Very little is known of the longitudinal changes that occur in contact with children and participation in social activities during late-life widowhood. Using data on social networks and activities drawn from the Australian Longitudinal Study of Ageing, trajectories of change in social engagement were modeled for 1,266 participants (mean age 76.7…

This article reports on a study of older community-dwelling Australian adults which aimed to test whether a relatively unexplored construct, proactive coping, could have a role in purpose in life, personal growth, and life satisfaction. A total of 109 women and 115 men (Mean age = 75.04 yrs, SD = 6.66) completed a questionnaire containing…

Consistent with the global trend to shift responsibility for retirement income provision from the public purse to individuals has been encouragement to save more and to manage investment strategy. Analyzing data from 2,300 respondents to a randomly distributed questionnaire, this article focuses on the motivational importance of social norms. The…

This article explores a relatively new and little understood phenomenon, that of the Australian Grey Nomads. Every year increasing numbers of older Australians take to the road. This article explores the phenomenon both empirically and theoretically. A grounded approach is used by which the experience is explored from an ethnographic account…

Studied daily lives of 60 elderly widows using method of experience sampling. Investigated response of elderly people to experience sampling as means of collecting information about their activities, thoughts, and moods during course of one week. Method proved acceptable to most participants and yielded reliable, valid data about home lives.…

The article adopts a developmental approach to successful human aging by exploring the concept of generativity in relation to a study of older Australians' lived experiences of involvement in the family and community. Qualitative data, collected through focus group interviews, were analyzed interpretively using recent developments in Erikson's…

The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) is frequently used in epidemiological surveys to screen for depression, especially among older adults. This article addresses the problem of non-completion of a short form of the CES-D (CESD-10) in a mailed survey of 73- to 78-year-old women enrolled in the Australian Longitudinal Study…

The current study investigated the nature of subjective cognitive complaints of older adults in relation to a broad array of individual cognitive functions known to decline with age. A 60-item questionnaire was developed to examine: (1) whether older adults experience problems with these cognitive functions (problems with cognition); (2) the…

Explored relationship between two dimensions of social interaction and well-being (quantity and adequacy of social contact) in 1050 older Australians. Results indicated that respondents' assessments of the adequacy of their social contacts, rather than the amount of social contact per se, was a critical determinant of well-being in old age.…

Evaluated marital fairness, or subjective balance between spouses' gains and losses, by surveying 134 married Australians representing 5 family life cycle phases. Findings showed husbands felt more equitably treated both initially and after children's departure than during phases with children in home, wives showed little variation with phase, and…

Focuses on subjective well being as proposed by Lawton (1991), and the idea that most scales share the concepts of positive and negative affect. This hypothesis was tested with two well being scales, using 1,717 participants from the Australian Longitudinal Study of Aging. Each scale contained factors of positive and negative affect. (Author/JDM)

Tested Australian undergraduates' (N=179) knowledge of mental health in old age. Results showed women scored higher than men and scores rose with age and with contact when age was partialed out. Australian students averaged two more items correct than did the American students for whom the test was developed. (Author)

Examined attributions used by pre- and postmenopausal women (N=105) to explain mood. After reading a diary written by a middle-aged woman, participants rated menopausal symptoms, environment, and age as likely causes of the woman's mood. Menopausal symptoms were rated as a salient source of attribution for negative mood. (NRB)

Develops explanation based on personal construct theory for why mourning and reminiscence are effective therapeutic processes in work with the elderly. Therapeutic case studies illustrate characteristics of these two processes and the relationship between them. (Author/TE)

Sought global assessments of marital equitability from 62 older adults, and compared men's and women's global equity feelings concerning their relationships with spouses, aged parents, and adult children. Forty younger adults rated equity of their marriages and relationships with parents and grandparents. Majority of both generations' involvements…