November 22-24 , 2008
National Harbor, MD Gerontological Society of America's 61st Annual Scientific Meeting

November 22
Loving the Problem Child: Parental Reports of Ambivalence Toward Adult Children
Kira Birditt, Lisa Jackey

Daily Stress and Coping with Arthritis: Effects of Race and SES
Kira Birditt

November 23
Resilience in Late Life: The Role of Social Relations
Kira Birditt, Kristine Ajrouch

"If Your Neighbor is Good, then You are Good": Resilience in the Lebanese Context
Kristine Ajrouch, Toni Antonucci, Hiroko Akiyama

Resilience in Old Age: Social Relations as a Protective Factor
Toni Antonucci, Heather Fuller-Iglesias, Besangie Sellars

Resilience in the Face of Abuse: Predictors of Help-Seeking Behaviors Across the Life Course
Carey Sherman

Men's and Women's Resilience in Health Trajectories Over 20 Years in Japan
Hiroko Akiyama

November 24
Change in Social Relations amon Japanese Elderly: Interpersonal and Inter-regional Differences
Hiroko Akiyama

Social Relations: Risk and Resilience for Health and Functioning
Toni Antonucci

The major purpose of the Life Course Development (LCD) program is to expand our knowledge of social relationships across the lifespan and their implications for mental and physical health. We examine a wide variety of relationships including those with family, friends, spouse, parents, children and peripheral ties from middle childhood to the oldest-old.  We are interested in identifying the aspects of relationships (e.g., types of support, conflict, contact frequency) that are most beneficial and or harmful to health and whether these associations vary by key demographic and contextual factors such as marital status, gender, age, race, and education.