For a long time, research on developmental issues in the biological and social sciences has been primarily concerned with the early stages of the lifespan, such as infancy and adolescence. More and more researchers have recently turned their attention to the problems of development and aging in the later periods of life. This volume, based on papers presented by the European Network on Longitudinal Studies on Individual Development, deals with success in the aging process. From a medical or public health viewpoint, successful aging consists of optimizing life expectancy while at the same time...

Margret Baltes, a major researcher in gerontology, challenges the view that dependence is a negative and unnecessary consequence of aging. In this important volume, she presents her theory of learned dependency based on twenty years of research, which holds that dependency plays an important role in successful aging and is a resourceful adaptation to aging losses. This book attempts to correct the bias toward the virtues of independence over the vicissitudes of dependence, a predominantly North American view. It stresses that dependencies are not always dysfunctions, representing loss. Baltes...

Margret Baltes, a major researcher in gerontology, challenges the view that dependence is a negative and unnecessary consequence of aging. In this important volume, she presents her theory of learned dependency based on twenty years of research, which holds that dependency plays an important role in successful aging and is a resourceful adaptation to aging losses. This book attempts to correct the bias toward the virtues of independence over the vicissitudes of dependence, a predominantly North American view. It stresses that dependencies are not always dysfunctions, representing loss. Baltes...