Summary
Contents
Directed towards researchers and practitioners in family studies and gerontology, this completely revised Second Edition of Family Relationships in Later Life provides an innovative new collection of research-based descriptions on family relations of older people. Each chapter summarizes existing literature on the topic and provides up-to-date original research. Topics addressed include: sibling relationships in later life; widowhood; ethnic differences; elder abuse and mistreatment; family care; and health problems.
Practice and Policy Issues
The third and final section focuses on practice and policy issues concerning older persons and their families. Research and theory about older persons’ family relationships are important to the development and implementation of programs and policy. Services can compliment and, in many ways, enhance later-life family relationships. To do so, an awareness of the complexity and variability of older persons’ family networks is necessary.
Joseph A. Kuypers and Vern L. Bengtson discuss the impact of health on the family relationships in later-life families who are experiencing catastrophic illness. Later-life families are viewed as a system, and changes in the health of an older family member affects the interrelationships between family members. A systems framework for dealing with these changes ...