A college level unit which investigates stereotypes of aging in the United States is described. The three-class unit serves as an introduction to the study of social gerontology. Its purpose is to address issues of negative stereotypes of old age reinforced by the media and by our cultural roots; the lack of knowledge about the normal changes that…

The 1978 amendments to the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) provide older workers with the option of extending their worklives as a means of meeting the financial requirements of their later years. As part of a larger study funded by the Administration on Aging, DHEW, the degree to which inflation and ADEA was expected to impact…

A study investigated the depiction of older characters in basal reader series from 1975 to 1983. A checklist was used to collect data concerning the treatment of older people in the stories and pictures of the following series: (1) Macmillan and Company (1975), (2) Allyn and Bacon (1978), (3) Scott Foresman (1978), Ginn and Company (1982), and (5)…

Group settings offer the elderly a unique outlet for interpersonal communication and can alleviate social isolation and aloneness. Group cohesiveness and instillation of hope are two curative factors in the group setting. Persons working with the elderly must be aware of their special problems and also be sensitive to their own age bias. Group…

A study was conducted to determine the meanings people give to certain words that describe different groups of people. Participants indicated the chronological age they have in mind when using 15 age terms, including baby, senior citizen, adolescent, infant, mature, elderly, youth, and old. The 150 replies to the questionnaire came from college…

Faculty attitudes toward older learners were studied using an adaptation of Kogan's (1951) attitude scale and methodology. Forty-nine faculty members from various colleges and universities in Ohio and Indiana were subdivided into two groups: those who had taught in a structured higher education experience aimed at people over 60 years of age and…

Sexism in women's health care has received increasing attention through the women's movement. Many alternative efforts at reform have been targeted to women in their reproductive years, but the older woman has not had similar efforts designed to alter her situation. A Senior Health Center was established by one community hospital to provide…

A major argument made in favor of age-segregated services is that older people prefer and benefit from age-homogeneous social interaction. This preference was assessed through a secondary analysis of the national data from "The Myth and Reality of Aging" survey (Harris, 1975). All respondents 18 years of age or older (N=4065) were asked whether…

To examine the impact of old age upon an individual's sense of self we must look at the enduring self. An understanding of selfhood or self-consciousness can only be found by reference to the social activity of the individual. The interactional part of the self involves the individual in two forms of active social behavior, subject and object. The…

Research does not support the contention that underrepresentation of women and minorities in the educational administration hierarchy is a function of deficits in training, competence, experience, and number of qualified applicants. The purpose of this study was to examine factors affecting the entrance of women and minorities into this hierarchy.…

Demographic, social, and economic trends are pointing in the direction of increased work force participation for older adults. The four major forces responsible for change in work patterns are the changing work force, changing older people, economic forces, and social forces. These forces are mediated by social convention, especially the…

Older workers face many obstacles to working after age 65. This situation is causing significant problems for the social security system. In light of previous findings that many older workers prefer part-time employment, an intensive study was conducted of the policies of one company and its employees' attitudes. Participants expected to retire at…

Through their own inventiveness and persistence, adults are circumventing institutional indifference and creating alternative educational networks to teach themselves art. Problems that must be overcome are as follows: inadequate instructor preparation, a generally narrow array of programs in most community centers with the preponderance of…

Studies indicate that, although enrollment and degree production by women doctoral students have increased, fewer women than men complete doctorates and women generally take longer than men to finish, in spite of the fact that women demonstrate equal if not superior performance levels on virtually every objective measure. Women who complete the…

The typical approach to studying the cognitive competencies of the elderly involves giving the same task to samples of elderly adults and college students. On such comparisons of performance of cognitive tasks, the elderly have almost always been found to be inferior, which is interpreted as indicating an irreversible age-determined decline in…