While it is clear that health status is important in determining morale, and that social contact also contributes to morale, the interaction of health status and social contact on morale is not well understood. Elderly frail community residents (N=40) were interviewed twice in a 1-year period about their contact with friends, grandchildren,…

Although depression is considered to be common in the elderly, reliable rates of prevalence are lacking. Studies have shown that age differences on measures of depressive symptomatology can be attributed to higher levels of somatic complaints. In order to examine whether the association between somatic and depressive symptoms varies as a function…

Previous research has shown that heightened fear of crime in the elderly does not reflect actual crime rates as much as a perceived vulnerability due to diminished physical and economic resources. As part of a larger Los Angeles study on personal emergency response systems, this study examined the relationships among fear of crime, crime rates,…

The 1980's may be remembered as the decade of the older woman, due in part to demographics and also to public awareness heightened by the women's movement. If psychology is to exert a constructive force towards the optimization of mental health of older women, it is essential for psychologists to be aware of the limits of current knowledge and the…

Using data from a common cross-site protocol administered at study enrollment, in this article we examine key characteristics of 2,729 participants in the Women, Co-Occurring Disorders and Violence Study (WCDVS), including demographics, physical health, mental health, substance abuse, trauma experiences, parenting status, and past history of…