Instructor: Dan Mroczek

Office: Dealy Hall, Room 315

Phone: 718-817-3796

e-mail: mroczek@murray.fordham.edu

Office Hours: By Appointment

If you have any questions or comments regarding this syllabus, please contact Dan Mroczek at mroczek@murray.fordham.edu. Also, if these teaching materials are helpful to you, it would be appreciated if you could let the author know. Thank you.

Description:

Due to improvements in health awareness and medical technology, as well as demographic changes, the number of elderly people in the U.S. and most other Western countries is increasing rapidly. This trend has profoundly changed Western society in the past quarter-century and will continue to do so well into the next century. As a result, interest in the aging process has grown considerably within the last 25 years. This class will examine psychological aspects of the aging process, with special emphasis on applied issues in aging/gerontological research. Consideration will be given to biological and physiological aspects of psychological aging, the health context of aging, mental health and aging, retirement, housing issues for the elderly, and caregiving, among other issues.

Course Requirements:

Participation in class discussions and attendance at Sept. 25 symposium: 20%

Interviewing Project: 40%

Final Paper: 40%

The Interviewing Project will require you to interview an elderly person of your choosing to obtain qualitative information. The results of the interview are to be written up in a summary, not to exceed 5 pages. We will schedule class presentations of the interviews after the due date, which will be October 22.

The Final Paper will be a scholarly literature review of a sub-area of Applied Gerontology. It may not exceed 10 pages, excluding references, and must display concise, good writing, and thorough scholarship. All students must meet with me before starting this paper, to assure that you picked an area of adequate breadth. Possible topics include, but are not limited to: designing housing for the elderly, the effects of early retirement, preventing memory loss in old age, the psychological effects of estrogen replacement, grandparenting roles, or psychological assessment of the aging individual. The paper will be due on the last day of class, December 17.

Readings:

A packet of readings will be made available by the instructor for copying.

Date Topic

9/3 Introduction & Overview, Demography

9/10 Gains & Losses, Selective Optimization with Compensation

9/17 Biological & Physiological Aspects of Aging

9/24 Memory Decline & Cognition in Older Age

9/25 (Friday) Fordham Symposium on Emotional Development in Adulthood and

Late Life: 1:30 to 5:30; Reception 5:30 to 7:00. Attendance required.

10/1 Physical Health & Aging

10/8 Dementia & Alzheimers

10/15 Mental Health & Aging

10/22 Presentations (Interviewing project due)

10/29 Presentations

11/5 Stress & Aging, Retirement

11/12 Nursing Homes & Housing Issues

11/9 No Class--Instructor out of town for Gerontological Society of America Conference

11/26 No Class--Thanksgiving Day

12/4 Report on GSA, Caregiving

12/10 Death & Dying, Bereavement, Widowhood

12/17 Wrap-Up Loose Ends & Summary, Final Papers Due

Readings

For:

9/10 Rukeyser, W.S. (1995). Let's do the hobble. The Atlantic, 276, 16-18.

Baltes, P.B., & Baltes, M.M. (1990). Psychological perspectives on successful aging: The model of selective optimization with compensation. In P.B. Baltes & M.M. Baltes (Eds.), Successful aging: Perspectives from the behavioral sciences (pp. 1-34). New York: Cambridge University Press.

Rowe, J.W. & Kahn, R.L. (1998). Foreword and Introduction from Successful Aging. New York: Pantheon.

9/17 "Caloric restriction may put the brakes on aging" Journal of NIH Research, 7, 1995, pp. 47-50.

Olshansky, S.J., Carnes, B.A. & Grahn, D. (1998). Confronting the boundaries of human longevity. American Scientist, 86, 52-61.

M.F. Elias, J.W. Elias, & P.K. Elias (1990). Biological and health influences on behavior. In J.E. Birren & K.W. Schaie (Eds.), Handbook of the psychology of aging (3^rd ed., pp. 80-102). New York: Academic Press.

9/24 Schaie, K.W. (1996). Intellectual development in adulthood. In J. Birren & K.W. Schaie (Eds.), Handbook of the psychology of aging (4th ed., pp. 266-286). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

Smith, A.D. (1996). Memory. In J. Birren & K.W. Schaie (Eds.), Handbook of the psychology of aging (4th ed, pp. 236-250). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

10/1 Deeg, D.J.H., Kardaun, J.W.P.F., & Fozard, J.L. (1996). Health, behavior and aging. In J. Birren & K.W. Schaie (Eds.), Handbook of the psychology of aging (4th ed, pp. 129-149). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

10/8 Selkoe, D.J. (1995). Deciphering Alzheimer's Disease: Molecular genetics and cell biology yield major clues. Journal of NIH Research, 7, 57-64.

Scheibe, K.E. (1989). Memory, identity, history, and the understanding of dementia. In L.E. Thomas (Ed.), Research on adulthood and aging (pp. 141-159). Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

Baltes, M.M., Kuhl, K.-P., Gutzmann, H., & Sowarka, D. (1995). Potential of cognitive plasticity as a diagnostic instrument: A cross-validation and extension. Psychology and Aging, 10, 167-172.

Shimamura, A.P., Berry, J.M., Magels, J.A., Rusting, C.L., & Jurica, P.J. (1995). Memory and cognitive abilities in university professors: Evidence for successful aging. Psychological Science, 6, 271-277.

10/15 Gatz, M., Kasl-Godley, J.E., & Karel, M.I. (1996). Aging and mental disorders. In J. Birren & K.W. Schaie (Eds.), Handbook of the psychology of aging (4th ed., pp. 365-382). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

10/22 No Readings

10/29 No Readings

11/5 Aldwin, C.M. (1990). The Elders Life Stress Inventory: Egocentric and non-egocentric stress. In M.A. Parris-Stevens, J.H. Crowther, S.E. Hobfoll, & D.L. Tennenbaum (Eds.), Stress and coping in later-life families (pp. 49-69). New York: Hemisphere.

Chiriboga, D.A. (1984). Social stressors as antecedents of change. Journal of Gerontology, 39, 468-477.

BossJ, R., Levenson, M.R., Spiro, A., III, Aldwin, C.M. & Mroczek, D.K. (1992). For whom is retirement stressful? Findings from the Normative Aging Study. In B. Vellas & J.L. Albarede (Eds.), Facts and research in gerontology (pp. 230-246). New York: Springer.

11/12 Parmelee, P.A. & Lawton, M.P. (1990). The design of special environments for the aged. In J.E. Birren & K.W. Schaie (Eds.), Handbook of the psychology of aging (3rd ed., pp. 465-489). NewYork: Academic Press.

11/9 No readings--No Class

11/26 No Readings--Thanksgiving Day

12/4 Gatz, M., Bengtson, V.L., & Blum, M.J. (1990). Caregiving families. In J.E. Birren & K.W. Schaie (Eds.), Handbook of the psychology of aging (3rd ed., pp. 405-426). New York: Academic Press.

Wright, L.K., Clipp, E.C., & George, L.K. (1993). Health consequences of caregiver stress. Medicine, Exercise, Nutrition and Health, 2, 181-195.

12/10 Wortman, C.B., & Silver, R.C. (1990). Successful mastery of bereavement and widowhood: A life-course perspective. In P.B. Baltes & M.M. Baltes (Eds.), Successful aging: Perspectives from the behavioral sciences (pp. 225-264). New York: Cambridge

University Press.

12/17 No Readings--Last Class (Final Paper Due)

To direct comments about the information contained in these pages, please write to marsiske@hpe.ufl.edu