ABSTRACT
In recent years, considerable research attention has been paid to understanding the multiple factors that affect psychological adjustment and maladjustment in older adults. Theoretically physical factors such as genetic tendencies, lifestyle, and diseases should interact with social and environmental variables to produce the experience of aging. Gender and ethnicity (two prominent social variables) are known to play important roles in the development of and adjustment to a myriad of physical and mental health problems in younger populations (e.g., cardiovascular disease, AIDS, depression, eating disorders), and current theory and research suggests that these factors are also highly relevant to increasing our understanding of the psychological adjustment to growing old in the United States and around the world. The purpose of this chapter is to broadly examine the role of gender and culture in the psychological adjustment to aging. First, we briefly review demographic trends regarding older populations around the world. Then, the role of gender and culture in the healthy adjustment to aging (i.e., life satisfaction) is explored. Next, gender and cultural factors in older family adjustment are reviewed, followed by an analysis of gender and cultural factors in psychological problems experienced by some older persons.
