The four papers presented in this document address a wide range of issues in the field of gerontology. The first paper provides detailed information on the residential and mobility patterns of the elderly population of New York City. The second paper integrates general concepts about attitude development with more specific interpretations of facts about aging; it is a step toward meeting the need to study children's attitudes toward the elderly, taking into account the complexity and multi-form nature of attitude development. The third paper provides an in-depth descriptive analysis of how families cope with severe illness; the author's conception of illness in the aging family focuses attention of family growth as a potential outcome, wherein illness is seen as a developmental challenge to a family. The fourth and final paper looks at the role of the grandmother, with particular reference to religious-cultural ethnicity brought from the old world and the cultural traits acquired in the new world; a three-generational study, its treatment of ethnic change and stability offers insights into the strains that acculturation brings about in the process of adaptation to aging. (Author/CS)