The political science discipline has been decidedly under-represented in the emergence of Canadian social gerontology over the past two decades. This is rather surprising, considering that political and governmental institutions—always a primary focus of political science attention—have played a critical role in allocating social values toward elderly persons, and that relatively large sums of public money are spent on aging programs. The discipline's relative absence in gerontological studies is explainable partly in terms of forces long at work within political science, and partly on the basis of ones external to it—all of which for some years combined to discourage work on this topic. Very recently, however, the negative influences have weakened to some degree, while new factors of a positive character have entered the picture. As a result, it is possible to offer a guardedly optimistic estimate of the potential for political science to become more involved and more committed than heretofore.

In a completely between subjects design 80 male and 80 female undergraduates evaluated targets which were male or female and 25, 45, 65, or 85 years old, on the Aging Semantic Differential (ASD; Rosencranz & McNevin, 1969). Findings indicated that older targets were rated less positively than younger targets on two of the three ASD dimensions and that Target Age × Target Sex × Subject Age interactions were significant for two of the dimensions. These results replicate the target age (between subjects) effects reported by O'Connell and Rotter (1979) but not those which involved target sex (within subjects) and subject sex. It was concluded that a) subject sex and target sex affect perceptions of targets of different ages elicited from young subjects and b) between subjects versus within subjects designs produce different characterizations of such targets.

In view of the trend toward increasing early retirement observed in Canada since the 1960's, this study attempts to determine the main socioeconomic factors influencing the decision to retire before age 65 among Canadian men and women. Using data from the 1973 Canadian Mobility Study, we estimate a series of models in which retirement is measured as both the degree of involvement in the labour force and a subjective declaration of retirement status. We conclude that those Canadians who retire early tend to be single men and married women employed by others who are better educated and whose nonearned income is higher than those who retire at a later age. As anticipated, early retirement experiences are different for men and women, reflecting the more precarious position of women in the labour market.

This study examines interprovincial migration patterns of elderly and nonelderly Canadians during 1956–61 and 1971–76. The focus of the paper is on the relationships between net migration patterns and changes in the concentration of elderly persons in provincial populations. The data show that elderly and nonelderly net migration patterns are very similar; that is, provinces that attract elderly also tend to attract nonelderly while provinces that lose elderly also tend to lose nonelderly. As a consequence, the impact of elderly migration on the aging of provincial populations is offset by nonelderly migration. Nevertheless, migration patterns do contribute in two ways to the relative concentration of elderly persons in provincial populations. First, elderly net in-migration after eliminating the counterbalancing effects of nonelderly in-migration does contribute modestly to population aging in 1971–76 though not in 1956–61. Second, nonelderly net out-migration contributes to the aging of a province's population in that the out-flow of younger persons increases the relative concentration of the elderly in the remaining population.

This paper first examines the prevalence of widowhood in Canada from 1956 to 1981. Second, data are presented concerning the probability of remarriage following widowhood and the length of time a person can expect to stay in the widowed state until either remarriage or death. The data indicate that the female is far more likely to be widowed than the male, that the widow is much less likely to remarry than is the widower, and that the widow on the average spends more time in the widowed state than does the widower. Finally, the data show that the number of widows for each widower has increased substantially during the 1956–1981 period.

The “Facts on Aging Quiz” developed by Erdman Palmore has been extensively utilized as a brief, reliable, and easily administered test of factual knowledge on aging. This paper describes the applicability of the quiz in the Canadian context, and provides documentation for quiz items. Potential problems of misinterpretation of items relating to the rate of institutionalization and income levels, are noted. The paper also compares levels of knowledge and areas of misinformation among a sample (n=585) of undergraduates, university faculty, and health care professionals. The usefulness of the quiz in identifying differences in knowledge levels, is confirmed.

In the Person-Environment (P-E) Congruence model, psychological well-being is proposed to be a function of the degree of fit between the perceived environment and the important needs of the individual; and, that in more restricted environments, the relationship is stronger. The present study examined, cross-sectionally and longitudinally, the Congruence levels and well-being of elderly veterans (N = 165) in four microenvironments within a single instutition. Congruence was assessed using the multidimensional Environmental Perception, Preference and Importance Scale (EPPIS). Well-being was measured using the PGC Moral Scale, the Life Satisfaction Index A and a semantic differential self-concept scale. There were significant microenvironment differences on three of the 15 EPPIS dimensions; the P-E Congruence scores were predictive of well-being; and, the specific dimensions predictive of well-being varied across microenvironments, criterion of well-being and time. The data reinforces the notion that treatment programs must be individualized and that the P-E model, operationalized in the EPPIS, may serve as a viable clinical tool.

This article describes the development of the Perceived Well-Being Scale (PWB) which allows for separate assessment of psychological and physical well-being. The PWB is a short and convenient instrument applicable to the elderly. Several studies bearing on the psychometric properties and usefulness of the PWB are presented and the implications of the findings are discussed.

Competency of witnesses depends upon the accuracy of their memory and their credibility. This paper addresses both of these factors with respect to the elderly. First, a review of the accuracy of the elderly eyewitness in recall and identification of a criminal suspect relative to that of young adults is presented. Secondly, the results of a study testing the perceptions of the legal community and the general public toward the elderly witness are given. And thirdly, the attitudes of the elderly toward police officers, trial judges, crown attorneys, and defense lawyers are discussed. Young adults were found to be seven to 20 per cent more accurate on the average than elderly subjects in recall for crime-related events and in the identification of a suspect. However, results also showed that some elderly subjects are equally as accurate as young adults in the visual identification of a suspect. Police officers, lawyers, probation officers, the general public, and elderly subjects rated the elderly witness relatively high in understandability, activity, potency, and evaluation. These judgements suggest that the credibility of the elderly witness is favorable. Finally, the study showed that elderly subjects perceive trial judges, prosecutors, and defense lawyers positively, and they are particularly supportive of the police.

This paper offers an exploratory investigation of spatial aspects of the shopping patterns of elderly downtown residents. Attention is explicitly focused on their usage fields, transport modes, and shopping context. The shopping behaviour of the elderly is evaluated with reference to that of a baseline group of non-elderly consumers. The data are obtained from a questionnaire/interview survey of random samples of elderly and non-elderly apartment dwellers in the central area of Winnipeg. The findings indicate that the elderly's shopping trips are largely restricted to the central business district. In contrast, the non-elderly exhibit more extensive movement patterns, particularly when purchasing relatively expensive items. These differences appear to be related to the higher level of transport deprivation among elderly persons, although some are able to compensate for their limited mobility by travelling as bus or automobile passengers.

A partial evaluation of the comprehensive home care and home aid policy of the Ministry of Social Affairs (MAS) of Quebec was undertaken. Three different home care and/or home aid programs serving three urban catchment areas were compared for this purpose. Two of these programs offer comprehensive home care and home aid programs, while the third one offers nursing services at home only. One hundred clients from each program were interviewed at their admission and six months later. Three random samples of elderly from each of the catchment areas were also drawn to take into account local characteristics in the comparison of the clienteles. The study has shown that 1) the three clienteles do not differ except on a few variables. These differences are not systematically related to the type of program (comprehensive/nursing only). 2) That the clients who, on admission, have the profile closest to the client profile established by MAS, were among those that the interviewers could not find for the second interview. And, 3) a comparison of the clients of three programs (on living arrangements, functional impairments and chronic illness), with that of a random subsample of the elderly population, have shown that the former have a higher probability than the latter to wish to leave home. Thus the two comprehensive home care programs seem to experience difficulties in reaching the goals that the ministerial policy has set forth for them.

The experiences of elderly persons caring for elderly family members at home were examined by means of in-depth interviews with fourty-seven subjects in Montreal and seven in England. The analysis of the Montreal sample revealed that denial of fears and unwillingness to think about the future, as well as negative assessments of cared-for-person's health were more prevalent in women than in men. Women also mentioned more frequently that religious beliefs influenced their caregiving and seemed to feel more strongly the impact and burden caregiving placed on them. Experiences with old people in earlier life was associated with low burden scores; few visitors and a belief that cared-for-person was critical of them were associated with high burden scores. Suggestions for further research and recommendations for supportive services to caregivers are made.

Following 14 months of operation, all 142 patients assessed by the Day Hospital program at Seven Oaks General Hospital in Winnipeg were reviewed. Needs identified through referrals from physicians were compared with those assessed by the Day Hospital team. Findings showed that medical, nursing and learning needs were most frequently not identified and more than half the referrals identifying a single need were assessed as having multiple needs. However, the ranking of needs by referrers and assessors were identical.

The review confirmed that this Day Hospital met the objective of assessing the multiple factors affecting the well-being of the elderly.

As part of the pre-screening for an exercise stress test and possible entry into a subsequent exercise training programme, 74 members of the University community aged 45–75 were given a full clinical examination. They subsequently responded to the Cornell Medical Index (CMI) and the Physical Activity Readiness (PAR-Q) questionnaires. The exercise stress test was judged as contraindicated in 9 of the 74 subjects on the basis of the clinical examination. Possible uses of the CMI were rated against this criterion. Failure to complete the CMI and/or 2 or more positive responses to section C yielded a sensitivity of 66.7% and a specificity of 86.1%. Excluding subjects with more than 40 responses to section A-M substantially reduced sensitivity (55.5%), with only a small gain of specificity (90.7%). The PAR-Q had a sensitivity of 66.7% and a specificity of 92.5%. It was considered clinically advisable to halt the exercise test in 11 of the 65 subjects who had been initially cleared. Summing medical rejections and aborted tests, the basic use of the CMI showed a sensitivity of 50.0% and a specificity of 90.7%. Excluding subjects with a high response rate, sensitivity was 35.0% and specificity 92.6%. Corresponding figures for the PAR-Q procedure were 55.0% and 83.3%. It is suggested that (i) future exercise screening should combine the basic PAR-Q questions with a more specific and up-dated version of the CMI, and (ii) complaints should not be ignored because of a high overall response rate.

A survey of 119 elderly persons with dementia was conducted in the Kingston, Ontario area. Among the findings regarding the burden of care for families of such persons are:

1. The proportion of key relatives who said providing the needed care to the subjects had been very difficult was significantly higher for those who have become residents of institutions than those still at home.

2. Objective measures of severity of the subjects' dementia were at particularly high levels for individuals for whom providing care had been difficult, while measures which reflect the physical burden of providing care were not.

3. Among the subjects for whom providing care had been very difficult, extreme behavioural manifestations (e.g., physical violence) were reported for 67 per cent, versus only 1 per cent of remaining subjects.

4. The value system of family providers of care also plays an important role in whether the afflicted person is admitted to an institution.

Responses to a Life Events Schedule were obtained from 408 elderly respondents at both phases of an 18-month longitudinal investigation. Sixteen items were identified with an incidence exceeding 5% at both phases. These items were found to be structurally unrelated. Temporal stability coefficients that were statistically significant, but generally of low magnitude, were obtained for a greater proportion of the usual stressors than for the less frequently endorsed items. The reasons for stability were suggested to be multifarious. Statistically significant correlations with happiness were obtained for few stress items. The items exhibiting correlations at both phases were associated with high incidences, and the direction of the correlations varied with the direction of stress (i.e., positive or negative).

The potential role of physical activity in the primary, secondary, tertiary and quarternary treatment of disease is examined with particular reference to the health care needs of the elderly. Areas requiring further research are stressed. On present evidence, it would appear likely that enhanced physical activity could make a useful contribution to the containment of health care expenditures; however, it still has to be established how far the gains of physical condition and resultant improvements of health status that are seen in younger individuals could be realized by the various categories of geriatric patient.