1st Edition

Process of Aging Social and Psychological Perspectives

By Richard H. Williams Copyright 2009
    1157 Pages
    by Routledge

    1157 Pages
    by Routledge

    Processes of Aging: Social and Psychological Perspectives is based on a monumental series of studies on the psychological and social aspects of aging in relation to mental health. This effort gives scientists from North America and Europe an opportunity to explore the concepts, methodological problems, and conclusions of their researches in the rapidly growing field of gerontology. Much work has been done in an attempt to present this material in sequential and systematic fashion. Original work of sixty-six research workers from twelve countries is represented in this two-volume set. They offer an inventory of principal fields of gerontological research, in advanced countries.

    Human aging, in its many ramifications, is becoming one of the major areas of research interest among an increasing number of students in the biological, behavioral, and social sciences. Although the phenomena of aging were largely overlooked as subject matter for research during the early stages in the development of all basic sciences, it was inevitable that students would eventually become curious about the final processes of maturation. Events of recent years have hastened the need for social action on behalf of older people and, consequently, the need for scientific knowledge about their characteristics, circumstances, and requirements.

    Processes of Aging: Social and Psychological Perspectives will be of interest to research workers, teachers, and advanced students concerned with the psychological, psychiatric, psychosocial, and socioeconomic aspects of aging. Many of the theoretical and analytical discussions and the specific studies offer guidance for top-level planners and policy administrators in public agencies and voluntary organizations. This volume is highly sensitive to older people as such: how they feel about themselves and the world, and in the way they behave in relation to others. It is must reading in the health and welfare of aging.

    One: Psychological Capacities; Introduction; I: Studies of Cognition; 1: Intellectual Capacities, Aging, and Man’s Environment; 2: Psychological and Psychomotor Functions in Aging; 3: Information Transmission and Age; 4: Experimental-Clinical Method and the Cognitive Disorders of the Senium; 5: Age Differences in Conceptual Abilities; II: Psychophysiological Problems; 6: Social, Psychological, and Physiological Gerontology—An Experimental Psychologist’s Approach; 7: Cognitive Tasks in Several Modalities; 8: The Halstead Index and Differential Aging; 9: Psychophysiological Techniques in the Study of the Aged; 10: Assessing Biological Age; III: Psychological Environment; 11: Appraising Environment; 12: Environment and Meaningful Activity; 13: Sixty-five and Over; 14: Expectations of Supervisors Concerning Older Workers; Two: Successful Aging; Introduction; 15: The Concept of Adjustment in Old Age; 16: Successful Aging; 17: Personality and the Aging Process; 18: Styles of Life and Successful Aging; Three: Psychopathology of Aging; Introduction; I: Diagnosis and Classification; 19: Diagnostic and Nosological Aspects of Mental Disorder in Old Age; 20: Schizophrenias of Old Age; 21: Patterns of Geriatric Mental Illness; II: Psychological Processes and Variables; 22: On Becoming an Institutionalized Aged Person; 23: The Influence of Age on Schizophrenia; III: Coping with the Psychopathologies of the Aged; 24: The Follow-Up Method in the Management of Aged Psychiatric Patients; 25: Community and Hospital Care of the Mentally III; 26: Rehabilitation of Long-Term Aged Patients; Four: Summary and Conclusions; 27: Implications for Future Research; Subject Index; Name Index; Process of Aging: Social and Psychological Perspectives: Volume 2; Process of Aging; ; Preface; 5: Relations with Family and Society; Introduction; I: Methodological Considerations; 28: National Studies of Older People in the United States; 29: Longitudinal Studies in Social Gerontology; II: Substantive Studies; 30: Social System and the Problem of Aging; 31: The Older Person in Family, Community, and Society; 32: The Transition from Extended Families to Nuclear Families; 33: The Impact of Age on Attitudes toward Social Change; 34: Attitudes toward Special Settings for the Aged; Six: Social Factors in Psychiatric Disorders; Introduction; I: Epidemiology and Ecology; 35: Epidemiology of Old-Age Psychiatric Disorders; 36: Social and Epidemiological Aspects of Suicide with Special Reference to the Aged; 37: Aging and Mental Health in Hong Kong; II: Social Processes and Variables; 38: Adjustment of the Normal Aged: Concept and Measurement; 39: Some Social Dimensions of Psychiatric Disorders in Old Age; 40: Hospitalization of the Elderly Psychiatrically Ill; 41: Measuring Incapacity for Self-Care; Seven: Economics, Health, and Retirement; Introduction; I: Employment-Patterns and Health; 42: Work Patterns of Older People; 43: Seniority Protection for Older Workers; 44: Reflections on the Health and Employment of Older People; 45: Occupational Health and Old Age; 46: The Matrix of Health, Manpower, and Age; II: Retirement-Attitudes, Influences, and Income; 47: Retirement—Norms, Behavior, and Functional Aspects of Normative Behavior; 48: Social Values and the Institutionalization of Retirement; 49: Workers’ and Employers’ Attitudes toward Retirement Age and Pensions; 50: Income Security, Retirement, and Pension-Deduction Rules; 51: State Pensions and Retirement Age; 52: Income Security Programs and the Propensity to Retire; 53: Occupation and Health; 54: Levels of Living in Old Age—Basic Issues; 55: Old-Age Pensions and Allowances in France; 56: Recent Developments in Income Security Programs in the United Kingdom; 57: Policies and Issues in Old-Age Income Security in the United States; 58: Standard Budgets for Elderly Persons; Eight: Summary and Conclusions; 59: Implications for Future Research

    Biography

    David Popenoe