Handbook on Women and Aging

Statistics show that women live longer than men, and that they constitute a substantial majority of the North American population over age 50. But lack of empirical data on aging women has helped to perpetuate numerous myths and stereotypes. This reference provides a comprehensive overview of current research on women and aging. Chapters are written by expert contributors and are grouped in sections devoted to historical and theoretical views, economic concerns, health and lifestyle issues, demographic information, and relationships. Chapters reflect research on women from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds, the particular needs of the rural elderly, the problem of sexism and ageism, and the impact of significant life events, such as retirement and widowhood. Chapters cite current research, and the volume closes with a selected bibliography of major studies.

JEAN M. COYLE is President of Jean Coyle Associates, a gerontological consulting firm in Alexandria, Virginia. She founded the first academic gerontology program in the state of Louisiana in 1976 and has taught at universities throughout the United States. She has been Secretary of the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education, National President of Sigma Phi Omega gerontology honor society, and a founder and president of the Southwest Society on Aging. She is a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America and the author of Women and Aging: A Selected, Annotated Bibliography (1989) andFamilies and Aging: A Selected, Annotated Bibliography (1991), both published by Greenwood Press.