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This paper explores the embodied dimensions of computer and internet use in later life, and examines how technology use relates to constructions and experiences of the ageing body. It is argued that previous research on technology use and embodiment has neglected older bodies, in contrast to research on gender and disability. Furthermore, while earlier theorisations presented internet use as disembodied, it is argued that the experience of using such technologies is grounded in our embodiment. In the light of these limitations and arguments for more complete theories of the body, this paper explores how technology use relates to various aspects of embodiment. These issues are examined in the light of data from qualitative interviews and time-use diaries completed by retirees in 17 households in the United Kingdom. By examining the 'technobiographies' of these older computer users, it is shown that changes in body techniques are prompted and in some cases required by broader cultural and technological change. The findings evince the process of acquiring computing skills as an embodied competency, and as a form of 'practical knowledge' that can only be 'learned by doing'. These experiences of technology use were embedded within constructions and experiences of ageing bodies. Although the participants drew on discourses of ageing in complex ways, their coding of computer technologies in terms of the competences of youth often reproduced hierarchies between young and old bodies. KEY WORDS--embodiment, computers, internet, older adults, lifecourse, biographies. doi: 10.1017/S0144686X10000164

The portrayal of older characters in television commercials has over time become more varied and positive. This study examines how different portrayals of older characters relate to self-stereotyping, a process through which older individuals apply their beliefs about older people in general to themselves and behave accordingly. The study thereby seeks to connect, as few have previously done, cultural studies and critiques of media portrayals with psychological studies of the effects of self-stereotyping. Sixty participants aged 65-75 years were primed with television commercials that portrayed older characters in different ways: 'warm and incompetent', 'warm and competent', and 'cold and competent'. It was hypothesised that priming with warm/incompetent portrayals would have a negative effect on memory performance because such representations match the dominant stereotype, and that the effect would occur only among older people who identify with their own age group. It was found that the participants who identified with their own age group did indeed show impaired memory performance after priming with warm/incompetent portrayals, but also that the same effect was found after priming with warm/competent portrayals. The findings are discussed in terms of resistance against stereotyping by older individuals themselves as well as by media producers. KEY WORDS--television commercials, self-stereotyping, memory performance, age identity. doi: 10.1017/S0144686X10000152

This paper reviews the position of old age in the societies of post-Roman Europe, from the fifth to the 10th centuries. Drawing on both primary and secondary literary and material sources of the period, I suggest that living beyond the age of 60 years was an uncommon experience throughout the early Middle Ages. Not only was achieving old age a minority experience, it seems to have been particularly concentrated among the senior clergy. This, together with the growing importance of the Christian Church as the institution that stabilised post-Roman society, the decline of urban living and its attendant culture of leisure and literacy, and the transformation of kinship into a symbolic 'family under God' contributed to a more favourable status for old age, or at least one that was particularly favourable for older men. This was based not so much upon the accumulation with age of wealth and privilege, but upon the moral worth of old age as a stage of life. The early Middle Ages, the so-called 'Dark Ages', was in this respect a relatively distinctive period in the history of old age. With all around instability and the future uncertain and often threatening, survival into old age was a rare but frequently revered attainment. KEY WORDS- old age, early Middle Ages, Christian Church, life expectancy.

This paper assesses the impact of disturbing life events over five years on the wellbeing of 340 people aged 80-84 years at baseline, by analysing data from a longitudinal survey in Switzerland. The guiding proposition was that the negative effect of life events is moderated by the event domain, i.e. health, deaths and changes in family setting and relationships, and by cognitive adaptation to one's own health state (adopting a more or less optimistic view). Multi-level regression that controlled for the effect of socio-demographic and health factors was used. Corroborating the first hypothesis, a model that differentiated the event categories, instead of their additive inclusion, gave the best fit. In support of the second hypothesis, it was shown that the positive impact of self-rated health reduced the negative effect of life events on wellbeing for survivors, but not for those who died within five years. This suggests that the former made more optimistic appraisals of their mental and physical health, while the latter adjusted their subjective health rating to their functional abilities. Survivors had better psychological resources for coping with disturbing life events, while the deceased lacked these resources, which buffered the impact of negative events. The psychological meaning of stressful events at the end of life is discussed. By encouraging optimistic self-evaluations of health, and raising awareness of the range of normal functioning of older people, health- and social-care practitioners can promote the maintenance of meaningful lives in old age. KEY WORDS--life events, wellbeing, old age, mortality, multi-level analysis.

This study examines the mediating role of psychological resources on life satisfaction, an indicator of subjective wellbeing. The evidence identifies several life events and changing circumstances that can be potentially detrimental to the wellbeing of older adults. Based on the literature, a theoretical model was developed with the hypothesis that adaptation to potentially adverse events draws on psychological resources central to the self. The study participants were a random sample of 423 community-dwelling people aged 70 years and over. All respondents were interviewed in their own homes using a structured schedule. Quantitative data were obtained on age, gender, social support, marital status, physical functioning, bodily pain, loneliness, isolation and housing difficulties. Subjective well-being was assessed by the life satisfaction index, and the psychological mediator was conceptualised as a measure of environmental mastery. The first round of analyses found that variations in well-being were associated with housing difficulties, isolation, loneliness, physical functioning, pain, support networks and marital status. The full model established perfect mediation by environmental mastery occurred for the variables housing problems and physical functioning, and partial mediation occurred for the variable loneliness--supporting the original hypothesis. The results add to the evidence from an increasing number of studies that demonstrates how psychological resources underlie the processes of adaptation to the changing situations that accompany increasing age and prevent negative outcomes. KEY WORDS--subjective wellbeing, older people, psychological resources, environmental mastery, mediation.

Gerontologists have recognised the important influence of leisure activity on the mental and physical health of older adults. To date, however, there have been few studies of the patterns of participation in leisure activity among older adults in Hong Kong. This study examines a large representative sample of Hong Kong older adults and the associations between their socio-economic and health characteristics and their leisure activities. The data are from a cross-sectional survey of 2,180 respondents aged 60 or more years, conducted in 2000 by the Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department. There were full records for 2,144 respondents. Among the participation rates in the seven categories of leisure activities, watching television of listening to radio was the highest, while the lowest was for playing mahjong or cards. The characteristics that significantly correlated with the level of participation differed by the activity. Although no consistent pattern emerged, gender, education, employment status, receiving welfare benefits, self-rated health and functional impairment were the strongest correlates for most types of leisure activity. The paper is concluded by comparing the results with previous findings, and by discussing the service implications of the findings, the limitations of the study, and directions for future research. KEY WORDS-leisure activity, Chinese older adults, participation pattern, Hong Kong.

This paper presents, analyses and interprets expressions of the experience of advanced old age based upon the concepts of the French phenomenologist, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and the German philosopher, Martin Heidegger. During 1990, 262 older residents of the city of Jyvaskyla in central Finland were interviewed. They were born in 1910 and aged 80 years at the time. In addition to collecting epidemiological data, the narrative stories on the ageing experience of a sub-sample of 20 respondents (10 men and 10 women) were tape-recorded. A five-year follow-up was carried out with the same cohort in I995, when 17 of the original sub-sample of 20 were still alive. Unlike five years previously, most of the narrators said they had now crossed the line into old age. At the ten-year follow-up in 2000, six women and four men were still alive to describe their experience at 90 years of age. Collective history and objective structures had provided a common foundation for my narrators' notions of the world of right and wrong and of good and bad. Over their lifetime, this socio-cultural background had gradually changed, and they perceived the changes. Moreover, in the earlier stages of the study, they voiced criticisms of these changes. At age 90 years, however, they no longer criticised society or its people. By this time, it seems they felt they had completed the mission of living a life. KEY WORDS--narrative, ageing, bodiliness, temporality, follow-up.

This paper examines the impact of childhood and adulthood socio-economic status (SES) on personal network characteristics in later life. Data are derived from 2,285 married older adults (born between 1903 and 1937) who participated in face-to-face interviews for the Dutch survey on 'Living arrangements and social networks of older adults' conducted in 1992. Childhood and adulthood SES were indicated by the father's and own level of education and occupation. Multivariate analyses showed that SES in adulthood has more impact on network features in old age than father's SES. People with low lifetime SES or with downward SES mobility had small networks, low instrumental and emotional support from non-kin, but high instrumental support from kin, when compared with the upwardly mobile or those with high lifetime SES. The level of education was a better indicator of network differences than occupational prestige. It is concluded that obtaining a high SES during life pays off in terms of having more supportive non-kin relationships in old age. The small networks and less supportive non-kin relationships of low-status older adults make them more vulnerable to situations in which kin are unavailable or less willing to provide support. This study underscores the distinction between types of support and types of relationships in the SES-network association. Further research on the social pathways of socioeconomic inequality in health and well-being should take these distinctions into account. KEY WORDS--socio-economic status, personal network, support, old age.

This paper is concerned with the emergence of consumerism as a dominant theme in the culture surrounding the organisation and provision of welfare in contemporary societies. In it we address the dilemmas produced by a consumerist discourse for older people's healthcare, dilemmas which may be seen as the conflicting representations of third age and fourth age reality. We begin by reviewing the appearance of consumerism in the recent history of the British healthcare system, relating it to the various reforms of healthcare over the last two decades and the more general development of consumerism as a cultural phenomenon of the post World War II era. The emergence of consumer culture, we argue, is both a central theme in post-modernist discourse and a key element in the political economy of the New Right. After examining criticisms of post-modernist representational politics, the limitations of consumerism and the privileged position given to choice and agency within consumerist society, we consider the relevance of such critical perspectives in judging the significance of the user/consumer movement in the lives of retired people. KEY WORDS - Consumerism, older people, healthcare policy, third age, post-modernism.

We reflect upon the practices of two projects working with older people - one involving health promotion and the other arts - in terms of the discourses deployed in their work. The material discussed is drawn from evaluations which, through their use of feminist and critical methodologies, were committed to revealing and challenging the layers of inequality often present in practice with older people. The familiar notions of friendship and conversation are shown to be useful in conceptualising the work of these projects. It is argued that the discourses within which these ideas are embedded offer the basis of progressive practice with older people even in routine settings such as housing, social care, recreation and social work. These concepts offer the possibility of thinking of older people as active subjects within, rather than passive objects of, practice and of challenging inequalities through reframing more functional discourses. KEY WORDS - Evaluation, arts, health promotion, practice, discourses, voluntary sector, critical and feminist research, residential and daycare.

The present investigation was based on the analysis of twenty respondents, ten men and ten women, all retired. The written texts were obtained from the archives of one of the authors who gathered autobiographies using a guided method of assigned topics of life. The main objective for this analysis was to find those central life goals and dominant activities around which the projects of life were formed. Sorting of life projects was done according to the constant comparison method described by Glaser and Strauss in their Grounded Theory model. Five types of life projects were identified in the narratives: living is achieving, living is being social, living is loving, living is family life, living is struggling. Considerable gender differences appeared in the findings with women showing a broader participation and interpretation of life where family life, community work and job careers were important. The men tended to be more monothematic focusing either on a personal achievement or a career development in a more social context. The rhetoric in the discourse of life themes was quite different between the sexes reflecting the sex role scripts of the cohort studied. Only in some of the types was the class dimension clearly visible where the type living is achieving and to a certain extent even living is being social reflected upper middle class and upper class occupations while living is loving reflected middle class occupations. The positive narrative tone and the telling of well-managed life projects and success stories in most of the accounts were considered as American features in comparison to some Finnish life stories that contained more of the telling of hardships. The most gender bound accounts such as the masculine living is achieving and the feminine living is loving life projects showed the greatest resemblances between these two western cultures revealing comparable master scripts. KEY WORDS - Life projects, life stories, autobiography, narrative gerontology, grounded theory, gender differences, cultural comparisons.

People with learning difficulties are now surviving into old age and more and more of them are being resettled from long-stay hospitals. The main purpose of this article is to examine some of the key barriers facing, and dilemmas involved in, the provision of community-based services to this newly emerging user group. The findings of some recent field research on older people with learning difficulties who have been resettled into the community are used to illustrate the challenges facing service providers. Particular reference is made to the impact of age discrimination and traditional differences between service specialisms. The article shows that both official definitions of need in old age and the aspirations of the service responses to those needs have been artificially constructed in very narrow terms, especially when compared with the principled approach to service provision for younger people with learning difficulties. In conclusion, therefore, it is argued that the principles underpinning services for people with learning difficulties, such as normalisation, should be applied to older people as well. KEY WORDS - Older people, learning difficulties, community services, deinstitutionalisation, age discrimination, normalisation.

The present study set out to identify how the experience of being old in Hong Kong is represented through images commonly recurring in the print media. A case is presented for how the media not only reflect social images and views on ageing, but actively participate in the social construction of views about being old. Two newspapers in Hong Kong, the South China Morning Post (English medium) and the Sin Tao (Chinese medium), were surveyed and contents of stories depicting old age were analyzed, using a qualitative and quantitative methodological design. Dominant amongst the themes was vulnerability in old age. Newspapers used stories according to journalistic formulae to present both negative and positive depictions of old age; however, positive stories carried a sense of the exceptional rather than ordinary life. Results were analysed through a comparison between the two Hong Kong newspapers as well as a comparison with a similar study undertaken on the Australian print media. KEY WORDS - Experience of old age, stereotyped views, media, social construction of images.

In the present paper the focus is on structural aspects of everyday competence and its relationship with various personal resources, such as health, social status, self concept and cognition. The findings support the hypothesis that two distinct, albeit intercorrelated, components of everyday competence are differentially related to the various resources examined in this paper. The two components are a basic level of competence (BaCo) which is defined mainly by self-care related activities, and an expanded level of competence (ExCo) associated mostly with leisure and social activities and advanced instrumental activities of daily living. In general, BaCo is more strongly related to health-related resources, and ExCo is more strongly associated with behavioural, psychological and social resources. 90.6% of the reliable variance in ExCo and 82.4% in BaCo are explained by these selected resources. Furthermore, all of the age-related variance in everyday competence is accounted for by these health-related and socio-behavioural resources.

Theoretical positions which argue for age-related and individual variation in profiles of psychological functioning and patterns of predictive relationships are reviewed in the context of the three domains investigated by the Psychology Unit of the Berlin Aging Study (BASE): intelligence and cognition, self and personality, and social relationships. To illustrate the potential of BASE, we report initial data for a small set of variables from these three psychological domains for the first wave of study participants (N = 360, age range 70 to 103 years). Our analyses of these data were targeted toward three key questions about differential psychological ageing: namely, the extent of age/cohort-related differences and individual variation within each domain, possible age differences in the structural relationships between the three domains, and subgroup variations in cross-domain profiles of functioning. Within domains, individual differences in general were very large. Chronological age accounted for a sizeable proportion of the variance only in the domain of cognitive performance. The structural relationships between the domains of psychological functioning were similar for the old and very old age groups and reflected much domain independence. Examination of subgroup variations in cross-domain profiles of functioning revealed ten subgroups. All subgroups showed an uneven, that is, age-selective group membership: five subgroups included more of the very old, two more of the old, and three were age-specific. Preliminary explorations of these subgroups suggested substantial links to selected health-related variables, supporting proposals for multi-disciplinary research into differential ageing.

The first part of this paper provides a general outline of objectives and methods of the Internal Medicine and Geriatrics Unit of the Berlin Aging Study (BASE). Based on a multi-dimensional conceptualization of health, objective and laboratory data collected about different organ systems, e.g. cardiovascular and musculoskeletal, and functional capacity are complemented by qualitative clinical diagnoses and judgements as well as self-reported health problems and functional limitations. Some of the central questions that can be addressed using these data relate to understanding the nature and processes of differential ageing. The second part of the paper includes initial analyses of inter-individual health differences in advanced old age (70 to 105 years). Initial findings indicated that heterogeneity in somatic morbidity and functional capacity was at least as large in old adults (70 to 84 years) as in very old adults (85 to 105 years), even though higher rates of somatic morbidity and lower levels of functional capacity were observed in the very old. Chronological age and morbidity as well as psychosocial and demographic factors were found to be independent predictors of functional capacity in advanced old age. Additionally, the relative importance of psychosocial factors was found to be a function of age with lower predictive ability among the very old. In conclusion, these initial findings support the hypothesis of significant health differences in advanced old age due to differential ageing.

This article, the introduction to a collection of six related articles, describes the general rationale and design of the Berlin Aging Study (BASE). The distinguishing features of BASE are: (1) a special focus on the very old (70-105 years), (2) broad inter-disciplinarity (medicine, psychiatry, psychology, sociology and economics), and (3) sample heterogeneity achieved by local (West Berlin) representativeness. In addition to discipline-specific topics, four theoretical orientations guide the study: (1) differential ageing, (2) continuity versus discontinuity of ageing, (3) range and limits of plasticity and reserve capacity, and (4) ageing as an inter-disciplinary and systemic phenomenon. To provide a foundation and framework for the remaining articles, this paper outlines the protocols, designs, and measurement procedures of fourteen data collection sessions. In addition, information is given on the samples used for empirical analysis. Two samples from the first wave of the Berlin Aging Study are addressed in this collection of articles. The first (N = 360), uses data from the BASE Intake Assessment Protocol (Session I). The second (N = 156), employs data from the entire 14-session full protocol of BASE. Selectivity analyses involving 22 comparison variables are reported in this paper and demonstrate that, with the exception of 12-month mortality, these two samples displayed the intended sample heterogeneity. Those results suggest that data from BASE hold high generalizability.

The Sociology and Social Policy Research Unit of the Berlin Aging Study focuses on four substantive areas: (1) life course antecedents and generational experiences, (2) later phases of the family life course, (3) action resources and social participation, and (4) economic situations and the provision of care. This paper reports results on the relationship between social and economic inequality and differential ageing, using the BASE multidisciplinary Intake Assessment (N = 360). The socio-economic position of older people is measured along three dimensions: economic resources, social status and prestige, and cultural status. Several ageing outcomes are considered, including functional physical health, cognitive functioning and mental health, overall subjective well-being, social autonomy and dependency. First, we show that old people as a group are neither socially nor economically homogeneous: very old women possess unusually low economic resources; and cohort differences in educational attainment are carried into old age. Second, cognitive functioning and mental health are positively correlated with socio-economic resources, while functional physical health is not. For women, socio-economic resources slightly affect overall subjective well-being, and are linked to the likelihood of living in a nursing home. We speculate that the wide availability of compulsory health insurance reduces social differentials in physical health and that these inequalities may determine who survives into old age.

A critique of the study of ageing by sociologists and historians is provided in this paper, on the basis of the comparative neglect of life history studies across the whole lifespan. It points to the skewed nature of studies reported in the literature. As a corrective, results from a UK life history based study are presented. It focuses on leisure, grandparenting and intimate relationships between adults, leading to conclusions about the relationship between class factors in the determination of late life experiences and self perceptions of the meaning of old age.