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Civic Engagement Highlights at the 2007 GSA Annual Meeting The 60th Annual Scientific Meeting of The Gerontological Society of America will take place November 16th-20th at the Hilton San Francisco and Towers. Found below are sessions, papers, and posters related to civic
engagement that will be presented at the meeting. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17TH Social Entrepreneurs in the Second Half of Life (Emerman, Carstensen,
Nakamura) "This session will present qualitative portraits
of these older social innovators, a brief video letting the audience
hear Purpose Prize winners' own voices, and quantitative and qualitative
results of research on the relationship between successful activism
and key socio-psychological factors." Symposium Employers of Choice and Countries of Choice for a Global, Aging Workforce (Pitt-Catsouphes, Smyer, Shen, Flynn) "This paper assesses the alignment among the needs/preferences of older workers, public policies that promote workforce development opportunities and quality employment (especially for older workers), and benefits/resources offered by employers." Paper 11:45 AM -1:15 PM Encore: Baby Boomers, Civic Engagement, and the Next Stage of Work (ONeill, Freedman, Wilkins, Moen, Pitt-Catsouphes) "This symposium will look at this new vision of later life from four unique perspectives." Symposium 1:30 PM - 3:00 PM Changes in Image Toward the Elderly Among Elementary School
Students Through an 3:30 PM - 5:00 PM Comparisons of Selected Social, Psychological and Economic Characteristics between Senior Volunteers and Participants of the Senior Public Work (SPW) in Korea (Hur) "The purpose of this study is to compare selected social, psychological and economic characteristics between senior volunteers and participants of Senior Public Work (SPW) in Korea."Poster Organizational Withdrawal as a Measure of Volunteer Engagement
Among Older Adults Social Organizations & Aging: The Benefits of VFW Membership (Leedahl, Ekerdt) "The goal of this research is to understand peoples' active participation in social organizations, particularly as they get older…twenty active participants of a Veterans of Foreign War Post and its Women's Auxiliary answered questions about their membership." Poster Civic Engagement in Native American Communities of Northern
Minnesota (Bail, Mehrotra) "With the support of The Atlantic
Philanthropies' Community Experience Partnership this study was
conducted to examine civic engagement among Native American elders."
Poster SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 18TH Predicting Longitudinal Change in Cognitive Performance from Everyday Activities (Watts, Zelinski) "Research has investigated whether engagement in everyday activities results in appreciable preservation of cognitive function in older adults...We used measures of activity participation at baseline to predict the level and slope of change over the 22-year period; activities included reading, writing, volunteering, and participating in cultural, educational and self-improvement activities." Poster Helping Behavior and Well-Being among Older Adults (Hao, Waite) "The purpose of this study is to test whether formal volunteering and informal helping activities reduce the rate of health decline for older adults." Paper Longitudinal Perspective on Altruism, Helping, and Psychological Well-Being in Late Life (Kahana, Kahana, Cheruvu, Midlarsky, King, Lovegreen) "There has been growing recognition, largely based on correlational studies, of the potential benefits of altruistic attitudes and helping behaviors (such as volunteering) on well-being of the aged. We studied the longitudinal effect of altruistic attitudes and helping behaviors at prior year on depressive symptoms during the subsequent year controlling for health and demographic factors..." Paper Effects of Productive Activities on the Frailty of Older Adults (Jung, Gruenewald, Seeman, Sarkisian) "This paper aims to explore whether engagement in productive activities, including volunteering, employment, and childcare, protects older adults against the geriatric syndrome of frailty." Paper Psychosocial Correlates of Health as We Age (Hauser, Bruch)
"This symposium will present new findings about social and
psychological factors affecting health and changes of health among
these women and men from ages 53-54 to ages 65-66." Symposium MONDAY, NOVEMBER 19TH Obstacles to Continued Work in Later Life: Perceptions of Older Workers (James, Swanberg, Sharon) "The purpose of this paper is to examine some of these obstacles among workers in a national retail chain store." Paper When Findings Do Not Conform to the Mainstream Literature: Socioemotional Aging among Hong Kong Chinese (Fung, Charles) "This symposium highlights findings on socio-emotional aging in Hong Kong that are not consistent with the mainstream literature. Ho and colleagues explored whether volunteerism might be a possible explanation for the increase in peripheral social partners among older adults in Hong Kong." Symposium Age Differences in Motivation to Volunteer and Well Being (Ho Fung, Fung) "Volunteering is defined as providing services for others without monetary reward. We investigated whether (1) the relationship between volunteerism and well being was moderated by the motivation to volunteer, (2) and such moderation differed by age." Symposium 10:00AM -11:30 AM Aging and the Environment: Using Environmental Volunteerism to Increase Social Integration among Older Adults (Wagenet, Pillemer) "In this paper we explore the intersection of two important issues: greater social integration of older persons and concern about the natural environment's sustainability." Poster Antecedents of Civic Engagement by Minority Elders: Focus Groups on Medicare and Medicaid (Holley, Quinn) "This study compares two parallel sets of focus groups conducted one year apart. Each set includes four focus groups of ethnic elders (American Indian, Chinese, Hispanic, and nonimmigrant Black). The more recent set adds a focus group of White elders and follow-up interviews with former focus group participants. Focus groups rated the accessibility of public information about Medicare and Medicaid. The study also examines efficacy of the focus group experience for inspiring minority elders' engagement in the public conversation about these programs." Poster Academic Service Learning and the Third Ager (Kunz) "Much more than volunteering, secondary and postsecondary academic service learning (A S-L) students use their energy and talents to make a difference in some aspect of their communities with the guidance of both their academic instructor and community partner." Poster Causes and Consequences of Civic Engagement: Micro-Macro Model of Social Participation among Japanese Retirees (Katagiri) "Although continuous engagement in society is considered one of the most important factors for maintaining health in old age, Japanese men lose their social network and self-identity at retirement and face difficulty reconstructing them. This study aims to examine the related factors that facilitate social participation among Japanese retirees." Poster 11:45 AM -1:15 PM Older Workers and the Specter of Uselessness: Working Later in a Changing Labor Market (Taylor, Chen, Rix) "The focus of this proposed Presidential symposium is on how demographic trends, in combination with social and technological changes and the wider forces of globalization, are creating major challenges for employers and nations in managing labor supply, how each is responding, and the effects on older workers trying to secure or maintain footholds in labor markets." Symposium Valuing Contributions of Older Adults: Views of Formal and Informal Volunteering (Martinez, Kim, Tanner, Fried) "This research aims to identify volunteer activities among diverse older adults and some of the factors that influence participation (perceived benefits, motives, barriers, and facilitators)." Paper Civic Engagement as a Win-Win (Fried, Moody, Binstock) "This symposium describes the theory of Experience Corps, the evidence that such high impact roles attract diverse older adults, and do so to meet personally meaningful goals, and consider societal benefits from potentiating the unique abilities of older adults who seek such roles." Symposium Is it Worth the Effort? How Mature Working Women View Recareering Later in Life (Moore, Woldt) "These studies have found that women age 50-60, in particular, would like to change to jobs that improve their community and have a sense of purpose. Paper 1:30 PM - 3:00 PM 3:15 PM - 4:45PM Structural Relationship Between Social Engagement Pattern and
Longitudinal Trajectories of Institutional Factors Associated with Outcomes of Volunteering (Morrow-Howell, Hong, Tang) "This study seeks to increase knowledge about factors associated with volunteer outcomes by assessing the relative effects of individual and institutional characteristics." Paper Inclusion of Diverse Older Populations in Volunteering: The Importance of Institutional Facilitation (Tang, Morrow-Howell, Hong) "This study identified the importance of institutional facilitation for older adults in volunteer programs, especially for those with lower socioeconomic status." Paper Physician Interest in Volunteer Service during Retirement (Sloane, Cohen, Konrad, Zimmerman Williams, Schumacher) "As the baby boomers retire, experts predict that current physician manpower shortages will worsen. Therefore, we theorized whether retired physician volunteers might constitute a potential untapped source of healthcare manpower." Paper 5:00 PM - 6:30PM Self-Employment Transitions among Older Workers with Career Jobs (Cahill, Giandrea, Quinn) "This paper analyzes transitions into and out of self employment among workers who have had career jobs later in life." Poster Current perspectives in working with adult and older workers (Reaser, Spokus, Sterns, Rothwell) "A survey sent in cooperation with the American Management Association was conducted to determine the latest strategies being used by companies to recruit and retain older workers." Poster Social Activity and Well-Being in Later Life: A Synthesis and
Critical Review of the Literature (Adams, Moon,Leibbrandt) "This
study's purpose was to review the conceptualization and measurement
of activity among older adults and the associations found between
specific dimensions of activity and well-being." Paper TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 20TH What Factors are Associated With Older Adult's Group Participation? (Nakayama) "Previous studies have shown that group participation affects older participants positively…The study question is: what characteristics of older adults are associated with several types of group participation." Poster Maintaining a New Economy Career: Age and Work in IT (Taylor, Longino, Taylor) "This symposium will consider the changing place of older workers in IT employment against a background of constant technological change as organizations try to survive in a highly competitive, volatile and increasingly global business environment." Symposium Civic Engagement for Low-Income Seniors with Preschoolers: Opportunities
& Challenges Intergenerational Service Learning Project: Students' Reflection
and Evaluation (Iwasaki, Kim, Slaven) "The major purpose
of the present study was to understand the impact on student participants
of an intergenerational service learning project using a qualitative
inquiry." Poster |
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