This report describes a technique developed as part of the As Parents Grow Older (APGO) Project at the University of Michigan Institute of Gerontology which uses audiotape recordings in the analysis and evaluation of group intervention programs such as those designed to aid middle-aged adults in understanding and caring for their aging parents and…

Communication imposes a social order and interaction patterns which individuals accept as children, but it is not known to what extent or when in the life cycle preferred rhythms of social involvement and withdrawal are established. To assess the extent to which the elderly lose control of their patterns of interaction, case studies of four…