal of this volume is to examine development in middle age from the perspective of baby boomers -- a unique cohort in the United States defined as those individuals born from 1946 to 1962. This is the largest cohort ever to enter middle age in Western society, and they currently represent approximately one-third of the total U.S. population. The Baby Boomers Grow Up provides contemporary and comprehensive perspectives of development of the baby boomer cohort as they proceed through midlife. Baby boomers continue to exert a powerful impact on the media, fiction, movies, and even popular music, just as they were an imposing force in society from the time of their entry into youth. As these individuals enter the years normally considered to represent midlife, they are redefining how we as a society regard adults in their middle and later years. This volume features several unique aspects. First, the literature reviewed focuses specifically on research relevant to baby boomers and their development as adults, rather than a global perspective on middle age. Second, the volume takes into account the diversity within the boomer cohort, such as social class, race, and education. In addition, quantitative and qualitative developmental changes occurring from the forties to the fifties and the sixties are considered. Differences in leading and trailing edge boomers are likewise addressed. Ideal for researchers in adult development and graduate seminars on adult development, The Baby Boomers Grow Up will also appeal to adult educators, human resource personnel, health professionals and service providers, and clinical psychologists and counselors.

The goal of this volume is to examine development in middle age from the perspective of baby boomers -- a unique cohort in the United States defined as those individuals born from 1946 to 1962. This is the largest cohort ever to enter middle age in Western society, and they currently represent approximately one-third of the total U.S. population. The Baby Boomers Grow Up provides contemporary and comprehensive perspectives of development of the baby boomer cohort as they proceed through midlife. Baby boomers continue to exert a powerful impact on the media, fiction, movies, and even popular music, just as they were an imposing force in society from the time of their entry into youth. As these individuals enter the years normally considered to represent midlife, they are redefining how we as a society regard adults in their middle and later years. This volume features several unique aspects. First, the literature reviewed focuses specifically on research relevant to baby boomers and their development as adults, rather than a global perspective on middle age. Second, the volume takes into account the diversity within the boomer cohort, such as social class, race, and education. In addition, quantitative and qualitative developmental changes occurring from the forties to the fifties and the sixties are considered. Differences in leading and trailing edge boomers are likewise addressed. Ideal for researchers in adult development and graduate seminars on adult development, The Baby Boomers Grow Up will also appeal to adult educators, human resource personnel, health professionals and service providers, and clinical psychologists and counselors.

The objective of this book is to provide information that will be useful to people in a variety of disciplines who wish to learn more about normal aging processes in the human body. Although gerontologists in the biological sciences are making great strides in research on human aging and documenting this work in mono graphs, texts, and review chapters, this information is generally not easily acces sible nor is it comprehensible to nonprofessionals in these fields. This book is intended to provide a summary of this work, along with its implications for psy chological functioning of the aging individual. The majority of the book is devoted to describing the results of research on the physiological changes in the human body with aging and to seeking explana tions for these age effects. This description has been approached in such a way as to make it readable for the nonspecialist, but also to focus on research issues that will be useful reading for those who are currently working in these parti cular areas. In addition, throughout the book, I have tried to develop some themes regarding physiological and psychological adaptation during adulthood."

For the last 5 years I have been living with 94 adults. These 94 adults made up the sample of people in a study on adult development that Dale Dannefer and I began in 1980. This book represents my efforts to condense the almost 200 hours of tape-recorded material from the 94 adults into a form that captures at least some of the diversity and also some of the commonalities in their answers to the ques tion "Who am I?" My version of their answers is based on their reflections about themselves as family members, workers, and people with a goal in life. In arriv ing at the conclusion that adults attempt to see themselves as loved, competent, and good human beings, I believe that I have done justice to these people and their answers to my interview questions. Arriving at the point of being able to write about these 94 people's identities has not been an easy process. Countless attempts at numerically based rating systems were tried and discarded progressively, until finally I decided to read all the trans cripts in sequence, person by person rather than question by question. What I found when I approached them as total individuals was surprising to me. I found a vibrant theme of certainty and self-assuredness in their identities that flew in the face of my previous ideas about developmental change in adulthood."

Through the research on which this book reports, we have been given the unique opportunity to explore the complex nature of two of the most important issues in the lives of adults: identity and intimacy. It is with deep gratitude that we give credit to the 80 individuals in our sample who allowed us to explore these processes in their lives. Our purpose in writing this book was, in some ways, a modest one. Both of us believed that research on the Eriksonian concept of intimacy was deficient in that it was limited to the reports of individuals about them selves. We maintained that this kind of research could provide only a narrow, and probably biased, view of the intimacy development of individ uals. By obtaining complementary responses to the intimacy interview from both partners in a marital relationship, we hope to pave a new path that fu ture researchers in this area will follow. Beyond this methodological advance, we intended that this book's theoretical focus could put a new perspective on the well-trodden path of research on marriage. This more ambitious gaal is one that we faced with some trepidation. The literature on marital adjustment and satisfaction is vast and potentially overwhelming."

Lifespan Development: Biopsychosocial Perspectives provides students with complete explorations of each developmental stage of the lifespan, beginning with conception and concluding with an examination of successful aging. The book presents human development theory and research within a biopsychosocial framework, presenting information regarding biological, psychological, and social functioning during each significant period of the lifespan. The first chapter of the text presents readers with an introduction to human development, addressing the meaning of age and aging, the four key principles of human development, the social factors that influence the study of human development, and more. The succeeding chapters progress in step with the human lifespan, beginning with conception and prenatal development, moving through infancy, childhood, adolescence, and adulthood, and concluding with chapters devoted to later life. The biopsychosocial perspective of the text emphasizes the transactional nature of biological, psychological, and social influences on the developing individual with a focus on positive development and the implications on health and wellness. It emphasizes the applied nature of the biopsychosocial perspective. Each chapter begins with a real-life scenario, challenging students to take the perspectives of individuals and practitioners dealing with issues at every stage of development. Designed to provide readers with a holistic understanding of the complex progression of human life and aging, Lifespan Development is an ideal text for courses in psychology and human development.

Lifespan Development: Biopsychosocial Perspectives provides students with complete explorations of each developmental stage of the lifespan, beginning with conception and concluding with an examination of successful aging. The book presents human development theory and research within a biopsychosocial framework, presenting information regarding biological, psychological, and social functioning during each significant period of the lifespan. The first chapter of the text presents readers with an introduction to human development, addressing the meaning of age and aging, the four key principles of human development, the social factors that influence the study of human development, and more. The succeeding chapters progress in step with the human lifespan, beginning with conception and prenatal development, moving through infancy, childhood, adolescence, and adulthood, and concluding with chapters devoted to later life. The biopsychosocial perspective of the text emphasizes the transactional nature of biological, psychological, and social influences on the developing individual with a focus on positive development and the implications on health and wellness. It emphasizes the applied nature of the biopsychosocial perspective. Each chapter begins with a real-life scenario, challenging students to take the perspectives of individuals and practitioners dealing with issues at every stage of development. Designed to provide readers with a holistic understanding of the complex progression of human life and aging, Lifespan Development is an ideal text for courses in psychology and human development.

Continuing in the tradition of the first edition, Whitbourne's identity process model serves to integrate the physiological with a psychological perspective. The effects of physical changes on the individual are examined in terms of identity, as well as the impact of identity on the interpretation of these changes. The preventive and compensatory steps that indiviuduals can take to offset the aging process are explored as well.

As with the first edition, a major strength of this text is the author's illumination of complex biological concepts in a clear and accessible style. The Second Edition includes new material focusing on demographic statistics, chronic diseases, the biopsychosocial perspective, and succesful aging. This edition also features new charts, tables, and figures to highlight the text. This is an excellent text for advanced undergraduate and graduate students in the fields of psychology, gerontology, and social work.