Cross sectional data indicate that about four percent of elderly persons reside in nursing homes. Yet many studies, some using death certificates, show actual risk of institutionalization is upwards of 25 percent. This paper presents a death registration study that examined all deaths in North Carolina and analyzed rural and urban differences. The…

Recent research on informal support in senior housing has suggested that frail tenants receive limited assistance from their neighbors. Far less attention has been directed at understanding the role of healthy, independent tenants as neighborly helpers. Informal neighborly assistance among tenants in a congregate housing facility was examined to…

Although it has been suggested that contact with children is important for the satisfaction of the economic, emotional, and service needs of older parents, social gerontology research provides little direct evidence that childless elders or elders with few living children are less satisfied than others. To examine the effects of family size,…

This document presents an overview of research in retirement housing which focuses on studying individuals' adaptation to retirement housing, consulting on the design of retirement housing, and conducting community surveys to assess the interest in living options for older persons. The terms congregate housing, continuing care retirement centers,…

Recent research indicates that helping others is associated with competence, personal control, and a sense of well-being and that the elderly often express altruistic attitudes and help others. The current period, 40 years after the termination of World War II, presents a final opportunity to study those individuals who had engaged in extreme…

The fact that many states have passed elder abuse reporting laws has left care providers with a dilemma. If suspected abuse is reported, the relationship between caregiver and patient may change and the family's difficulties may increase. Indicators of abuse are not easy to differentiate from health problems, especially in the frail elderly. An…

One of the most significant factors in accounting for death attitudes is religious beliefs, yet this factor has been little studied or understood. This study examined the relationship between death anxiety, religiosity, and life satisfaction among a sample of retired older individuals. Sixty retired subjects between the ages of 60 and 84 years…

Research has examined the effects of relocation on the physical and psychological well-being of the elderly, but has usually neglected the pre-relocation or anticipatory period. A study was conducted to examine the experiences of older persons waiting to relocate to subsidized age-segregated apartments. Subjects were interviewed twice over a…

An ongoing project is being conducted in San Francisco, California to study the social and psychological factors among the elderly which influence their utilization of outpatient health services. A preliminary study of the project explored associations between the informal support network and the formal social support system as they converged in…

This document provides a theory on successful aging and describes a workshop method devised to inspire middle-aged and older adults to meet and embrace the challenge of growing older. A five-stage model is proposed, based on the assumptions that aging adults need not be victims of the various scenarios of aging that exist in American culture and…

The Supportive Services Program for Older Persons is designed to demonstrate that a private market for home and community-based health related services can be developed in response to the demand expressed by older people and their families. The objective of the program is to expand the service options available to older people by letting market…

Society has stereotyped the elderly as those who are unable, dependent, institutionalized, and handicapped in various other ways. Stereotyping older people in this manner allows them to be cast aside in the market as well. The marketing community should concentrate more on this thriving aggregate, for they have disposable income--some for the…

While it is clear that health status is important in determining morale, and that social contact also contributes to morale, the interaction of health status and social contact on morale is not well understood. Elderly frail community residents (N=40) were interviewed twice in a 1-year period about their contact with friends, grandchildren,…

Investigators and service providers have indicated the need for a tool to identify elderly victims of abuse and neglect. Identifying factors related to the risk of elder abuse/neglect can be useful in planning services and targeting limited resources for preventing future problems. A 93-item Risk Assessment Tool was created and over 100 risk…

The area of subjective well-being has been and continues to be of interest to gerontologists. This study examined life satisfaction of older adults within the milieu of a classic, sociological community setting, Middletown, U.S.A. Data were gathered from 400 telephone interviews with respondents who were 60 years or older in the Muncie/Delaware…