The 1997 conference of the International Association of Gerontology, to be held in Adelaide, Australia, is the first to be held in the southern hemisphere. If this issue of Ageing and Society is seen as a microcosm of the World Congress, this editorial provides an opportunity to bring an antipodean perspective to bear on our attempts to understand ageing and society.

The cultural strategies for the social integration of older people within their families of the three major ethnic groups in Singapore, the Chinese, Malays and Indians, is the focus of this paper. Analysis of data reveals three underlying principles, namely, reciprocity, elders as transmitters of cultural heritage, and the social significance of auspicious days and festivals. Taken together, the principles and strategies indicate the salient impact of cultural factors on the subjective experience of old age.

As part of a wider study of family caregiving, a sample of 297 women caring for an ageing parent were identified through a random statewide telephone survey involving over 26,000 households in Victoria, Australia. In addition to elder care, half these women were in paid employment and a third had dependent children. Overload was highest for carers with multiple roles, particularly those of parent or worker. Resentment in the caring role was highest for those who had fewer roles apart from elder care, particularly those who had quit work, and those without a partner. Life satisfaction was higher for partnered and working carers. These findings highlight the need for structures to support carers to maintain multiple roles, including greater flexibility in the workplace and encouragement of greater reliance on informal networks and formal services, both of which require increased societal acknowledgment of the elder care role.

A comparison between humour and ageing from the 1970s to the 1990s and findings from a historical study of how American artists portray older adults showed what appears to be little change in stereotypical representations of older people in one of the most widely read forms of humour in American popular culture, the comic strip. Variables were age, gender, and roles of people 56 years and over in strips published in the Washington Post during April of 1972, 1977, 1982, 1987, and 1992.

The number of older characters in American comic strips declined in the last ten years of the study. Men were more frequently represented than women. Women were almost equal to men in strong, positive roles despite the fact that they were represented 870 times and men 1511 times. Most women were portrayed in either positive or negative roles while a quarter of men were portrayed in indeterminate roles. The negative roles of women were double those of positive or strong roles, while the number of negative roles for men was three times the number of positive roles.

The objective of the study was to discover what fairly independent residents living in long-term residential care think about home care as an alternative. A stratified systematic sample was drawn from a one-day census of patients in all residential homes in Finland on 2 December, 1991. A postal survey was used for data collection in December, 1992. Respondents who preferred home care were compared with respondents preferring residential care according to length of stay, health, functional ability and health-related quality of life. Most respondents preferred institutional care. Preference for home care was explained most strongly by emotional factors, unwillingness for residential care at admission, and still having a home to return to. Shorter length of stay also predicted preference for home care. Those who preferred home care admitted they would need much formal care after discharge. People living in residential homes are rarely ready for discharge home, because of limitations in their physical ability or of their unwillingness to change their site of care.

A revolution is occurring in information exchange among gerontologists worldwide. For research investigators the increasingly easy accessibility of public use datasets promises to facilitate both research training and useful exchange of evidence. A brief history of the development of public use datasets for research in ageing is provided, and datasets of particular interest are described. While the illustrations focus on experience in the United States the implications of these developments for training and communication among gerontologists worldwide are noted.

This paper, after reporting some research indicating the long-term effects of the experience of the Second World War, looks at how such a traumatic event and its sequelae should be understood in terms of the theoretical framework supporting the use of reminiscence work, most especially Erikson's life stages. Traumatic memories of the war are rarely reported in published accounts of reminiscence work. It is pointed out that this may be partly due to people with painful memories not volunteering for reminiscence groups, and that Coleman's (1986) research data would support this conclusion. Coleman's work has not been sufficiently ‘heard’ because of the much stronger framing of reminiscence as stimulation by such authors as Norris (1986). The paper looks at interpersonal difficulties of servicemen and civilians in communicating about the war; and why they might well find it easier to utilise the emotionally simpler and less unpleasant accounts offered by the media, especially film. The leaders of reminiscence groups, often having had little training, operate without awareness of such issues, and within a framework where ‘reminiscence as stimulation’ has been transmuted into the trivialising ‘reminiscence as fun’. It is suggested that mental health workers should offer regular supervision and training to reminiscence group leaders. The need for clinical awareness of the importance of the war in shaping people's lives both before and after the war is highlighted, as is the need for readily available and sympathetic psychotherapeutic services for this cohort.