In the present paper, Erik H. Erikson's theory of psycho-social development is analysed, including a new, ninth stage proposed by his wife, Joan M. Erikson. However, a new understanding of the ninth stage is proposed, in which integrity versus despair is still the crisis of the last stage of life regardless of the addition of the ninth stage. The crisis of stage eight takes place on the continuum between involvement versus resignation. The term ‘involvement’ is understood as the choice of one's own way of life in the world, in view of personal development oriented towards the realisation of universal values, in accordance with the ethical dimension of social ethos, and with a sense of acceptance of the changes that are the result of the human ageing process. ‘Resignation’, in turn, is understood as the second pole dynamising the conflict of stage eight, which manifests itself in the fact that no new activities are undertaken or old ones continued by an individual, out of the conviction that it is senseless to undertake any activities for his or her own development. There is, however, strength that can be engendered by the struggle of older people between involvement and resignation, namely courage. In the acquisition of courage, older people should be supported by geragogy of courage. Society needs the courage of older people and their involvement in the ethical preservation of the world.

Family resources may play an important role in the wellbeing of older people. In this paper, we examine the association between living arrangement and cognitive decline among people over 65 living in different European countries. The underlined hypothesis is that living with others (i.e. spouse or/and children) vis-à-vis living alone may have a positive role in maintaining cognitive functioning, but also that such beneficial influence varies according to the circumstances. To this end, we used data from the first two waves of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), which provides indicators of several cognitive functions: orientation, immediate recall, delayed recall, verbal fluency and numeracy. Net of both the potential biases due to the selective attrition and the re-test effects, the evidence shows that the association between living arrangement and cognitive decline depends on the geographical area and on the starting level of cognitive function.

Older adults and baby boomers have been more opposed than supportive of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), but what about older adults living in aged communities? The aged community is a social context that is important for understanding individuals' political attitudes and behaviours. We know that social contexts often constrain the information available within the community. Also recent work indicates that this happens with the aged social context as well. Older adults living among concentrations of their peers are more politically knowledgeable than older adults without the same neighbourhood context. I hypothesise that older adults living in aged communities will be more supportive of the ACA than their peers without the same context because they know more about the ACA and its age-related benefits. To test this hypothesis, I use data from the Cooperative Congressional Election Studies for the years 2009–2012 and assess whether the aged context has had an impact on residents' attitudes towards health-care reform, the ACA, specifically. I find that older residents of aged communities are more likely to report supportive attitudes in 2010 and 2012 than older residents of communities without a significant older adult presence. There is no statistically significant aged context effect in 2009 and 2011.

Western countries currently face pressing demands to transform the labour market participation of older workers, in order to address the pressing economic and social challenges of an ageing population. However, in this article we argue that our understanding of older workers is limited by a dominant discourse that emphasises individuals rather than organisations; and valorises youth as the performative aspiration for all workers, regardless of age. To see things differently, and to see different things, we offer a novel analytical synthesis that combines insights from post-foundational feminist theory, the 2007 film No Country for Old Men and an empirical study of older nurses working in the Norwegian public health-care system. Our aim is to provide the foundations for alternative interventions in the world of work that might underpin a more sustainable future for older workers.

Translation of falls prevention evidence into practice is problematic. Understanding older adults’ views about falls prevention information could enhance delivery of falls prevention, resulting in better engagement and uptake of recommended activities. The aim of this study was to examine the views and preferences of community-dwelling older adults about seeking and receiving falls prevention information. A community forum using a modified World Café approach was conducted. Participants discussed five topic areas in small groups, under the guidance of table facilitators. Perspectives were captured on paper. Thematic analysis was conducted to identify factors that influence participants’ engagement and uptake of information. Seventy-three older adults participated in the forum covering wide-ranging preferences around falls prevention information. Personal experience was considered the key influence on an older adult's decision to initiate seeking information. While health professionals were often approached, alternative sources such as public libraries, peer educators and seniors’ organisations were also favoured as credible sources of information. Older adults proposed falls prevention information should be delivered with a positive tone, coupled with highly valued qualities of respect, empathy and time to listen to foster motivation to engage in recommended activities. Consumer-focused practical strategies were proposed to potentially improve future design, communication and dissemination of falls prevention information. This improvement could enhance engagement of messages and subsequent uptake of falls prevention recommended strategies.

This study focuses on the social wellbeing of older migrants in Italy, an important yet neglected topic in the Italian political and scholarly debate. Knowledge about the lived experience of loneliness and its perceived causes was gathered by means of 34 in-depth interviews with Albanian and Moroccan migrants aged 50 and above living in the Marche region. Our findings show that the participants are surrounded by family and are largely satisfied with the contact they have with relatives; this protects them from social isolation but not from loneliness. Although they rarely express this to their spouse and friends (men) or their children (men and women), feelings of loneliness are widely experienced among the participants. The root of their loneliness largely relates to a lack of meaningful relationships with non-related age peers – having a chat, remembering old times, socialising with others when family members are busy, talking about intimate matters they cannot or will not share with relatives – which supports the argument of loneliness scholars that different types of relationships serve different functions and fulfil different needs. Having more contact with people outside the family circle, especially with co-ethnic peers, could reduce these feelings of loneliness substantially, but factors such as discrimination and lack of Italian language proficiency, free time, financial resources and nearby contact facilities are hindrances. These factors offer clues for public loneliness interventions.

There is limited research on the living arrangements of older adults with disabilities, especially research that combines household composition and housing characteristics. This paper addresses that gap with two complementary sets of logistic regression models: first, estimating the odds of disability by household composition and housing type and, second, estimating the odds of disability by living arrangement within gender and age sub-groups. Data come from the 2012 American Community Survey (N = 504,371 respondents aged 65 and older), which includes six measures of disability: cognitive, ambulatory, independent living, self-care, vision and hearing. Living alone, with children or with others was associated with higher odds of any disability, compared with living with a spouse only. Compared to those living in a single-family home, living in a mobile home or other temporary structure, or large apartment building was associated with higher odds of disability. Having a disability was associated with lower rates of living with a spouse only, alone, in a single-family home or in a small or mid-sized apartment building and higher rates of all other living arrangements. Sub-group analyses revealed differences in the relationship between living arrangements and disability by gender and age group. This information provides a baseline from which to observe trends in living arrangements and disability for older adults in the United States of America.

Among the societal and health challenges of population ageing is the continued transport mobility of older people who retain their driving licence, especially in highly car-dependent societies. While issues surrounding loss of a driving licence have been researched, less attention has been paid to variations in physical travel by mode among the growing proportion of older people who retain their driving licence. It is unclear how much they reduce their driving with age, the degree to which they replace driving with other modes of transport, and how this varies by age and gender. This paper reports research conducted in the state of Queensland, Australia, with a sample of 295 older drivers (>60 years). Time spent driving is considerably greater than time spent as a passenger or walking across age groups and genders. A decline in travel time as a driver with increasing age is not redressed by increases in travel as a passenger or pedestrian. The patterns differ by gender, most likely reflecting demographic and social factors. Given the expected considerable increase in the number of older women in particular, and their reported preference not to drive alone, there are implications for policies and programmes that are relevant to other car-dependent settings. There are also implications for the health of older drivers, since levels of walking are comparatively low.

Why is it that many people fail to seek retirement planning advice when doing so is clearly indicated? Distrust of financial intermediaries is often presented as the common answer. But this paper shows that trust issues are only part of the answer; an appreciable proportion of individuals experience anxiety at the prospect of visiting a financial adviser. In the present investigation, financial adviser anxiety is studied among 950 Dutch adults over the age of 50. Anxiety levels were measured using a six-item scale that was administered as part of a larger nationwide investigation on retirement attitudes and behaviour. Findings revealed that nearly one-third of respondents reported having moderate to severe levels of anxiety at the prospect of visiting a financial professional. Furthermore, a hierarchical regression analysis revealed that strong predictors of anxiety included one's educational level, income, age, level of future time perspective, risk tolerance, financial knowledge and scepticism regarding whether advice from a financial professional can be trusted. A cluster analysis using demographic and psychological covariates identified three separate groups of older adults that were found to differ in terms of their mean level of anxiety. Those who had low levels of education and low incomes were found to disproportionately display high levels of financial adviser anxiety.

The rapid development of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) is profoundly transforming the social order, into what Spanish sociologist Manuel Castells calls the network society. Mobile technologies, such as smartphones and tablet computers, are perhaps the definitive tools of the network society; however, cultural and economic barriers exist that restrict access to these transformative tools and to the information networks in which they operate. One group that is particularly at risk is rural older people from disadvantaged backgrounds. This paper reports on one aspect of a larger action research project that involved working with a small group of rural, socially isolated older people with histories of homelessness and complex needs (N = 7) and their social workers. This paper focuses on the older participants who, having been provided tablet computers, were then supported to use the device in their homes over the course of eight months. Despite most participants having never used a computing device of any kind prior to the research project, findings suggested that participants gained confidence, independence and social engagement as a result of their ICT use. Results also highlighted that they experienced challenges in utilising ICT, specifically technical, economic and social barriers. Findings highlight the individual and structural issues that must be addressed to enable all citizens to participate fully in the network society.