Comparison of Cf-252 thin-film sources prepared by evaporation or self-transfer.

Thin-film sources containing Cf-252 were prepared by two techniques­evaporation and self-transfer­to determine whether sources prepared by simple evaporation work as well as sources prepared by self-transfer for alpha particle studies. The sources were analyzed by alpha and gamma spectroscopy. Results indicate that self-transfer sources exhibit less alpha energy straggling and alpha energy loss than evaporative sources. Fission fragments may also self-transfer, and sources made by self-transfer may need time to decay before reaching radioactive equilibrium.

Public attitudes toward Social Security.

In the early years of the Social Security program, public support for old-age pensions was high but knowledge and understanding about benefits and taxes were low. Understanding has greatly increased, even though the program has expanded, and support for Social Security has remained high. Data from the surveys and polls examined in this article indicate that support for Social Security was strong even during the late 1970's and early 1980's, when a fiscal crisis generated a crisis of confidence in the public's perception of the system's ability to pay benefits in the future. The proportion of the American public declaring confidence in the program declined sharply from a large majority with confidence (63 percent) in 1975 to a minority with confidence (39 percent) in 1978. Following the restoration of program financing through the provisions in the 1983 amendments, the trend has reversed. By 1988, nearly one-half of the public expressed confidence in the future of the Social Security program. For the most part, other aspects of public opinion regarding Social Security have shown great stability over the years. The program is popular and has been well-supported. Support for the Government to spend more for Social Security has been consistently high, as has support for benefits to increase with inflation and for benefits to increase even if it means higher taxes. Many individuals rely on income from Social Security or expect to rely on it when they retire. It is clear that the public wants the program to continue. If participation were optional, about three-fourths of the population would stay in the program.

Assets of new retired-worker beneficiaries: findings from the New Beneficiary Survey.

Most new retired workers in 1982 owned some type of asset, usually a savings, checking, or credit union account, according to data obtained by the Social Security Administration (SSA) in its New Beneficiary Survey. Many recently retired workers also owned their home, often mortgage-free. Homeownership was their most significant asset in terms of its median value. Comparatively few retirees owned property other than a home, though for owners of such property, the median value was substantial. Married couples, whose assets included those of both partners, more frequently owned assets and their assets had higher median values than did unmarried individuals. A comparison of retired workers with persons aged 65 or older who were enrolled in the Medicare program but who had not yet received retired-worker benefits showed that these Medicare-only enrollees were much better off, both in the likelihood of owning assets and in having higher median values for their assets. Individuals who retired before reaching age 65 and therefore received a reduced social security benefit were not as well off as those whose first benefit was paid at age 65 or older. Overall, the asset situation of new retired workers in 1982 was better than that of men and unmarried women aged 58-63 in 1969, even when the 1969 assets were adjusted to constant 1982 dollars.

Reported reasons retired workers left their last job: findings from the New Beneficiary Survey.

About a third of all new retired-worker beneficiaries who had stopped work reported that the main reason they left their last job was a desire to retire. The existence of health problems was the next most frequently given reason, and it was reported by about a fourth of the group. These responses were made to questions in the 1982 New Beneficiary Survey, conducted by the Social Security Administration (SSA) in October-December 1982. Recently retired workers not only said they wished to retire, but more of them began receiving benefits at age 62 than at older ages; by age 65 most were beneficiaries. Forty-five percent of the men and almost 54 percent of the women had already left their last job at the time they received their first benefit. Married women in particular had not only stopped work but frequently had left their last job more than 3 years before they received their first benefit check.

Socialization and aging group consciousness: the effect of neighborhood age concentration.

In order to test hypotheses regarding effects of age concentration upon socialization and aging group consciousness, 1,185 persons 60 years of age and over living in areas representing low, average, and high concentrations of older persons were interviewed. Results indicated that age concentration was associated with knowledge of services and with age of persons in formal and informal neighborhood networks but was not related to attitude toward older persons in the abstract, to own age identification, to associational preference, or to taking political action. It appears that age concentration influences access to, more than choice of age peers. Both socialization and aging group consciousness are associated with age, health and socioeconomic status. It may be concluded that the ecological variable of age concentration in the range encountered by most older persons has only limited effects.

Informal networks and knowledge of services for older persons.

Although informal networks may serve as lay referral to formal services, they may also reduce awareness of formal services by substituting for them. This reflects the distinction between weak and strong ties. The association between informal ties and service knowledge was investigated in a sample of 1,185 persons aged 60 and over. Such ties have generally weak associations with service awareness. Friends and neighbors appear to make small positive contributions to knowledge, as do having a confidant or instrumental helper, but ready access to children, confidants, and instrumental helpers also appears to reduce awareness of formal services. Older persons would appear to be served best by informal networks that balance weak and strong ties, yielding appropriate coordination with formal service networks.

Subjective network assessments and subjective well-being.

Inconsistent evidence about the contributions of informal social networks to well-being may reflect a failure to measure quality as well as quantity of social involvement. The associations of both objective and subjective network characteristics with measures of subjective well-being were investigated in a sample of 1,185 persons aged 60 and over. The objective and subjective dimensions were empirically distinct, with subjective assessments of social ties and supports exhibiting stronger associations with well-being. Having enough instrumental help and contact with children appeared to be particularly important. Understanding the quality of social ties helps clarify the contributions of social involvement to the quality of life in old age.

Community acceptance of the mentally ill in foster family care.

Community acceptance has been described as essential to the successful placement of the mentally ill in the community. The study reported here examined acceptance of mental patients living in family care homes and found that residents were well accepted by neighbors and by others in the community, albeit on a superficial level, and that acceptance could be predicted by variables relating to the residents' social network.

Classification decisions within psychogeriatric day care.

Classification decisions play a central role in implementation of day care services. A case study is presented which examines classification decisions within an outpatient multilevel psychogeriatric day care program at a state psychiatric center. Staff cited as relevant criteria: social isolation, severity of psychopathology, home emotional climate, activity, ADL and mental status. Issues related to utilization of criteria, such as relevance, consensus, definition and program changes, are discussed.

Foster-family care for the elderly: surrogate family or mini-institution?

The rationale behind adult foster care (AFC) has been that "participation in the life of the family" is superior to institutionalization. The extent to which AFC is familial has been widely debated, ranging from claims that this environment provides a surrogate family, to claims that it is no more than a mini-institution. This paper discusses the extent to which elderly clients are integrated into the family and the method by which such integration was measured in a sample of one hundred adult foster homes in New York State. The four dimensions used to measure familism were Affection, Social Interaction, the performance of Ritual, and the minimization of Social Distance.