Francis G. Caro

Achieving a productive aging society

Preface by Scott A. Bass Achieving a Productive Aging Society by Francis G. Caro, Scott A. Bass, and Yung-Ping Chen Age, Productivity, and Transcendence by Harry R. Moody Labor Market Obstacles to Productive Aging by Joseph F. Quinn and Richard V. Burkhauser Ageism in the Labor Market versus Productive Aging by Alan Walker and Philip Taylor New Technologies and the Aging Work Force by David C. Mowery and Mark S. Kamlet Is Unretirement Unprecedented? by W. Andrew Achenbaum and Malcolm H. Morrison Formal Volunteer Work Among Older Americans by A. Regula Herzog and James N. Morgan Caregiving and Productive Aging by Pamela Doty and Baila Miller The Political Economy of Productive Aging: Long-term Care by Laura Katz Olson Religious Institutions and Productive Aging: Lost Traditions/Horizons Reclaimed by W. Andrew Achenbaum The Lessons of Television: Learning Productive Aging as a Social Role by George Gerbner A Strategy for Productive Aging: Education in Later Life by Harry R. Moody Womens Lives, Womens Work: Productivity, Gender, and Aging by Martha Holstein Cultural and Ethnic Contexts of Aging Productively Over the Life-Course: An Economic Network Framework by James S. Jackson, Toni C. Antonucci, and Rose C. Gibson Continuing Limits on Productive Aging: The Lesser Rewards for Working Women by Karen C. Holden Conclusion: Defining the Place of the Elderly for the 21st Century by Robert Morris Index

Receptivity to Volunteering in the Immediate Postretirement Period

Higher rates of volunteering might be expected of elders in the period immediately after retirement because they tend to be in relatively good health and have fewer competing obliga tions. Data from the Commonwealth Productive Aging Survey, a telephone survey of a repre sentative national sample of 2,999 people 55 years of age and older, confirmed findings of previous research that retirement is not associated with higher rates of volunteering. However, in the first and second years following termination of employment, nonvolunteers show a heightened receptivity to volunteering; that is, they indicate more willingness to take on volunteer assignments and an ability to do so than do elders who are employed or who have been out of the workforce for longer periods. The findings suggest that volunteer coordinators should focus volunteer recruiting efforts on elders who are about to leave jobs or who have recently left jobs.

Formal and Informal Volunteer Activity and Spousal Caregiving Among Older Adults

On the basis of data from the 1998 and 2000 waves of the Health and Retirement Study, this study tested two alternative hypotheses, role overload and role extension, about the relationship between volunteering and spousal caregiving among older married persons. Spousal caregiving was not significantly associated with the likelihood of formal or informal volunteering for men; however, female caregivers were found to be less likely than noncaregivers to have engaged in formal or informal volunteering to a certain extent, thus lending partial support to the role overload hypothesis. Functional health status and other human and cultural capital resources were significant predictors of both formal and informal volunteering for both men and women. Future studies need to examine in more depth the effect of spousal caregiving on volunteering, taking caregiving burden and stress into consideration, to more fully understand these two types of productive activity in later life.

Productive aging and civic participation

Abstract We argue that civic participation is one form of productive aging. We explore how age is related to different types and levels of civic participation among adults in Boston, MA. To accomplish our analysis, we employ recently released survey data from the Boston Area Study (BAS). Our results indicate that voting is the most common form of civic expression among Bostonians, followed by attending local government meetings. Volunteering for political organizations and candidates is the least common form of activity. Educational status is a strong predictor of most forms of civic-oriented activity and it is consistently related to activity for those persons 60 years old and older. Further, we evaluate a model of civic participation that shows a curvilinear relationship between age and various activities; this pattern holds after controlling for a number of other covariates. We discuss the contributions and limitations of our research and indicate additional steps that should be taken in future research to address some unresolved issues.

An Overview of Age-Friendly Cities and Communities Around the World

Efforts to make cities and communities more age-friendly have gained significant momentum in recent years. Population aging and increased urbanization have challenged governments and other civic organizations to consider how best to develop a community that is accessible for all of its inhabitants. The growing interest in the age-friendly movement was the impetus for this special issue of the Journal of Aging & Social Policy. Because of a very strong response to our call for papers, we are publishing a double issue on age-friendly cities and communities. This introduction provides a general overview to current age-friendly city elements, features, and initiatives that

Choosing Among Residential Options: Results of a Vignette Experiment

Older people who experience declining health are often faced with difficult decisions about possible residential relocation. The research aim was to determine how five distinct dimensions—functional status, features of current housing, social networks, features of retirement communities, and financial considerations—affect decisions to relocate to a retirement community. A vignette experiment with a factorial design was conducted involving both older people and adult children who were concerned with an aging parent. Use of the Internet for administration of the experiment made it possible to deliver information to research participants through video clips. Research participants were influenced by each of the dimensions; however, functional status of the vignette persons had the greatest impact, and financial considerations the least. Adult children were more likely to recommend moves than were older people. The research is suggestive of the potential for use of vignette experiments for a fuller understanding of relocation decisions.

Workforce Issues in Residential Care Facilities in Rural China

This study examined contemporary frontline workforce issues related to residential care for elders in rural China. Residential facilities in rural China are in transition from exclusively providing shelter to childless elders to providing long-term care for frail elders. These facilities are also under pressure to improve the quality of services that they provide. The study is based on in-depth interviews with administrators and field observations of facilities. The study focused on the following issues related to the workforce: recruitment and retention, training, work environment, workforce organization, regulations, compensation, and career ladders. The implications of resident characteristics for demands on the work force were examined. The study found that lack of skilled personnel is one of the major reasons that the overwhelming majority of facilities deny admission to frail and demented elders. Improving workers’ skill is critical if these facilities are to meet the increasing demand for institutional long-term care needs.

Using the Internet to Administer More Realistic Vignette Experiments

This article illustrates an innovative method of administering stated choice studies (or vignette experiments) using computers and the Internet. The use of video clips to deliver information to research participants makes vignettes more realistic, helps to engage interest of research participants, and can reduce framing effects. The method also provides research participants with interactive options before making judgments. A study to determine the views of older people regarding residential options is used to illustrate the method. Even older people with limited experience in using computers participated successfully. The study findings showed that research participants responded both to the audiovisual characteristics of vignette persons and to the variables in the vignette structure.

Older People as Researchers: Benefits to Research and the Community.

Involvement of older people is a key ingredient in an instructional program conducted at the University of Massachusetts Boston. A gerontology certificate program offered at the university is designed to strengthen older peoples ability to make productive contributions to aging services. Students take a course in applied social research that involves them in conducting an actual applied research project on an issue affecting the elderly. The instructor plays the lead role, but students contribute in significant ways. Subsequently, older students often become vocal advocates for legislative proposals that are based on study recommendations. The involvement of older people both enhances the research and demonstrates to older people that they can employ action‐research effectively to further policy advocacy efforts.

Global Activity Motivation and Activities of Older People

Measures of global motivation to be active might help to explain the overall activity patterns late in life that, in turn, might help us to better understand the nature of successful and productive aging. We report on a study in which we developed a measure of global activity motivation and examined its relationship to four activities: working, volunteering, exercising, and taking classes. An opportunity sample of 193 persons age 55 and older from eastern Massachusetts responded to a self-administered questionnaire on types of activity and motivations for engaging in these activities. The data show that a four-item global activity motivation measure is present and that it is positively associated with participation in a count of the four activities and two of the specific activities: working and volunteering. This analysis demonstrates that global activity motivation is helpful in understanding patterns of activity among older people beyond the contribution of motivation for specific activities. We offer suggestions on how activity organizers can make use of the global activity motivation concept to encourage older people to engage in activities.