This study of 106 elderly Central Missourians examines religious behavior as an indication of "disengagement." It is argued that religiosity must be measured in both organizational forms such as attending religious services and the more subjective nonorganizational forms including prayer and listening to religious services. (Author)

Age changes in categorization and conceptual styles were studied using an object-sorting task in 276 subjects representing seven age groups. Significant age effects were found in the analysis of variance for four of six measures; there were no significant sex or interaction effects. (Author)

Behavioral observations were conducted on aged mentally impaired females in an institutional environment on a weekly basis for a two-year period. Half the subjects remained stable in the level of their behavioral functioning. Stable subjects evidenced less serious medical conditions, had better comprehension of their situations and were more…

The development of functional dependency in functionally independent aged in a community was observed by Public Health Nurses over a period of five years. Among the 138 survivors observed for five years the emergence of functional dependency was slow. The five-year risk of becoming functionally dependent was highest in Self-Care. (Author)

Young (N=18) and older (N=18) adults participated in a vocabulary task involving varying degrees of risk with a payoff structure that varied either directly or inversely with risk. In contrast to prior research using constant payoff structures, results did not indicate that older adults are more cautious than young adults. (Author)

This paper describes a two-stage sampling design for obtaining probability samples of the elderly and other specialized populations. Results indicate elderly individuals will respond, use of the design does not appear to increase sample bias, and the method is extremely inexpensive. (Author)

This longitudinal analysis examines changes in voluntary association participation levels over a four-year period using data from the Duke Adaptation Study (N=374) and over a two and one-half year period using data from Oberlin, Ohio (N=104). The findings showed the extent of participation was high in both samples. (Author)

Recent research in the quality of life has identified a sense of security as a significant component. Taking its negative, fear, the personal and structural factors associated with fear of walking around one's neighborhood were assessed in a secondary analysis using data from a 1973 representative national sample. (Author)

Widows and widowers, grouped by whether their spouse died of short-term or chronic illness, were compared on three criteria of medical adjustment. (Author/EJT)

This study was designed to assess listeners' ability to judge a taped speaker's age and to measure the extent to which personality ratings are affected by perceived age. In two experiments, undergraduate subjects demonstrated that speaker age can be reliably estimated over a wide age range for both female and male voices. (Author)

Sleep patterns of elderly subjects (N=12) differed from young adult levels. When sleep variables were compared with individual changes in intellectual function measured across the seventh through 10th decades of life, a positive correlation was found between time in REM sleep and several longitudinal measures of mental functioning. (Author)

This paper reports on a four-year longitudinal study of 60 elderly women. Data about their happiness and social activities were collected using the Affect Balance Scale and nine measures of socially relevant activities. Direct relationships between happiness and social activity among elderly people were found. (Author)

Investigates changes in personal satisfaction over the whole life course by means of life graphs and their determinants, administered within a four-year interval to 371 individuals (age 45-70). Events play a different role at different stages of life and seem to be measured against an implicit schedule, traumatic or acceptable. (Author)

Younger (N=48) and older (N=48) males participated in a vocabulary task involving varying degrees of risk under neutral, supportive, and challenging instructions. Results indicated older adults were more cautious, selected tasks with higher probabilities of success, and were less likely to raise their level of aspiration following success. (Author)

A life cycle explanation of residential mobility is presented. It posits that age-related events in a normative context influence moving probabilities for homogeneous populations who have relatively uniform socialization. (Author)