Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Reciprocity And Social Capital In Sibling Relationships Of People With Disabilities, John Kramer, Allison Hall, Tamar Heller

All Institute for Community Inclusion Publications

Sibling relationships are some of the longest-lasting relationships people experience, providing ample opportunities to build connections across the lifespan. For siblings and people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD), these connections take on an increased significance as their families age and parents can no longer provide care. This paper presents findings from a qualitative study that addresses the question, “How do siblings support each other after parents no longer can provide care to the person with I/DD?” Findings in this study suggest that siblings with and without disabilities experience reciprocity as a transitive exchange, which occurs through the creation of …

Transracial Foster Care And Adoption: Issues And Realities, Fern L. Johnson, Stacie Mickelson, Mariana Lopez Davila

New England Journal of Public Policy

The article places transracial foster care and adoption into a broader perspective that highlights social and cultural factors and the reasons for controversy about this adoption option. The first section describes the demographics of children in the foster care system. This is followed by an overview of requirements for approval as foster and adoptive parents in Massachusetts and information about the laws governing transracial adoption. The controversy over transracial adoption is laid out by explaining the race-blind and race-matching positions. Policy priorities are outlined that take into account the main points of controversy. The final section focuses on growth in …

Fact Sheet: What Influences Plans To Work After Ages 62 And 65?, Maximiliane E. Szinovacz, Gerontology Institute, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Gerontology Institute Publications

Timing of retirement and, implicitly, plans to work in later life have great policy relevance. They affect Social Security expenditures, employers’ pension expenditures, as well as labor force supply and demand. In light of the recent recession, it is particularly important to explore whether economic downturns and workers’ financial status influence their later-life work plans. To answer this question, we analyzed data from the nationally representative Health and Retirement Study (HRS), which included questions about expectations to work full-time after age 62 and age 65.

Gender And Marital Status Differences In Retirement Planning, Maximiliane E. Szinovacz, Gerontology Institute, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Gerontology Institute Publications

During the past decades, women have increasingly joined the labor force and worked in their later years. Yet women, especially married women, often have shorter work histories than their male counterparts due to taking time off for child care or care for ailing relatives. Are they also different in their retirement expectations? To answer this question, we explore gender and marital status differences in retirement plans.

Gray Matters Behind Bars, Howard Manly

Trotter Review

Forty years ago, the nation got tough on crime. It is now paying the price as the skyrocketing cost of incarcerating aging inmates is haunting state and federal prison budgets.

Testimony Before The Erisa Advisory Council, Ellen A. Bruce

Pension Action Center Publications

I am the director of the Pension Action Center of the Gerontology Institute at the University of Massachusetts Boston. In that capacity, I run the New England Pension Assistance Project (NEPAP), a U.S. Administration on Aging (AoA)-funded pension counseling project, and the Illinois Pension Assistance Project (IPAP) funded by the Retirement Research Foundation. Both of these projects represent low- and moderate-income plan participants who are having difficulty claiming their employer-sponsored retirement income. The AoA funds six pension counseling projects covering 29 states; all of which represent clients in much the same way we do at the Pension Action Center. My …

Volunteering Among Surviving Spouses: The Impact Of Volunteer Activity On The Health Of The Recently Widowed, Kimberly J. Johnson

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Numerous studies link volunteering to positive mental and physical health for older adults, and recent studies have suggested that volunteering may be particularly beneficial for those who are widowed. This research examines the potential of volunteering to buffer participants from stress-related health declines associated with the death of a spouse.

Using the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), this research investigates the moderating role of volunteering on the self-rated health and depressive symptoms of recently widowed older adults. Consecutive waves of the HRS are used to identify respondents who experience the death of a spouse or who remain married, and those …

Seeing Adoption With Eyes Wide Open, Cheryl Millman

Instructional Design Capstones Collection

Families who choose to adopt may do so for a variety of reasons. Some may choose to adopt due to infertility or medical issues with one or both of the parents, so they may choose to adopt to avoid the risk of passing on a genetic or medical condition. Some may believe they are saving a child who otherwise would not grow up with the benefits of a loving and supportive family, and some choose to adopt because they lack an appropriate partner with whom to have a biological child. Regardless of the reason, parents believe that with love and …

Planning For The Growing Older Population: Conducting Community Needs Assessments, Caitlin Coyle, Hayley Gravette, Jan Mutchler, Gerontology Institute, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

Goals and Objectives: To describe the aging population of each community; To investigate the needs, interests and opinions of mature residents relating to their aging needs for age-related services in their respective communities; To provide recommendations to community partners and their stakeholders about how to create strong communities for older adults, based on needs assessment results; Generate reports and other documents to be used by the Department of Elder Services, other town offices, organizations that provide services, advocates, and community members.

Healthy Aging In Massachusetts: Reporting Indicators, Identifying Resources & Activating Allies, Elizabeth Dugan, Frank Porell, Nina Silverstein, Ruth Palombo, Chae Man Lee, Kristina Turk

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

In Massachusetts, a Healthy Aging Collaborative comprised of a diverse group of stakeholders has been formed for multiple purposes: information sharing around healthy aging, idea generation, partnership building and activity mapping.

Lift Up Your Voice! Health Care Advocacy Training Program: Empowering Older Adults, Nina M. Silverstein, Alison Gottlieb, Kelli Barton, Gerontology Institute, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

Lift Up Your Voice! (LUYV) is a health care advocacy training program developed by Community Catalyst and funded through Atlantic Philanthropies. LUYV directly engages older adults with chronic disease in state-based Campaign for Better Care initiatives to achieve changes in the health care delivery system.

Pension Action Center, Michele Tolson, Pension Action Center, University Of Massachusetts Boston, Gerontology Institute, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

The Pension Action Center (PAC) strives to improve retirees’ and workers’ standard of living in retirement through individual case advocacy; referrals to appropriate programs and professionals; and issue analysis and reform of public policy. The center, which is part of the Gerontology Institute at UMass Boston, focuses on the experience of participants in retirement plans throughout its work. The PAC is a one-of-a-kind organization in New England that touches the lives of thousands of people.

Important Places, Shaun O'Connell

New England Journal of Public Policy

The author talks about his time and associations with the University of Massachusetts Boston. He also describes Ireland and his family's roots there and how it connects with Boston as well as his life in New York.

This article originally appeared in a 2005 issue of the New England Journal of Public Policy (Volume 20, Issue 2): http://scholarworks.umb.edu/nejpp/vol20/iss2.

Community Mediation Of Parenting Disputes Between Estranged Parents, Madhawa Palihapitiya, Kaila Obstfeld Eisenkraft

Massachusetts Office of Public Collaboration Publications

Community mediation, characterized by free or low cost mediation services delivered primarily by volunteer mediators, aims to provide effective dispute resolution services to a broad spectrum of the population, particularly to underserved and low-income populations. The present study seeks to determine whether community mediation fulfills this goal with respect to divorce/separation-related parenting disputes while concomitantly testing the legitimacy of concerns about the quality of mediation services offered according to a community mediation model. Thus, the effectiveness of community mediation in resolving these disputes is measured through indicators reported by mediation participants, such as the population served, mediation results and party …