Numerous treatises on ‘successful ageing’ were published during the late Renaissance. Zerbi's Gerontocomia and Cornaro's Trattato della Vita Sobria, in particular, have been considered as early precursors of modern gerontology. In this paper I revisit these two treatises, outline their content and common themes, and set them in the context of other literature written about ageing in this period. The rise of civic humanism, increased access to classical texts on health and hygiene, and the emergence of environmental and public health concerns, particularly in the Italian city states, are some of the factors that influenced this writing. The powerful yet insecure position of older men in the upper ranks of Italian society gave the topic of ‘seniority’ added relevance. While their roots in the scholastic tradition prevent them from serving as forerunners of scientific gerontology, their humanist concern with ‘lifestyle’ succeeds in making them the prototypes of the ‘do-it-yourself’ manuals for successful ageing that now proliferate in our late modernity.

Focusing on loss or maintenance of identity in persons with dementia may affect how they are approached and cared for. We performed a longitudinal study of 17 elderly persons with early-stage dementia with the aim of exploring changes in the experience of living with dementia. The major theme – a struggle to be valued – was clearly present in follow-up interviews. However, we observed a gradual shift in the concept of being valued: a shift from ‘being valued for what you do’ toward ‘being valued for who you are’. This progression represents a shift from performance-related core values of identity to those that are existentially related. These findings suggest that the self can be maintained by adjusting to loss.

Previous research has shown that young adults tend to identify and reinforce negative stereotypes of growing older. They can express both fear and trepidation regarding the bodily changes that occur with advancing age. With this in mind, in this paper we draw upon Frank's (2010) theoretical framework of socio-narratology to examine the work that stories can do. We take as a working example the impact that stories of ageing told by masters athletes might have upon young adults, and specifically their perceptions of (self-)ageing. Three focus groups were carried out with the young adults to examine their perceptions of (self-)ageing prior to and following their viewing of a digital story portraying images and narratives of mature, natural (‘drug-free’) bodybuilders. Our analysis pointed to a number specific capacities that stories of masters athletes might have, namely the potential to re-open young adults sense of narrative foreclosure, the stretching and expanding of existing imagined storylines, and increasing the availability of narrative options. We propose that understanding what stories can do, what they can do best, and the narrative environments that help and hinder this process is essential if our programmes and policies are to produce the results that are wanted.

Nowadays, the social participation of seniors represents a central challenge for both individuals and collectivities. The participative perspective is indeed present in most of the contemporary discourses on ageing, and is viewed both as a way to manage the current demographic juncture and as a promising direction for enhancing seniors’ wellbeing and achievements. This article examines 32 programmes aimed at fostering the social participation of seniors that were both implemented and evaluated, and whose results were published between January 1970 and August 2011. Based on each programme's approach, a typology of social programmes is proposed. The programmes are grouped in five categories, ranging from programmes offering an individualised approach to socio-political programmes. Classification is based on the various ways the concept of social participation is defined and acted upon by the reviewed programmes. Far from being neutral, each category suggests a specific representation of the social roles of seniors. In addition, the paper discusses how the proposed typology can guide both policy and practice, linking identity and agency issues to organisational and structural considerations. Three uses for the typology are suggested: as a policy-making support, as an evaluative framework, and as an experimental space for community practice.

The purpose of this study was to examine how older people make sense of their capacity to maintain sports performance. Performance maintenance is predominantly examined from a quantitative perspective, with little attention given to how people themselves account for it. We interviewed 44 competitors (23 females, 21 males) from the 2009 Sydney World Masters Games (aged 56–90 years; mean = 72 years). The major themes were: ‘Use it or lose it’ (performance preservation required specific ‘training’ and the continuation of general physical activity); ‘Adapt’/‘modify’ (participants compensated for their decline in speed, strength and endurance so they could continue competing in sport); ‘It's in my genes’ (participants attributed their ‘family history’ and/or innate ‘determination’ to performance maintenance); and ‘I like to push myself’ (participants valued improved performance, pushing their bodies and winning which motivated them to continually train and compete). The findings are discussed within a framework of three key performance maintenance theories: (a) preserved differentiation, (b) selective maintenance and (c) compensation. Although compensation and continued training are effective ways to counter decline in later life, this study extends past research by showing how older athletes tend to combine and/or generalise stable and unstable attributes of performance preservation. In particular, this research highlights the importance individuals and Western society place on self-responsibility for health, competition and performance maintenance, which act as key motivating factors.

This study assesses the probability that an older person in Bridgetown, Barbados receives financial, functional and/or material support from their adult children according to the proximity of their nearest child, adjusting for demographic and socio-economic factors. As in many countries of the developing world, older Barbadians receive much of their support from adult children. Population ageing, smaller family sizes and high rates of out-migration may be placing stress on systems of formal and informal support within the country. Yet, very little research has examined determinants of support within the Caribbean let alone Barbados, one of the most rapidly ageing countries in the region. Data (N = 1,248) come from the 2000 Pan American Health Organization Survey on Health, Well-being and Ageing in Latin America and the Caribbean (SABE). Multivariate logistic regression analyses highlight the overwhelming importance of co-residence in the receipt of informal support transfers. Although there is a lower probability of receiving support as distance to nearest child increases, several indicators of vulnerability, such as having a disability, increases support probabilities among those whose nearest children live outside the neighbourhood. The results have implications for current and future cohorts of older adults in the region given the combination of declining fertility, persistent migration and population ageing within a broader context of social protection systems across the region.

This article examines how older adults experience the physical and social realities of having multiple chronic conditions in later life. Drawing on data from in-depth interviews with 16 men and 19 women aged 73+ who had between three and 14 chronic conditions, we address the following research questions: (a) What is it like to have multiple chronic conditions in later life? (b) How do older men and women ‘learn to live’ with the physical and social realities of multiple morbidities? (c) How are older adults’ experiences of illness influenced by age and gender norms? Our participants experienced their physical symptoms and the concomitant limitations to their activities to be a source of personal disruption. However, they normalised their illnesses and made social comparisons in order to achieve a sense of biographical flow in distinctly gendered ways. Forthright in their frustration over their loss of autonomy and physicality but resigned and stoic, the men's stories reflected masculine norms of control, invulnerability, physical prowess, self-reliance and toughness. The women were dismayed by their bodies’ altered appearances and concerned about how their illnesses might affect their significant others, thereby responding to feminine norms of selflessness, sensitivity to others and nurturance. We discuss the findings in relation to the competing concepts of biographical disruption and biographical flow, as well as successful ageing discourses.