InhaltsangabeChapter 1. Introduction.- Chapter 2. Challenging statutory pensions reforms in an aging Europe:  Adequacy versus Sustainability.- Chapter 3. Technology and Ageing: Potential for European Societies.- Chapter 4. Dependency and individualism: The influence of modern ideologies on older people's food security.- Chapter 5 Cross-National Exploration of National Cultural Policy and Economic Characteristics.- Chapter 6. What about happiness in   later life?.- Chapter 7. Dementia and Quality of Life Issues in Older People.- Chapter 8. Changes in physical functional ability with ageing and over time.-  Chapter 9. Family networks and supports in older age.- Chapter 10. Factors influencing inequalities in the quality of life.- Chapter 11. Older men in the community: A United Kingdom perspective.- Chapter 12. The Social Networks of Older Europeans.- Chapter 13. Financial Literacy in Retirement Planning Context:  The Case of Czech Older Workers.- Chapter 14. Home nursing care of the elderly: The case of Cyprus.- Chapter 15. Quality of Life & Older People.- Chapter 16. Cohort change in living conditions and lifestyle among middle aged Swedes:  The effects on mortality and late-life disability.- Chapter 17. Late-Life Learning in the European Union: Implications for Social and Public Policy.- Chapter 18. Transnationalism and the study of aging and old age.

Constantinos Phellas is a Professor of Sociology and currently serving as the Vice Rector for Research Faculty at the University of Nicosia in Cyprus. His research interests include sociology of health illness, ageing, and sexualities. Professor Phellas holds a doctorate degree in Sociology from the University of Essex, UK. He also holds two Masters degrees from the University of Warwick (UK) and City University (UK) respectively. He has taught extensively (mainly at postgraduate level) at the University of Essex, City University, University of London and London South Bank University.  His publications focus upon the intersection of age, gender and culture and the social & psychological aspects of public health domain. He has recently been elected as the President of the Cyprus Sociological Association for the period 2012-2014.

Part I. Defining and measuring quality of life.- Managing identity as we age.- Disability within the community.- Focusing social policy on needs and services.- Residential settings and perceived quality of life.- Social networks and living arrangements.- Self-efficacy and independent living.- Religion and spirituality.- Assessing QOL.- The person/environment relationship.- Part II. Inequalities in quality of life.- Short- and long-term influences in QOL in early old age.- Associations between SES factors and QOL.- Ethnic inequalities/differences influencing QOL.- Migration.- Residential context.- Social exclusion.- Deprived neighborhoods.- Crime.- Institutional care.- Part III. Technology and the built environment.- Use of Information and Communication Technology.- Participating in the self-serve society.- Stimulate and support capacities for such participation (mobility, cognitive).- Car ownership.- Transport and travel activities in old age.- Older people¿s access to, acceptance of, trust in, and use of services provided through ICT-based solutions (health, social, information).- Part IV. Healthy and productive aging.- Cognitive functioning in older people.- Paid employment and psychological well-being.- Well-being differences between unemployment, underemployment, employment, and retirement.- Differences found between social resources of those working and those not working.- Community and voluntary work and psychological well-being.- Reminiscence.- Sexuality.- Part V. Family and support networks.- Masculinity and influence on health and social world of older men.- Social activity in later life: variations by gender and class.- Bereavement and gender effects on lifestyle and social participation.- Widowhood and cognitive functioning.- QOL and social support among people from different ethnic background.- Racism.- Loneliness and isolation.- Living alone in later life.- Grandparenthood.- Support networks among elderly gay couples.- Grieving among gay people.- Part VI. Participation and activity in later life.- Ethnicity, culture, and aging.- Lifelong learning, learning in retirement; devising accessible, inexpensive, relevant learning opportunities for older people.- Part VII. Financial resources for aging.- Constraints and choices faced by relatively wealthy and poor in making pension an savings arrangements.- Factors determining financial plans for later life; impact on recent restructuring of pensions on intergenerational transfers.- Intergenerational cash transfer patterns within different families, across cultures, and between the north and south of the globe.- Technology supplementing formal and informal care.- Part VIII. The globalization of aging.- Influence of global economic agencies such as the World Bank on domestic policies in fields such as pensions and long-term care.- Effect of retirement and other types of migration on formation of support networks, community activity, and social interaction.- Effects of cultural policies and norms in countries of origin on immigrants¿ well-being in later life.- Living in Diaspora communities.- Social and economic effects of transnationalism for older people in countries of origin and settlement.- Effect of transnationalism on well-being in old age.