Clifton E. Barber

• PhD The Pennsylvania State University 1978
• Head of Faculty at University of Wisconsin–Madison

Many gerontologists propose definitions of wisdom. Usually these are "empirical," as opposed to a-priori or "real" definitions. In this article we defend an a-priori definition of wisdom. We briefly explain a-priori and empirical definitions, and how they relate to each other in research. After rejecting two classical a-priori definitions of wisdom...

This study investigated the role of cultural marginalization as factor mediating the relationship between family conflict and the perceived personal costs associated with caring for an elderly parent. Participants included forty-seven Mexican American filial caregivers residing in Colorado. Using data from structured interviews, the results of regr...

Impacted by a forest fire that swept through an American university’s mountain campus were 18 grandparents and 14 grandchildren participating in an intergenerational Elderhostel program. Six weeks after the fire, the grandparents were mailed a questionnaire that included questions about the fire’s short- -term impact(s) on their relationships with...

Using interview data collected from 47 Mexican-American families, this study explored whether two measures of religiosity—prayer and/or meditation, and participation in religious services—predicted caregiving outcomes in filial caregivers. Dependent variables included the perceived benefits derived from caregiving, and the subjective appraisal of c...

Why students respond differently when they are denied admission to a preferred academic major may be explained using a psychological theory of alienation. Using this theoretical perspective, three trajectories producing feelings of alienation are presented. The most intense of these trajectories, the process of disillusionment, is examined using a...

Families are the major provider of long-term care and support for the functionally dependent elderly. The provision of this care, however, can exact an emotional, physical, and financial toll. The National Family Caregiver Support Program (NFCSP), established in amending the Older American Act in 2000, provides grants to states and territories to f...

“Aging-friendly” communities are environments where people can live their entire lives rather than having to relocate because of age-related changes. The objective of this study was to investigate the extent to which middle-aged, long-term residents in Wisconsin perceived their communities to be aging-friendly, and to determine whether these percep...

Given longer life expectancy, family care of impaired adults has become increasingly common. Frequently, this care is rendered by individuals who are also employed. To collect information on employed caregiving, guided by the objective of making employers more aware of employed caregiving issues, a team of Wisconsin Extension educators developed th...

Organized around three course objectives are six activities/assignments the author has found useful in promoting affective learning outcomes in introductory courses on aging. The intent in developing these approaches was to address particular postures toward aging and the aged often displayed by students in their late teens and early twenties. In a...

To what extent are gerontological issues addressed in the marital and family literature? In answering this question, the authors conducted a content analysis of 873 articles published in the Journal of Marital Family Therapy, Family Process, Family Systems Medicine, and the Journal of Family Psychology during an 8-year period beginning in 1986. Onl...

Most studies of formal service utilization among ethnic minority groups reveal little about the within-group variation in formal service use by caregiving families. The present study explores patterns of formal service utilization among 43 Hispanic caregiving families that vary according to differences in level of acculturation. In so doing, the ut...

Structured interviews were conducted with 47 Hispanic and 53 Non-Hispanic White adult children caring for elderly parents. The selection of measures was based on a conceptual framework wherein caregiving outcomes (both positive and negative) were viewed as a product of variables in five domains: background characteristics, cultural context, primary...

This study focused on the extent to which self-perceptions of power and worth differed across members of three-generational families as they compared themselves with other family members. It was hypothesized that self evaluations of worth would show more stability than self evaluations of power in such comparisons. There was support for this hypoth...

There is growing agreement that wisdom is multidimensional. But are the dimensions imputed to wisdom by recent theories congruent with major attributes of wisdom as lived by aging adults? Significant data exist on the attributes that various populations, including elderly populations, associate with wisdom. But there is little data available on wha...

Against the demographic backdrop of an aging society, this study investigated the degree to which accredited Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) programs incorporate gerontological content in their curricula and the extent to which faculty affiliated with these programs have gerontological interests and/or are engaged in scholarly work related to ger...

Plato''s writings express a positive attitude toward elderly people. But do his writings also show a serious theoretical interest in issues of aging? We approach this question by comparing what Plato says about aging to major theoretical issues in gerontology. We argue that many of Plato''s subtler observations of the behavior of elderly people and...

Despite a considerable literature on family care of the elderly, comparatively little attention has been devoted to the ethical dimensions of caring for frail and dependent older family members. Nor is there an extensive literature available to guide family therapists or others in the helping professions who work with families experiencing ethical...

This study explores the grandmother role as experienced by a nonrandom sample of nine lesbian women. It examines how they define the grandmother role, and the behaviors and actions through which they enact the role. During individual interviews each woman was asked to talk about what makes a woman a good grandmother, memories of her own grandmother...

Many gerontologists propose definitions of wisdom. Usually these are “empirical,” as opposed to a-priori or “real” definitions. In this article we defend an a-priori definition of wisdom. We briefly explain a-priori and empirical definitions, and how they relate to each other in research. After rejecting two classical a-priori definitions of wisdom...

This article proposes teaching care-giving families a practical, six-step Care-giving Consensus Management Model. Cooperative Extension professionals can teach clientele this model and can reduce caregiver burden by broadening the ownership of caregiver responsibilities among both proximate and distant family members. The model integrates strategic...

Courses in biological aging are becoming increasingly common and necessary in college curricula for several reasons. At the same time, there is a lack of guidance for instructors regarding necessary content in such a course, which is in part perpetuated by uncertainty about the background of students who need this instruction and a lack of consiste...

Questions regarding the incidence of eating disorder tendencies and support for a conceptual model of specific family correlates of such tendencies were examined in a non-clinical sample of 92 women over the age of 50. It was predicted that older women assessed as at-risk for developing eating disorders would perceive their families as more conflic...

A frequently reported finding in age-related sensory impairment is that olfaction shows consistent and uniform decline with age. In most studies, discerning whether loss in olfaction is due to aging per se or to factors extrinsic to the aging process (e.g., smoking, chemical exposure, head injury) is difficult. Moreover, studies of olfaction have g...

Diabetes is one of the leading health problems in the United States today, particularly among Native Americans. For those diagnosed with non-insulin dependent (Type II) diabetes mellitus, control of the disease involves significant changes in life style. A number of cultural factors affecting an individual's ability to control diabetes have been in...

Self-administered questionnaires were completed by 75 staff providing direct care to institutionalized elderly patients with Alzheimer's Disease or a related dementia. Hierarchical multiple regression was used to investigate the relative influence of four sets of predictor variables on burnout: (a) staff characteristics, (b) workload and caregiving...

Survey responses from 156 child life specialists in the United States and Canada were analyzed for the purpose of testing a conceptual model depicting predictors of three measures of professional well-being: burnout, job dissatisfaction, and intentions to leave a job. Predictor variables included individual factors, measures of workload, attributes...

In terms of age-related sensory impairment, a frequently reported finding in gerontological literature is that olfactory function diminishes in a fairly consistent and uniform manner with age. In many of these studies, however, samples have included individuals who have either smoked and/or who have been characterized by other conditions that would...

In terms of age-related sensory impairment, a frequently reported finding in gerontological literature is that olfactory function diminishes in a fairly consistent and uniform manner with age. In many of these studies, however, samples have included individuals who have either smoked and/or who have been characterized by other conditions that would...

In this study of 262 individuals caring for victims of Alzheimer's disease, the time-invariant factors of caregiver gender and generational relationship were analyzed for their negative impacts on caregiving. Caregiving impacts included strain in family relationships, restrictions in social activity, and decline in health. Results indicate that the...

Diabetes is one of the leading health problems in the United States today, particularly among Native Americans. For those diagnosed with non-insulin dependent (Type II) diabetes mellitus, control of the disease involves significant changes in life style. A number of cultural factors affecting an individual's ability to control diabetes have been in...

The relationship between exercise and a variety of measures of well-being among sedentary elderly populations has been the focus of a plethora of studies. One general finding reported by these studies is that physical activity delays or slows age-related physiological deterioration. Less well documented, however. has been the specific effect of exe...

Using a mailed survey, responses from 105 individuals caring for spouses afflicted with Alzheimer's Disease (AD) were analyzed with regard to the impact of caregiving on the caregiver. Spouses rendering care to an AD patient in an "in-home" setting were contrasted with those caring for an AD patient in a nursing home. Results indicate that spousal...

This article describes a study of the predictors of burden in a sample of 298 individuals providing care for elderly loved ones afflicted with Alzheimer's Disease. Caregiver burden, the primary dependent variable, is conceptually and operationally defined in both subjective and objective terms. Subjective burden refers to the caregiver's attitude t...

the term "empty nest" refers to the years a couple spend together between the launching of their last child and the death of one of the spouses the transition to the empty nest begins when the first child is launched from the home and ends when the last child departs / this chapter is about how parents react to and evaluate this transition the...

This article describes a study of the correlates of subjective burden within a sample of 121 adult daughters and 50 adult sons, each of whom was identified as providing care to an older parent. Feelings of burden, the key dependent variable in the study, was measured using the Caregiver Burden Scale. Independent variables included (a) sociodemograp...

Three techniques for assessing extension of one's personal future (line-marking, open-ended report, life-events) were compared in a sample of 74 respondents. Two points of data collection were employed to examine short-term stability. At both administrations, correlations among indices suggested that techniques were only moderately comparable. Shor...

A sample of 74 young adults provided information on attitudes toward aging and perceptions of past, present, and future parental health. Ratings of relatively unfavorable parental health were associated with greater anxiety toward personal aging, and a less positive view of friends' and peers' aging. No association was evident with attitudes toward...

A model is presented for developing an introductory gerontology course in which teaching strategies are aimed primarily at realizing affective rather than cognitive outcomes in the lives of students. The four course objectives are described in terms of the following areas: (1) examination of personal values and attitudes concerning aging and the ag...

The dimension of time perspective for extension of personal future was examined as it may be affected by response format and coding procedures. A total of 75 undergraduate students responded to a questionnaire containing one of three formats for reporting anticipated future life-events, varying in the structure imposed on responding. Temporal estim...

Quick Facts... The risk of falling increases with age and is greater for women than for men. Two-thirds of those who experience a fall will fall again within six months. A decrease in bone density contributes to falls and resultant injuries. Failure to exercise regularly results in poor muscle tone, decreased strength, and loss of bone mass and fle...

Hearing loss is potentially the most serious of all sensory impairments. • Unlike vision loss, it is not easily recognized by others. It rarely prompts empathy and understanding. • It can lead to social withdrawal, isolation, depression, paranoia and suspiciousness. Even a slight loss can be emotionally upsetting if it jeopardizes communication and...