ABSTRACT
A quiet demographic revolution has altered the age pyramid of modem societies and has ushered in the transition to a new era of the aging family. The couple and family orientation of social life, and the value attached to sociability position the family as a main reference point in the aging process. Aging needs, therefore, are best understood within the context of the family. The most central focal point of family development is family time which relates to the sequence of stages precipitated both by the internal demands of family members and by the larger society. Several modifications have been introduced into this perspective in recent decades in light of changing family structures such as single-parent and stepparent families. The dynamics or mechanisms describing the path followed and the level of adaptation achieved as each individual or family experiences a life transition constitutes the process aspects of the transition model.
