This article focuses on the ways in which patterns of marriage and fertility shape older people's involvement in community groups and their support networks. The data are from Australia, Finland, Germany, Israel, Japan, the Netherlands, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Findings show that childless older adults, regardless of…

Examines the historical and sociocultural context of Japanese residential child care. Presents three case studies of institutional child abuse to explore its socio-cultural causes. Concludes that lack of leadership in public homes, the wrong leadership authorized unprofessionally in private homes, and the lack of universal systems of public…