AGING AND GENERATIONAL RELATIONS CONFERENCE

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Support is requested for a three-day international, interdisciplinary conference, "Aging and Generational Relations in Historical and Cross- Cultural Perspective", to be held at the University of Delaware's Center for Family Research in Spring, 1991. The purpose of the conference is to stimulate and advance interdisciplinary and cross-cultural research on generational relations in the later years of life, and develop future policy-relevant methodological and theoretical directions. While the gerontological literature has examined patterns of children's assistance and care for aging parents in contemporary society, these patterns need to be linked with historical research for an understanding of the impact of social change and cultural differences on the family status and generational relations of the aged. The conference will bring together leading gerontologists, anthropologists, demographers, economists, historians, social psychologists, and sociologists engaged in original research and methodological innovation. Conference topics will focus on the interaction of elderly people with their adult children over the life course, and on social, economic, and emotional supports in old age. The papers will examine the impact of the demographic, institutional, and cultural changes affecting the needs of the elderly and the caretaking patterns of adult children along the following foci: 1) Impact of historical and institutional changes on the life course and on intergenerational relations. 2) Cross-cultural differences in generational relations and assistance among ethnic and racial groups, both within the United States and on other countries. 3) Policy implications for care for the elderly and service to caregiving families. The conference will be held at the University of Delaware's Center for Family Research, which focuses on "Aging and Generational Relations" as its main current theme. Revised conference papers will be published in a volume, which will be edited with an extensive introduction by the conference director, Tamara K. Hareven. In order to enhance the interaction and discussion, conference participants will be limited to twenty-four scholars, several post-doctoral invitees, and NIA staff members.