This special issue provides international comparisons of black seniors in South Africa, Ghana, Jamaica, Bermuda, and the United States, focusing on policy and program issues. The challenge is to ensure true equality of opportunity so that black seniors in the future will not be in the disadvantaged position of today. (Author)

This study investigated the availability of printed human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) education/prevention materials from state departments of public health within the United States, which specifically targeted the older adult population. Information on HIV/AIDS from public health departments in each of…

Compares cultural influences on caregiver burdens of Korean adult children and American adult children caring for parents with dementia. Identifies culturally specific values, norms, and customs associated with low or high burden. Findings show low burden for Korean caregivers and high burden for American caregivers. (MKA)

Osteoporosis is a skeletal disease characterized by loss of bone mass and density, which results in an increased risk of fractures. The disease is referred to as the "silent thief," because it is often not until a person falls and breaks a bone that patients and their physicians become aware of weakening bones. An estimated 1.5 million…

Reports on discussions of 30 United States and Canadian experts at a meeting on policies and problems concerning midlife and older women. Discussion focused on income security and long-term care. Includes future prospects. (CH)

Gerontology emerged as a discipline in America in the 1940s and 1950s. Since the 1950s, it has developed much more slowly in Britain. The study of gerontology generally aims to improve the knowledge base about the aged and the aging process in order to provide better qualified personnel and develop a more efficient delivery system to serve the…

As people live longer and the number of older adults increases worldwide, it becomes important to understand the factors that influence how we understand and perceive our own aging as well as how we construct our attitudes toward older adults. Although studies have indicated that later adulthood can be a healthy, productive, and satisfying time of…

Critics have charged that American advertisers have often portrayed the elderly with negative stereotypes. These negative portrayals, they suggest, not only offend elderly consumers but also contribute to ageism. This study examined whether American advertisers have indeed used a great deal of negative stereotyping of the elderly, as the critics…

The prevalence and implications of childlessness in old age are compared across nine major surveys in seven countries: Australia, Finland, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Specifically, the researchers examine indicators of the well-being and resources of childless men and women, compare them to their…

Context: Diabetes poses a growing health burden in the United States, but much of the research to date has been at the state and local level. Purpose: To present a national profile of diabetes care provided to Medicare beneficiaries living in urban, semirural, and rural communities. Methods: Medicare beneficiaries with diabetes aged 18-75 were…

The authors look at important demographic trends that will have an effect on schools, including roller-coaster enrollments and increasing diversity. For example, compared with 10 years ago, the average child entering a U.S. school today is less likely to live in a family with two married parents but is more likely to have a living grandparent,…

The article focuses on findings that were replicated across several countries and considers their relevance for future older adults. Key findings are that (a) childlessness makes more of a difference in men's than in women's lives, (b) never-married women are a childless category with particularly favorable characteristics, and (c) childless…

Conducted a three-generation study of women's attitudes toward gender-appropriate roles and filial responsibility. United States gender-role attitudes were more egalitarian than those of the Japanese. In both countries, all three generations agreed that care of the elderly is a family responsibility, but attitudes toward filial responsibility were…

Sociologist Robert Bellah distinguishes between economic and expressive individualism. Gerontologist Ronald Manheimer contrasts traditionalist and modernist concepts of older adult education. In Germany, economic individualism dominates, whereas elder learning in the United States manifests expressive individualism and cultural self-empowerment.…

From 1965 to 1995, the United States, Germany, Japan, and Sweden all experienced a decline in the average age at which workers retire and an increase in the duration of retirement. Sweden and Germany particularly face elder dependency burdens, which may increase in the United States in the coming decade. (JOW)