With an increasing number of persons entering old age and having longer life expectancies, there has been a consequent alteration of family dynamics, such that middle aged individuals frequently provide support to their older parents. At the same time, the middle aged person is often in the midst of raising his or her own children, attending to personal aspirations, and enacting the role of spouse.

This study investigated support from middle aged offspring to elderly parents in a rural Mennonite community. Information on the expectation for and consequences of support to parents was gathered from pastors and middle aged family members in two Mennonite conferences, as well as from a Lutheran sample with a similar historical background.

Pastoral interviews showed no differences in doctrinal beliefs regarding familial care of parents, although the institutional church responses varied. Middle aged offspring in the Lutheran congregation reported less involvement in religious practice than did members of either Mennonite congregation. Burden of caring for elderly parents felt by middle aged people showed no statistically significant differences between congregations; however, greater reported religiosity was associated with lesser burden.

An assumed fixed maximum life span was involved in a much publicized prediction of a compression of morbidity in late life. The maximum life span has major weaknesses as a measure. The “usual life span“, or age to which 1.0% of a birth cohort survives, is suggested as a more useful measure.

Statistics were derived from recent United States and Canadian censuses on the age above which 1.0% of the population is contained, from recent United States and Canadian mortality data on the age above which 1.0% of the deaths were reported, and from recent Canadian life tables on the age to which 1.0% of a cohort would survive. These statistics suggest that the usual life span increased at least 2 years in the 1960–1980 period in North America.

This study examined the discriminant validity of the Multi-focus Assessment Scale (MAS). The MAS was administered to three groups of older adults varying in ability to live independently: Extended Care in-patients; Assessment Clinic out-patients; and independently functioning elderly. Analysis of variance showed strong group differences on all of the scales. Discriminant function analysis indicated that the MAS variables predicted group membership with a high degree of accuracy. Replications using random samples indicated the accuracy rates were stable. It was argued that cases of misclassification were largely due to overlap between subgroups of Extended Care and Assessment Clinic patients in terms of their capacity to engage in independent functioning. Also addressed in this study was the identification of variables on the MAS critical to independent functioning. The results indicated that there was a general lowering of functioning rather than specific patterns of preserved strengths or deficits. This was consistent with the presence of a general factor. The need for additional normative data for the MAS was discussed.

This paper explores lay health care beliefs and practices. More specifically, the research tests the hypothesis that traditional “popular” health beliefs and self care practices are most likely to be found among older persons. Data were obtained through personal interviews with a randomly selected cross-sectional sample of 524 residents of Winnipeg, Canada. Statistical analysis was intended to assess the relationship between age and lay health care beliefs and practices, and to evaluate the relative explanatory power of age compared to other sociodemographic factors; self-reported health status; and medical care contact. The results suggest that the relationship between age and lay conceptions of health and self-care responses to illness is a rather complex one. Furthermore, respondents' age alone explained little of the variance in any of the dependent measures. Finally, this study revealed that although lay self-care beliefs and behaviour exist, they are not limited to older persons.

Aging and Health Care: A Social Perspective gives the reader a straightforward presentation of information. Users of Aging and Health Care can feel confident that they are receiving accurate information, presented with readable style and clarity. The purpose of the book (as outlined in the Preface) is to integrate social elements of aging, with a discussion of health and the health care system, in the light of an aging society. Overall, the book seems to succeed in achieving its fundamental objectives. Any critique I would have of the book is based largely on what is not said. Many readers are likely to feel that Aging and Health Care is a “no frills” text. A broad range of topics are presented, but many could be afforded extra space for expanded emphasis. The prospective audience for Aging and Health Care should therefore be evaluated carefully. Instructors can use it as a basic reading for courses in social gerontology, but should also be prepared to supplement the chapters during class sessions. However, for the reader who desires an easy-to-follow introduction to gerontology, with the objective of identifying some areas of personal interest for subsequent in-depth follow-up, Aging and Health Care should be very appropriate and helpful.

The first half of this book reviews what aging is like for most people including their health status and the help they receive from family and friends. The second half focuses on the formal health care system and the adequacy of it. The book is well-written and has a number of strengths, the outstanding one being the numerous references to Canadian research. The book also has weaknesses. It compares and contrasts the health care systems of Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom, but does this so briefly that the significant differences within each of these systems are lost. The book criticizes the Canadian health care system for being “over medicalized” to the detriment of the care of older people. This point is emphasized to the extent that it comes across as strong anti-physician bias. The authors emphasize the need for a range of community services to offset the need or both acute and long-term institutional care. They provide helpful descriptions of many such services, for example, adult day care and respite care, but fail to deal with the problem of lack of articulation among the various levels of care. For individuals new to the field of aging, the book provides an excellent introduction to key concepts and research findings. For the more experienced practitioners and academics, it provides useful references and discussion of recent studies.

The book discusses the socio-cultural background of the Euro-American elderly; focuses on social institutions such as family, the ethnic neighbourhood and the church; addresses programs and services; identifies program models and describes some intervention strategies. The issues discussed appear to apply to the ethnic elderly from a range of ethnic groups in addition to the ones analyzed. Besides practitioners, this book should prove of interest to researchers, policy makers and gerontology students.

This study represents a significant contribution to the theoretical development of the social psychology of aging. The authors favor an interpretative approach to aging while emphasizing the features of the structural context. The theoretical challenge outlined in the book revolves around maintaining an equilibrium between the two points of view and examining the mechanisms that link the macro and the micro levels of society.

The introduction provides a clear overview of the theoretical questions which reflect the essence of this book. A group of articles examines the socio-historic and theoretic roots of the interpretative approach in the general development of human sciences theories as well as in the work of G.H. Mead and the pragmatic American trend. Another series of articles concentrates on the changes which have taken place in the modern western societies; the authors examine the impact created by this revolution on the relationship between the generations, on the life span and on the relationship between the aged and death. Other contributions are made at a more micro-social level. These focus on the support systems available to the elderly as well as the networks of friends. The last article underlines the importance of adopting a comparative approach for all theoretical development.