Aging and Gender:

Social science literature on aging has assumed without empirical basis that women experience greater continuity in their lives than men and that this is beneficial to women in the process of aging. This research explores the issue of continuity in values over the life course and the relationship of values to a sense of meaning attributed to one's life over the life course. Thirty life history interviews of men and women over the age of sixty-nine were conducted. Differences in values were found between men and women. Men experienced less continuity of values, less continuity in sources of meaning in Life, and more dissatisfaction in the process of life review, but for most men the lack of continuity was not a source of dissatisfaction in old age.     

Women and Caring:

Adopting a symbolic interactionist perspective, this paper examines what the caring experience means to women. Drawing upon data obtained from in-depth interviews with 142 elderly women, the analysis presents an interpretation of caring as a route to self-meaning. It is argued that caring can be a meaningful component of self-identity. Moreover, these data show that the caring role can be a source of self-continuity in later life as it is a role that can last a lifetime. In contrast to the psychological view, which suggests that caring is a naturally feminine activity, it is argued in this paper that women learn to care through a socialization process wherein girls learn from their mothers and others that caring is women's work.     

Caregiving and Care-Receiving:

Many aspects of aging are women's issues. Yet research on aging has, until recently, focussed little attention of gender differences in the experience of growing old. Older women are more likely than older men to be poor, widowed, living alone in poor health, receiving assistance from both formal and informal supports, as well as being institutionalized in long-term care facilities. This secondary analysis of data from the 1982 Survey of the Elderly in the Waterloo Region attempts to address a gap in our knowledge concerning gender differences in the giving and receiving of social support in later years. Gender differences in (1) need for social support, (2) turning to formal assistance, (3) amount of formal assistance used, and (4) amount of informal assistance received were examined using analysis of variance and logistic regression procedures. The profile of social support that emerged suggests both similarities and differences in the way elderly men and women experience the giving and receiving of social support. Older women in this sample were found to be disadvantaged in the areas of income, health, years lived alone, and loneliness, relative to older men. Low-income was related to formal service use for older women, but not for older     

Women and Aging:

After an analysis of a 1985 Canadian national survey, a lack of conclusive results encouraged the researchers to examine how traditional research has failed women in terms of ignoring- ag-e.. gender, class, race, and sexual orientation. In additih, alternate research methodoloeies based on aualitative and feminist principles are discussed in order to direct future research.     

Women and Aging:

No abstract available for this article.     

Demographics: people and markets

The basics of demography are now basic to us business as well. Demographics combine demographic data with socioeconomic and geographic factors to help business and other managers know the market for their goods and services. This pamphlet explains market, product, and site analyses, discusses data sources and resources, and includes case studies involving major corporations. Post-war population trends have had an enormous impact on consumer and labor markets, bringing home to business the importance of taking advantage of demographic shifts. Advances in computerized access to data describing changes and increased consciousness of their economic significance has spurred the application of demographic knowledge by managers and the growth of the demographics information industry. The pamphlet describes the resources and methods of demographics including the creation and use of demographic data products.     

Intermarriage: Opportunity and Preference

The two-sex problem in the analysis of nuptiality can be reduced to the problem of separating factors that determine the opportunity to choose a certain category of marriage partner from factors representing preference for the same type of partner. A theory that enables opportunity factors to be separated from preference factors is presented in this paper, in the context of analysing the phenomenon of intermarriage. An index called ‘the marital index of social distance’ is derived and its properties discussed. The index, representing preference factors free of opportunity factors, can be calculated easily from marriage statistics detailing group affiliations of brides and grooms. The theory is applied to data on in-marriage of Australian sub-populations defined by birthplace, for the period 1954–83. It is shown that marital indices of social distance have remained relatively constant over time compared with in-marriage rates which have fluctuated according to representation in the marriage market.     

Women and Healthy Aging:

No abstract available for this article.     

Osteoporosis and Older Women:

Osteoporosis, a metabolic bone disorder, affects four times as many women as men. Each year 1.3 million fractures, primarily of the vertebra, hip, and wrist can be attributed to osteoporosis. Risk factors for the development of this disease include age, sex, body build, family history, race, loss of estrogen, calcium deficiency, sedentary lifestyle, smoking, and the excessive use of alcohol. Three common approaches used in the treatment and prevention of osteoporosis are hormone replacement therapies, nutrition interventions. and exercise programs. These strategies are aimed at maintaining or stabilizing bone mass and preventing further loss. Living with osteoporosis presents older women with a variety of physical, psychological, and social challenges. To maintain a productive and healthy lifestyle, older women must recognize their physical limitations and make adjustments in their daily lives to cope successfully with these changes.     

Adult Daughters and Mothers:

Quantitative research approaches have dominated the literature on factors contributine to careeiver stress. This aualitative study examined those dynami& of theidult daughter/mdther relationship which may contribute to the high stress levels reported by middle-aged female caregivers. In all 95 women participated in face-to-face individual, structured interviews. Trends in the data indicate that the more peerlike the motherldaughter relationship at the time of the caregiving experience, the less stress the adult daughter experiences as a caregiver. Implications for further research and practice are provided.     

Mentoring and Being Mentored:

This paper examines the interface of sexism and ageism when older women are part of a mentoring relationship as either mentors or prottgks. Specifically, issues related to transitional phases, chronological age, and causal attributions for success are reviewed. Educational policies more responsive to the needs of women mentors and protigis are suggested.     

Populations and infectious diseases: Dynamics and evolution

The host-parasite or host-pathogen system was analyzed from dynamical and evolutionary viewpoints using simple mathematical models incorporating vertical transmission, immunity and its loss. We first analyzed a model without density regulation of host population. In the analysis on dynamics, the condition for the pathogen to work as a density regulating factor was obtained. In the analysis on evolution, criteria for the evolution of host and pathogen were proposed. These criteria implies that the evolution of hosts should result in an increase in infected host density, whereas the evolution of pathogens a decrease in susceptible host density. The direction of evolution at some parameters of host and that of pathogen were examined when the parameters were independently and freely changeable. Among the parameters, only reduction in additional mortality due to infection was the evolutionary trend common to both host and pathogen. In all the other parameters examined, trend of evolution predicted in host is reversed in pathogen. We then analyzed whether the obtained criteria still hold in models with density regulation of hosts. Using randomly generated parameter sets, we obtained the result that the criteria should hold very likely though they do not always hold. We discussed evolution of virulence when there is a constraint between the traits.     

Widowhood and Mortality: A Meta-Analysis and Meta-Regression

The study of spousal bereavement and mortality has long been a major topic of interest for social scientists, but much remains unknown with respect to important moderating factors, such as age, follow-up duration, and geographic region. The present study examines these factors using meta-analysis. Keyword searches were conducted in multiple electronic databases, supplemented by extensive iterative hand searches. We extracted 1,377 mortality risk estimates from 123 publications, providing data on more than 500 million persons. Compared with married people, widowers had a mean hazard ratio (HR) of 1.23 (95% confidence interval (CI), 1.19–1.28) among HRs adjusted for age and additional covariates and a high subjective quality score. The mean HR was higher for men (HR, 1.27; 95% CI, 1.19–1.35) than for women (HR, 1.15; 95% CI, 1.08–1.22). A significant interaction effect was found between gender and mean age, with HRs decreasing more rapidly for men than for women as age increased. Other significant predictors of HR magnitude included sample size, geographic region, level of statistical adjustment, and study quality.     

积极老龄化与中国：观点与问题透视

人口老龄化问题日益严重，如何应对其带来的挑战受到国际社会的普遍关注，而积极老龄化的提出则为人们打开了一个新的视角。文章将在回顾积极老龄化国际发展历程的背景下，在理清我国老龄化政策实践与变迁脉络的基础上，从政治、经济、文化等视角分别对我国的年龄化问题进行描述与阐释，展现我国老龄化的现实图景，并以问题为导向，探寻我国的积极老龄化之路。     

The Lonely and Homeless: Causes and Consequences

Both, homelessness and loneliness are quite pervasive in North America. This study compared the causes of the loneliness experienced by the homeless to that of the general population. Two hundred and sixty six homeless and five hundred and ninety five men and women from the general population answered a 30 item yes/no questionnaire. The causes of loneliness were composed of the following five factors: Personal inadequacy, Developmental deficits, Unfulfilling intimate relationships, Relocation/significant separations, and Social marginality. The present results indicated that the causes of homeless loneliness are significantly different from those of the general population.