Aging, Health, and Longevity in the Mexican-Origin Population creates a foundation for an interdisciplinary discussion of the trajectory of disability and long-term care for older people of Mexican-origin from a bi-national perspective. Although the literature on Latino elders in the United States is growing, few of these studies or publications offer the breadth and depth contained in this book.

This most timely, authoritative, and insightful book provides a new framework for understanding the circumstances currently surrounding America's elderly. It establishes the important foundation of three key forces which are changing the national perspective on the aging. They are: generational claims on the government to respond to social needs; diversity in aging populations; and increasing longevity. Torres-Gil provides a context, supported by informative background material, for recognizing the significant demographic changes being experienced in the United States. The work considers the policy issues, decisions, controversies, and choices now associated with aging and demonstrates how the perception of the elderly has changed from the 1960s and 1970s to today. It asks what is fair in the allocation of public and private resources to the elderly. How does the nation pay for services? How do we make and implement the political and economic decisions with which a government and a society are now faced?

Torres-Gil examines the ability of the government and the active labor force to support a large elderly population and urges a change in the current delivery of services and benefits. He addresses all the essential issues necessary to avoid inter-generational conflict--including comprehensive planning, the building of social consensus, and inter-generational coalitions.

The global phenomenon of the aging of societies during a period of outstanding scientific, economic, and technological advancements is a blessing for humanity. These fundamental changes, however, create new needs and problems in all areas of life, often difficult to address. In some countries, the trend is towards compression of the period of age-related morbidity - fewer years of living with disabilities - but the absolute numbers of elderly people living with disabilities are increasing worldwide. This book highlights a series of global threats, problems and challenges in the areas of care and caregiving, through the prism of three multicultural nations: the United States, Israel and Australia. The contributors to this book, experts in their fields, focus on the art of caregiving at the national level, including the interface between family and state responsibilities, policies and practices in the provision of services, and the demands for education and training, as well as the problems and difficulties faced by family caregivers. This is the second of two edited volumes on aging and caregiving. The first, ""Lessons on Aging from Three Nations - Volume I: The Art of Aging Well"", examines positive aspects of and successful adaptations to aging. This book will be of interest to students of gerontology and geriatrics; those working in nongovernmental organizations - private, for-profit and non-profit agencies, including voluntary charitable and religious groups, those working in national regional and local governments, and all general readers intrigued with the aging of societies and longevity.

"Aging, Health, and Longevityin the Mexican-Origin Population"creates a foundation for an interdisciplinary discussion of the trajectory of disability and long-term care for older people of Mexican-origin from a bi-national perspective. Although the literature on Latino elders in the United States is growing, few of these studies or publications offer the breadth and depth contained in this book.

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This most timely, authoritative, and insightful book provides a new framework for understanding the circumstances currently surrounding America's elderly. It establishes the important foundation of three key forces which are changing the national perspective on the aging. They are: generational claims on the government to respond to social needs; diversity in aging populations; and increasing longevity. Torres-Gil provides a context, supported by informative background material, for recognizing the significant demographic changes being experienced in the United States. The work considers the policy issues, decisions, controversies, and choices now associated with aging and demonstrates how the perception of the elderly has changed from the 1960s and 1970s to today. It asks what is fair in the allocation of public and private resources to the elderly. How does the nation pay for services? How do we make and implement the political and economic decisions with which a government and a society are now faced?

Torres-Gil examines the ability of the government and the active labor force to support a large elderly population and urges a change in the current delivery of services and benefits. He addresses all the essential issues necessary to avoid inter-generational conflict--including comprehensive planning, the building of social consensus, and inter-generational coalitions.