Social Structures and Aging Individuals Continuing Challenges [Hardcover]

[A] useful reference book. Readers will find themselves returning to chapters again and again...

--PsycCritiques

This is the 20th and final volume in the Societal Impact on Aging series. It focuses on what has been learned over the span of the previous volumes regarding the continuing challenges for older persons in a rapidly changing society and tries to forecast what may be the next set of issues to lie at the intersection of social structures and the individual aging process. The editors therefore invited major organizers of, and contributors to, the 19 earlier volumes to review both the accomplishments and omissions of their efforts, discuss some timely new topics, and provide guidelines for future research and theoretical explanations.

The book is divided into five broad topics: health and wellbeing, including the role of religion; personality and cognition; the impact of changes in technology and the work place; issues of socio-cultural change and historical context; and the familial and societal contexts of aging.

Contributors
Preface,K. Warner Schaie
Preface to the first volume in the series: Why this book?,Matilda White Riley
Introductory Overview

1. The Waters We Swim: Everyday Social Processes, Macro-Structural Realities and Human Aging,Dale Dannefer

Section 1: Health and Well-Being

2. To Act or Not to Act: Using Statistics or Feelings to Reduce Disease Risk, Morbidity and Mortality,Howard Leventhal, Tamara J. Musumeci, and Elaine A. Leventhal
3. Religion, Health, and Health Behavior,Neal Krause
4. Commentary: Assessing Health Behaviors Across Individuals, Situations, and Time,David Almeida, Susan T. Charles, and Shevaun D. Neupert

Section 2: Personality and Cognition

5. From Static to Dynamic: The On-going Dialectic About Human Development,Nilam Ram, Sylvia Morelli, Casey Lindberg, and Laura L. Carstensenló!