To understand the change and development of people's attitudes toward death over the life span, a 62-item attitude questionnaire on death and dying was administered to 90 adults. Participants included five females and five males in each of nine age categories: 18-20, 20-24, 25-29, 30-34, 35-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-64, and 65 or older. Participants…

Studied the role of age in the attitude change process by exposing older and younger women to persuasive information presented at different speeds. No overall age differences in the amount of attitude change were observed. (Author)

This paper proposes a model, with experience as the key concept, which focuses on the continuity of changes throughout adulthood. It assumes that as people move through time, they continually make experiences, the quantity, range and content of which may vary across individuals. A distinction is suggested between the process of "making…

The Gerontology Research Instructional Program (GRIP) wad developed and implemented in the Dallas, Oregon, Public School System to determine: (1) the feelings and concepts toward aging held by elementary and secondary school students; (2) the effectiveness of a variety of planned instructional activities in changing those feelings; and (3) the…

Focuses on the relationship between social environment and the older individual. By utilizing the Social Breakdown Syndrome a cycle of events is defined by the Geriatric Sexuality Breakdown Syndrome, in which an older individual is initially predisposed to diminished sexual activity to the end point of self-identification as nonsexual. (Author)

Although anecdotal material suggests that parenting changes people, experimental tests in this area are lacking. Undergraduates (N=139) and their same-sex parents read one of eight summaries of parent-child interactions which varied in terms of success and in terms of the sex of the story character. Descriptions were reduced to three parent…

Two-hundred seventy women, divided into three age groups and three income levels, were asked to evaluate the importance of five family-related developmental tasks, as defined by Robert Havighurst. Results affirm that younger women facing decisions about marriage, family, and home consider these tasks significantly less important than do older…

Research in aging has placed considerable faith in data collected from the recollections and reminiscences of older people. Retrospective reports were verified against previously collected data to determine the accuracy of topical information provided by anamnestic reports as well as the types of persons most likely to be accurate reporters.…

Several works have suggested that life proceeds in a pattern of developmental stages characterized by expansion during the early adult years and restriction, or withdrawal, after middle age. Postulating that self-concept might also be expected to reflect this curvilinear pattern of life stages, the author explored differences in adult self-concept…

This paper explores the developmental changes in meaning and purpose across the life course. Thirty males and females at the developmental stages of young adulthood (16-29 years), early middle-age (30-49 years), late middle-age (50-64 years), young-old (65-74 years) and old-old (75+ years) completed the Reker and Peacock (1981) Life Attitude…

Research has begun to define the older adult population, not as a homogeneous sample, but as at least two groups with different concerns. To determine the factors contributing to retirement satisfaction, two groups of retirees, i.e., young-olds, aged 75 and under (N=49) and old-olds, over age 75 (N=49), completed the Individual Status Assessment…

The symposium celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Division of Continuing Education at the State University of New York at Buffalo; changes in higher education during those 50 years have moved adult learning into a primary area of attention. Traditional lines of learning are bluring and assumptions about the adult learner are rapidly changing.…

Only a longitudinal study, in which retrospective reports can be verified against data collected earlier, can determine what topics tend to be reported accurately and whether certain types of individuals are more likely to be accurate reporters. A representative group of adults who became parents 50 years ago are now part of the oldest and longest…

This paper is concerned with adaptation through time and with life time as differentiated from calendar or historical time. Life time is that of socially defined time; thus the author examines the system of social expectations regarding age-appropriate behavior which requires adaptive behavior on the part of adults. (SJL)