K. Warner Schaie, PhD, is the Evan Pugh Professor of Human Development and Psychology at Pennsylvania State University. He also holds an appointment as Affiliate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science at the University of Washington.Ronald P. Abeles, PhD, is a Special Assistant to the Director of the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research in the Office of the Director at the National Institutes of Health.

• ContributorsPreface, K. Warner SchaiePreface to the first volume in the series: Why this book?, Matilda White RileyIntroductory OverviewThe Waters We Swim: Everyday Social Processes, Macro-Structural Realities and Human Aging, Dale DanneferSection 1: Health and Well-BeingTo Act or Not to Act: Using Statistics or Feelings to Reduce Disease Risk, Morbidity and Mortality, Howard Leventhal, Tamara J. Musumeci, and Elaine A. LeventhalReligion, Health, and Health Behavior, Neal KrauseCommentary: Assessing Health Behaviors Across Individuals, Situations, and Time, David Almeida, Susan T. Charles, and Shevaun D. NeupertSection 2: Personality and CognitionFrom Static to Dynamic: The On-going Dialectic About Human Development, Nilam Ram, Sylvia Morelli, Casey Lindberg, and Laura L. CarstensenThose Who Have, Get: Social Structure, Environmental Complexity, Intellectual Functioning and Self-Directed Orientations in the Elderly, Carmi Schooler and Leslie J. CaplanCommentary: Personality, Emotion, and Cognition: Some Comments, Freda Blanchard-FieldsSection 3: Technology and the WorkplaceTechnology as Multiplier Effect for an Aging Work Force, Neil CharnessNo Career for You: Is That a Good or Bad Thing? David EkerdtCommentary: New Employment Structures: Varieties of Impact on Aging Workers, James L. Farr and Alexander R. SchwallSection 4: Sociocultural Change and Historical ContextAging, History, and the Course of Life: Social Structures and Cultural Meanings, Thomas Cole, W. Andrew Achenbaum, and Nathan CarlinCultural Transformations, History and the Experiences of Aging, Christine FryThe Aging Experience, Social Change, and Television, Rukmalie JayakodySection 5: Family and Societal ContextReligion and Intergenerational Transmission over Time, Vern L. Bengtson, Casey E. Copen, Norella M. Putney, and Merril SilversteinHow Have Social Institutional Forces Shaped Family Structure and Well-Being Over the Past 50 Years, Mark D. HaywardCommentary: Marital Trends and Familial Influences: Toward Developing an Understanding of Context, Chalandra Bryant and Michelle BraggAuthor IndexSubject Index