This paper examines older people's everyday routines and their implications for older people's uses and perceptions of domestic spaces in both mainstream and sheltered housing settings. It draws from qualitative data collected during a large-scale survey of the housing and support needs of older people, and specifically the responses of 60 informants to personal interviews. The findings are that domestic spaces have a significant influence on the scope that older people have to retain a sense of self-determination. It is shown that environmental defects, such as poorly configured domestic spaces, have consequences for older people's sense of continuity and choice. The conclusions are that domestic spaces are living spaces that embody personal and family-oriented priorities. It is suggested that older people require adequate, accessible and personalised domestic spaces in order to facilitate three important objectives: routines, responsibilities and reflection.

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-diciplinarity (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 1). 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.

In a rapidly changing society, young adults may play an important role in teaching older adults about social, cultural and technological changes. Thus older people who lack regular contact with younger people are at risk of being excluded from contemporary social developments. But how age-segregated are older people? The level of age-segregation of older people can be studied by examining the age-composition of personal social networks. Using NESTOR-LSN survey data from The Netherlands, we are able to determine the number of younger adults that people aged 55–89 years identify as members of their social networks, and to examine the factors that are associated with segregation or integration. The findings show that there is a large deficit of young adults in the networks of older people, and that few older people have regular contact with younger non-kin. If age were not a factor in the selection of network members, one would expect the age distribution of adult network members to be the same as the age distribution of the entire adult population, but the ratio of actual to expected non-kin network members aged under 35 years for those aged 65–74 years is only 0.10. And only 15 per cent of the population aged 80 or more years has weekly contact with any non-kin aged less than 65 years. The number of children is strongly related to the total number of younger network members, because most younger network members are adult children. Further, participating in organisations (work and volunteer settings) that include people of diverse ages increases the likelihood of an older person having significant cross-age interactions with non-kin.

This special issue focuses broadly upon questions and themes relating to the current conceptualisations, representations and use of ‘ethnicity’ (and ethnic minority experiences) within the field of social gerontology. An important aim of this special issue is to explore and address the issue of ‘otherness’ within the predominant existing frameworks for researching those who are ageing or considered aged, compounded by the particular constructions of their ethnicity and ethnic ‘difference’. The range of theoretical, methodological and empirical papers included in this collection provide some critical insights into particular facets of the current research agendas, cultural understandings and empirical focus of ethnic minority ageing research. The main emphasis is on highlighting the ways in which ethnic cultural homogeneity and ‘otherness’ is often assumed in research involving older people from ethnic minority backgrounds, and how wider societal inequalities are concomitantly (re)produced, within (and through) research itself – for example, based on narrowly defined research agendas and questions; the assumed age and/or ethnic differences of researchers vis-à-vis their older research participants; the workings of the formalised ethical procedures and frameworks; and the conceptual and theoretical frameworks employed in the formulation of research questions and interpretation of data. We examine and challenge here the simplistic categorisations and distinctions often made in gerontological research based around research participants' ethnicity, age and ageing and assumed cultural differences. The papers presented in this collection reveal instead the actual complexity and fluidity of these concepts as well as the cultural dynamism and diversity of experiences within ethnic groups. Through an exploration of these issues, we address some of the gaps in existing knowledge and understandings as well as contribute to the newly emerging discussions surrounding the use of particular notions of ethnicity and ethnic minority ageing as these are being employed within the field of ageing studies.

The significance of place attachment for later life has been convincingly demonstrated. Scholars have offered useful models that help account for the depth of feeling bound up in place attachment in later life, how this attachment is achieved, and its relevance for belonging and identity. To date, however, this focus has largely been on the individual level of experience. This article draws on sociological and anthropological perspectives to consider how place attachment is forged and experienced in dynamic interaction with other entities and other processes: how place attachment is also a collective, relational and embodied process, caught up and experienced via social memory practices and sensorial, bodily knowledge. This resonates with and contributes to the ‘relational turn’ which has attracted burgeoning interest in the larger home disciplines of sociology, human geography and anthropology, and reciprocally helps them extend and build their interaction with critical ageing studies. In making this argument, I draw on two periods of anthropological, ethnographic participant-observation that I conducted in a semi-rural village in the former coalfields in South Yorkshire, England.

In India, although notions of ageing and care are changing, there is a continued preference among families for home-based care of elderly relatives. The legislative policies and cultural practices that shape this preference will be examined in this paper with specific reference to aged-care facilities and the 2007 Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act. Using qualitative data from a study on dementia care in urban India it will be shown how the Act and old-age homes are understood and experienced by Indian families and key service providers. In juxtaposing policy and practice it will be argued that while notions of care are being redefined by processes like migration and urbanisation, the preference for home care remains, indicating that existing services need to be re-oriented and expanded to support families in providing this care.

In the United Kingdom, one in five of the population is an older man, many of whom live alone. Loneliness and social isolation is a growing issue for many of these older men, one that has been associated with elevated blood pressure, poor physical health, increased mortality and mental ill-health, including depression, suicide and dementia. Lone dwelling and social isolation have tended to be viewed largely as issues affecting older women due to their greater life expectancy (LE), but the LE gap between men and women is closing, presenting new challenges for the health and wellbeing of older men. This is not unique to the United Kingdom. Yet whilst inclusionary social spaces and supportive social ties can be important for enhancing physical and mental wellbeing amongst older people, evidence suggests that lone-dwelling older men can experience greater difficulty in accessing effective social support, relative to older women. Understanding those spaces of communal activity that are likely to be successful in promoting health and wellbeing amongst older men is thus important if we are to improve their quality of life. In this paper, we draw on research with a ‘Men in Sheds’ pilot programme in the United Kingdom, to illustrate how everyday spaces within local communities might be designed to both promote and maintain the health and wellbeing of older men. In doing so, we aim to offer insights into how Sheds, as created and gendered spaces, may not only engage older men in ways that help to maintain their perceived health and wellbeing, but also provide sites within which older men can perform and reaffirm their masculinity.

This paper reports a study of the influence of healthy older people's type of residence and social comparison strategies on their quality of life perceptions. Data were collected from 190 participants aged 65 or more years resident in one London Borough. Participants were classified by their type of residence, and their quality of life was assessed by the Schedule for Evaluation of Individual Quality of Life: Direct Weighting (SEIQoL-DW). Among the reported social comparison judgements, the dominant strategy was ‘Downward Contrast’. It was the sole strategy for 78 per cent of those studied, and was significantly associated with a higher perceived quality of life. Among other statistically significant findings, it was found that positive orientation, optimistic orientation, and the use of Contrast rather than Identification comparisons associated with a better reported quality of life. The over-riding influence of Downward Contrast comparisons was also confirmed: this strategy appears to be adaptive and functional in enhancing perceived quality of life. The effect is not mediated by depression, although differences in comparison strategy were observed among groups with different residential status. The possibility of an intervention to enhance the perceived quality of life is discussed.

Most social research on ageing in Asia has focused on the support provided by adult children to their parents, and thereby suggests that as a matter of course older people are in need of support. This paper offers a different perspective. Drawing on ethnographic and quantitative data from a village in East Java, it examines the extent of older people's dependence on others and highlights the material and practical contributions that they make to their families. It is shown that only a minority of older people are reliant on children or grandchildren for their daily survival. In the majority of cases, the net flow of inter-generational support is either downwards – from old to young – or balanced. Far from merely assisting with childcare and domestic tasks, older people are often the economic pillars of multi-generational families. Pension and agricultural incomes serve to secure the livelihoods of whole family networks, and the accumulated wealth of older parents is crucial for launching children into economic independence and underwriting their risks. Parental generosity does not generally elicit commensurate reciprocal support when it is needed, leaving many people vulnerable towards the end of their lives.

The ability to use the internet frequently is likely to provide a useful means of engaging with society and using services in later life, yet older people are the most likely to suffer digital exclusion, with those of the oldest ages at the greatest risk. Using six waves (2002–2012) of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, we model cohort-specific patterns of frequent internet use for people aged 50 and over. Multi-level growth models are used to observe trajectories of internet use over the ten-year period. Firstly, analyses are stratified by gender and wealth, and secondly we additionally test for health effects. The study finds cohort-specific differences in patterns of internet use. Rates of internet use increase faster among younger cohorts yet, despite initially increasing, begin to decline among older cohorts. Poor health is shown to be a key factor in shaping the trajectory of internet use over time. Rates of internet use are consistently lower for women than men and for those in poorer financial circumstances, independently of age cohort. The findings demonstrate the importance of ensuring older people can remain digitally included throughout later life, including after the onset of poorer health, especially as some of these individuals might benefit the most from some of the services the internet can provide.

The purposes of this study were to explore the self-rated and objectively measured quality of life of people with early-stage dementia and to describe their personal experiences and reactions to the negative public view of dementia. Information was collected from 23 participants who lived in a mid-western United States metropolitan area. Self-ratings were collected by semi-structured and structured interviews, and the objective measures were the Quality of Life Index (QLI) and the Single Item Quality of Life Scale (SIQLS). It was found that 21 of the participants perceived their current QOL as ‘good’ or better, and that the mean scores for the QLI and the SIQLS were 22.8 and 7.3 respectively. Triangulation of the subjective and objective data established their congruence. The QLI scores suggested that people with early-stage dementia often perceived their current life as good and that the participants were as satisfied with their life as the general population. Their accounts also revealed that many had experienced stigma and that this appreciably affected their psychosocial wellbeing. The findings of this study provide new insights into the ways in which health-care professionals and the general public can and should view and treat people with dementia.

The role of identity in older adults’ decision-making about assistive technology adoption has been suggested but not fully explored. This scoping review was conducted to understand better how older adults’ self-image and their desire to maintain this influence their decision-making processes regarding assistive technology adoption. Using the five-stage scoping review framework by Arksey and O'Malley, a total of 416 search combinations were run across nine databases, resulting in a final yield of 49 articles. From these 49 articles, five themes emerged: (a) resisting the negative reality of an ageing and/or disabled identity; (b) independence and control are key; (c) the aesthetic dimension of usability; (d) assistive technology as a last resort; and (e) privacy versus pragmatics. The findings highlight the importance of older adults’ desire to portray an identity consistent with independence, self-reliance and competence, and how this desire directly impacts their assistive technology decision-making adoption patterns. These findings aim to support the adoption of assistive technologies by older adults to facilitate engagement in meaningful activities, enable social participation within the community, and promote health and wellbeing in later life.

This paper presents a model for studying ageing and technology. It investigates the theoretical gains that can be made by combining insights from Age Studies and Science and Technology Studies (STS). Although technology has become a much more salient part in the everyday lives of older people and investments are high in technologies to deal with the alleged challenges of demographic change, theory development about ageing–technology relations has not kept up with these trends. Partly this is due to the poor connection between the social scientific understanding of ageing and the technically focused discipline of gerontechnology. This has led to an interventionist logic that underlies much of the current and implicit theorising about ageing and technology. We briefly analyse the problems of the interventionist logic and then present a model that conceptualises ageing and technology as co-constituted. We propose this model – which we call the CAT-model – to highlight a number of fundamental ideas about ageing–technology relations. At the centre are four different arenas (life-worlds of older people, design worlds, technological artefacts and images of ageing) in and across which these relations can and should be studied. To develop the model, we build on our own theoretical and empirical work over the last decade, and on examples from recent scholarship that straddle the disciplinary boundaries between STS and Age Studies.

Current concepts of dementia often act to exclude the internal world of the dementia sufferer from consideration as a valid object of study. This paper presents a three stage model of the subjective world of dementia sufferers, drawing on ideas from both clinical and social psychology. The first stage involves the feelings engendered by the process of dementia and includes at least four discrete states: anxiety; depression; grief; and despair/terror. The second stage of the model concerns the behaviour provoked in response to the process of decline. Finally, we consider the social nature of emotional behaviour, with emotional actions falling along a continuum. The ability of an individual with dementia to engage in emotional behaviour depends upon the extent of their cognitive impairment and the social context in which they are located. This model has implications for the delivery of services, including psychotherapy, to people with dementia.

Spirituality is proposed to be a component of successful ageing and has been shown to predict wellbeing in old age. There has been conceptual discussion of possible mechanisms that link spirituality with positive psychological functioning in older adults, but few empirical examinations of these linking mechanisms over time. The current study examined the role of Antonovsky's Sense of Coherence (SOC) and social support in mediating the effects of spirituality on life satisfaction in older participants over a four-year period. The study used a cross-lagged panel analysis to evaluate longitudinal mediation within a path analysis framework. Results showed that the meaningfulness dimension of SOC mediated the influence of spirituality on life satisfaction over time, suggesting that spirituality may influence older adults' experience and perception of life events, leading to a more positive appraisal of these events as meaningful. Social support was not found to mediate the pathway between spirituality and life satisfaction. This study may be the first to examine the link between spirituality, sense of coherence, social support and wellbeing, as measured by life satisfaction, using longitudinal data from a community sample of older adults. The study provides evidence for the positive role of spirituality in the lives of older people. This is an area that requires further examination in models of successful ageing.

Previous research applying quantifiable measurements has established significant positive associations between social capital and mental health in older adults. This study aimed to obtain a deeper understanding of the causal mechanisms of social capital affecting mental wellbeing among older people. The study is based on two independent qualitative data materials collected through two focus group interviews and an open-ended question included in a Finnish population-based postal survey. The findings indicate that informal social contacts such as family members and life-long relationships between friends impact the experienced mental wellbeing among older adults due to shared life events, social support, mutual appreciation and trust, as well as a sense of belonging through common social activities. Hence, this study challenges Putnam's idea of social capital as a collective concept focusing on formal contacts and the benefits on a collective level. In addition, the findings highlight the obstacles specific to older adults in maintaining social networks and participation, which should be considered in order to promote mental health in later life.

This article explores the strength and character of responsibility norms between older parents and adult children in a European context. Data from the ‘Generations and Gender Survey’ are analysed to compare seven countries from the North West to the South East of Europe: Norway, Germany, France, Romania, Bulgaria, Russia and Georgia. Norm strength is measured as the level of support for filial and parental responsibility norms. Character differences are indicated by how conditional the norms are, and how they are balanced between the younger and older generations. The general findings are in line with the family culture hypothesis – family norms are stronger towards the East and South of the continent, with Norway and Georgia as the extreme cases. National differences are considerable for filial norms, but moderate for parental norms. Parental responsibility is relatively stronger in the North West, filial responsibility in the South East. Family norms have a more open character in the West, where the limits to responsibility are widely recognised. Women are less supportive of family obligations than men. It is suggested that where the welfare state is more developed, it has moderated the demanding character of family obligations and allowed a more independent relationship between the generations to form. The level of support for filial obligation is for these reasons a poor indicator for family cohesion in more developed welfare states.

The present paper argues that some apparent deficits found in cognitive ageing may result from models that focus on youth-centered, formal-logical standards of thinking. An alternative model of adult development is proposed which explains these apparent deficits in terms of progressive reorganizations where decline in performance may be a consequence of the growth of more complex and highly differentiated skills. More specifically, the contextualization of formal logic or the reintegration of logic and affect found in older adult thinking is seen to represent a mature level of cognitive differentiation characterized by an autonomous, socially-oriented, and dialectical mode of reasoning. This theoretical perspective is substantiated by a review of the literature evidencing this kind of progression. Future research implications are discussed.

Analysing the practice of pension sharing, this article looks at social and cultural dimensions of ageing in an urban African residential area, Cape Town's Khayelitsha. First, the paper discusses pension sharing as a future-oriented security strategy. Many older Africans in Khayelitsha believe that if they do not share their pensions with their kin, they do not have much chance of being helped in times of need. Pension sharing as an instrumental act is rooted in the perceived underdevelopment of the state social security system on the one hand, and in the very character of African kinship and the fluidity of today's urban domestic units on the other. Partly triggered by poverty and mass unemployment, African pensioners are under severe normative pressure to share their grants within their families. Taking into account African notions of old age and of personhood, and considering the widespread devaluation of older Africans in social constructions, pension sharing provides older Africans with an (easily available) means by which they can earn (self-)respect. Further, state policies indirectly enhance the normative pressure on pensioners to share their old-age pensions. On a symbolic plane the practice may be construed as a political model that conceptualises duty as the inner bond of the social world. In conclusion, it is propounded that the concept of (intergenerational) reciprocity is inadequate to account for pension sharing or practical provision of old-age care.

This paper is a study of the discursive management of notions of change and continuity in interview talk. It presents selected short empirical examples from interviews with 22 Finnish baby-boomers, and discusses the methodological and theoretical issues that arise. Following a review of the major approaches to the study of age identity, the analytic intersection between qualitative gerontology and discursive psychology is explored. The analysis identifies how the frequent use of a ‘provisional continuity device’ enables speakers simultaneously both to acknowledge and to distance themselves from factual notions of physical or psychological lifespan change. The key methodological argument is that the discursive analysis of age-in-interaction cannot necessarily be achieved through the myopic micro-study of discursive strategies, but rather two suggestions are made. First, it is argued that analytically-anchored and rigorous discursive gerontology that both systematically draws on and contributes to the broad field of discursive research provides a means by which to test empirically post-modern conceptualisations of age identity. Second, it is suggested that analyses of age-talk in everyday and institutional settings provide an analytical and theoretical middle-ground between the macro versus micro or ‘microfication’ debate in gerontology.