Public awareness of demographic change is necessary to guide individual and national planning for retirement. For the first time in American history, older adults are forecast to soon outnumber children. Accordingly, expectations for retirement should be considered in a larger than personal context, a broad perspective that implicates relatives,…

Previous studies used chronological age to examine the relationship between aging and volunteerism. In the current study, we examined the influence of subjective life expectancy (SLE) on volunteering based on the socioemotional selectivity theory emphasizing that older adults focus on very close relationships. Data of 11,203 older adults, 55 to 74…

Senior volunteer teachers play important roles in learning programmes for the elderly. These volunteers' level of teaching satisfaction was assumed to influence programmes, their organizational behaviours and outcomes. However, scant research has focused specifically on volunteers' levels of satisfaction with teaching and how their satisfaction is…

Older adults face many challenges in the workplace, one being the advancement of technologies both in hardware and software development. The purpose of the study was to understand the learned experiences of older adults integrating advanced technologies into their critical decision-making work experience because of training. Literature claimed a…

Purpose: To compare the effects of the tongue-hold swallowing maneuver on pharyngeal pressure generation in healthy young and elderly research volunteers. Method: Sixty-eight healthy research volunteers (young, n = 34, mean age = 26.8 years, SD = 5.5; elderly, n = 34, mean age = 72.6 years, SD = 4.8; sex equally represented) performed 5…

A meaningful life is one of relatedness, significance, and fulfillment. Meaning provides context for life events so that people may develop connections between their experiences. A consistent, meaningful existence helps humans feel connected and focused. Meaning in life has been investigated with individuals across the lifespan. As the population…

Our research involved a community-school literacy initiative where seniors visit elementary schools to read with children. As we considered the residual data in our study, we were led to explore an emerging school-community relationship--a web of connection--being created by senior volunteers in the project. We discuss this aspect of our study in…

Few people are willing to admit that senior adults and young children share many common characteristics, including: (1) changes in development; (2) need for companionship; and (3) the desire to be understood. These two groups are connected mostly through direct interaction with middle-aged adults. One very practical way to build a greater sense of…

American volunteers, both informally and through organizations like the Corporation for National Service, make huge contributions to the well-being of millions of Americans and, via their unpaid or minimally-reimbursed work, to the American economy. Can America continue to count on maintaining or increasing volunteer contributions in the future?…

In the absence of large scale Australian studies of volunteering among older adults, this study compared the relevance of two theoretical approaches--social capital theory and sociostructural resources theory--to predict voluntary activity in relation to a large national database. The paper explores volunteering by older people (aged 55+) in order…

Many Americans engage in voluntary activities and many of these volunteers traditionally have been college students and older adults. A functional approach to volunteerism suggests that similar acts of volunteerism may actually reflect very different personal, social, and psychological functions for different volunteers. This study examined the…

Describes the programs and activities of Generations Together, an agency that promotes mutually beneficial interactions between young and old. Lists six program elements and discusses outcomes. (CH)

This paper examines the relationship between social class and both age-graded and non-age-graded voluntary association membership in a sample of 320 older people. Special attention is focused on one age-graded association with an examination of recruitments, participation, and attrition over a six-year period. Results are discussed. (Author)

The rising health and social services needs of the elderly can be met in part by using the potential productivity of older people. This study examined the extent to which older people serve as a resource and the potentiality for further expanding their productive contributions. The Minnesota Senior Study involved a telephone survey with a…

A secondary analysis of a national sample of American adults (N=2,164) was used to examine the correlation between membership in voluntary associations and life satisfaction. Findings suggested that the hypothesized pattern of relationships is not ubiquitously present for all four of the older age categories studied. (Author)