Women's Voices From the Vintage Years

About the Book

Until recently, research on late adulthood has focused on men. This book views the aging process in women age fifty and beyond in their vintage years (so named because people of this age are aging to perfection like vintage wine). Twenty-five women between the ages of 50 and 90 describe their own experiences dealing with the nine developmental tasks typical of late adulthood, revealing the "inner process" of aging not before recognized by researchers in the psychology of late adulthood. The words of these women belie the common belief that aging means catastrophe and endless decline physically and emotionally. The "voices" of these women reveal aging as the full flowering of a process of growth that started at conception.

About the Author

Barbara Vance, a product of the mountains and deserts of the Mountain West and a whole flock of pioneer forebears, is a curious mixture of the adventurous, curious child and the quieter, more self-assured, more contemplative adult. Her doctorate at Stanford University focused on psychotherapy. She prefers "preventative maintenance", however, to "rehabilitation." That's why she is a teacher (emeritus professor) instead of a psychotherapist. She is a Certified Family Life Educator (CFLE) through the National Council on Family Relations and has focused on international family life education and gerontology. She has conducted leadership training throughout the United States, the South Pacific, and Southeast Asia for her church. For her profession, she has conducted family life education workshops in the Philippines, England, Scotland, Ireland, France and Israel. She wears several professional hats: those of a developmental psychologist, instructional psychologist, family psychologist and geropsychologist (study of adults age 50 and beyond). She is the author or coauthor of several books and the author of a wide variety of professional articles and research monographs. She is the oldest of five children and an aunt to 91 (at latest count) nieces, nephews, great-nieces, and great-nephews. Her hobbies range from reading mysteries and history to playing the piano and the violin (she's an accomplished violinist) and guitar, quilting, golfing, and traveling.