Gerontology

by Wilmoth, Janet M., Ph.D.; Ferraro, Kenneth F.

• ISBN13: 9780826102300
• ISBN10: 0826102301
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-09-11
• Publisher: Springer Pub Co

Summary

Contributed and edited by some of the most important and influential thought-leaders in gerontology, this new edition provides a multi-disciplinary collection of research and commentary on the issues and trends critical to defining the field today. Focusing on the most important attributes of gerontology, this new volume seeks to develop a paradigm and awareness of the process of human aging and helps us understand how the scientific contributions from many different fields of research contribute to a unified and cohesive meaning. Some of the topics covered include: Demographic perspectives Disability concepts and measurement Evolution of gerontology Exercise Nutrition Politics and policy Retirement and financial security Social forces, life-course consequences For professionals, researchers, and students working in the field of gerontology, this comprehensive and multidisciplinary review will serve to clarify our fundamental image of what aging is and enhance the

Table of Contents

Contributors	ix
Preface	xiii
Acknowledgments	xv
Introduction	xvii
PART I AGING SCHOLARSHIP	1	(56)
1 The Fountain of Gerontological Discovery	3	(10)
Janet M. Wilmoth and Kenneth F. Ferraro
2 The Evolution of Gerontology as a Scientific Field of Inquiry	13	(22)
Kenneth F. Ferraro
3 Demographic Perspectives on Aging	35	(22)
Janet M. Wilmoth and Charles F. Longino, Jr.
PART II PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF AGING	57	(124)
4 Cellular and Organismal Aspects of Senescence and Longevity	59	(30)
David J. Waters
5 Cognitive Aging	89	(22)
Aimée M. Surprenant and Ian Neath
6 Disability Concepts and Measurement: Contributions of the Epidemiology of Disability to Gerontological Inquiry	111	(22)
Fredric D. Wolinsky and Douglas K. Miller
7 The Role of Nutrition in the Older Individual	133	(20)
Dorothy M. Morré
8 Exercise and Aging	153	(28)
Michael G. Flynn
PART III SOCIAL ASPECTS OF AGING	181	(84)
9 Socioemotional Aspects of Aging	183	(20)
Karen L. Fingerman and Brooke N. Baker
10 Age Structures, Aging, and the Life Course	203	(20)
Linda K. George
11 Social Forces, Life Course Consequences: Cumulative Disadvantage and "Getting Alzheimer's"	223	(22)
Kathryn Z. Douthit and Dale Dannefer
12 Humanistic Gerontology and the Meaning(s) of Aging	245	(20)
Thomas R. Cole and Michelle Sierpina
PART IV PUBLIC POLICY	265	(60)
13 Retirement and Financial Security: An Economist Thinks Out Loud	267	(22)
Timothy M. Smeeding
14 Social Lives in Later Life	289	(18)
Christine L. Himes and Ying Fang
15 Politics and Policy in the Lives of Older Americans	307	(18)
Robert B. Hudson
Afterword
16 The Gerontological Imagination	325	(18)
Kenneth F. Ferraro
Subject Index	343	(6)
Name Index	349