Daughters and daughters-in-law of presently unmarried elders were studied longitudinally, and the data were analyzed to determine how two transitions in caregiving status affected the women of the younger generation. One transition compared noncaregivers who had become caregivers 1 year later ("caregiving entrants," n = 33) with continuing noncaregivers (n = 56) and with veteran continuing caregivers (n = 78) over the same period. The second transition followed Time 1 new caregivers as they became "new veteran" caregivers (n = 69), comparing them with "old veteran" caregivers (n = 189) over the same year. The transition to caregiving was marked by a decrease in the care receiver's competence and an increase in the amount of care received, but caregiving entrants' quality of life did not change significantly over 1 year, as compared with either continuing noncaregivers or veteran caregivers. Although longitudinal study shows little positive evidence for the wear-and-tear model of caregiving, methodological improvements are needed before discarding the hypothesis that caregiving erodes mental health.

Education of families, professionals, and transportation specialists is needed to understand the influence of AD severity on driving abilities, identify problem driving behaviors, make appropriate referrals of unsafe drivers, and access available resources for drivers with AD and those most responsible for their safety.

Most older adults prefer to live at home as long as possible, requiring supports and services to help them age in place. This study examines the relocation concerns of a group of older adults in a suburban naturally-occurring retirement community (NORC). Twenty-six percent of the 324 residents interviewed expressed concern about having to move in the next few years. Residents who were worried differed from those who did not worry on a number of demographic and biopsychosocial characteristics. Overall, residents present a profile of vulnerability that calls for preemptive action to help them stay in their homes. A NORC is an ideal setting in which to provide supportive services.

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Although the discipline of anthropology has much to contribute to the understanding of the nature and experience of aging, it is a relative latecomer to gerontology. After briefly discussing why this is the case, the authors discuss the contributions of two anthropologists who brought a substantive anthropological voice to gerontological discussion of aging. Examining the "ancestral roots" of the anthropology of aging, we spotlight the intellectual heritage of Margaret Clark, arguably the "mother" of this anthropological subfield, and that of Sharon Kaufman, her student, colleague, and a pioneer in her own right. Clark and Anderson's Culture and aging: an anthropological study of older Americans (1967; Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas) remains a touchstone for the concept of situated aging. This examination of value orientations and mental health of older San Franciscans is foundational for understanding aging as an interactive, socially embedded process that is adapted to specific sociocultural contexts. Research and therapies grounded in narrativity and meaning benefit from Sharon Kaufman's The ageless self: sources of meaning in late life (1986; Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press), which articulated narrative thinking as a conduit for understanding, performing, and constructing identity and meaning. Kaufman's work has ongoing relevance to gerontological research on embodiment, chronic illness, and later life social transitions. Their research has continued relevance to contemporary gerontological scholarship and practice, signaling both prevailing and emergent agendas for anthropologically informed gerontology.