Handbook of Theories of Aging, Second Edition

Vern L. Bengtson, PhD, is AARP/University Professor of Gerontology Emeritus and Research Professor, Edward Roybal Institute on Aging, School of Social Work, University of Southern California. A senior statesman in gerontology, Bengtson is a world-recognized expert on the sociology of life course, family sociology, social psychology, and ethnicity and aging. He has been elected President of the Gerontological Society of America and has been granted two MERIT awards for research from the National Institutes of Health. He has written or edited 17 books and published over 250 research papers. Early in his career Bengtson started the Longitudinal Study of Generations, a multi-generation and multi-disciplinary investigation of families, aging, and social change that now is in its 45th year of data collection from over 350 multi-generational families. He has received research and teaching awards from the Gerontological Society of America, the American Sociological Association, the National Council on Family Relations, and the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion. As the lead Editor on the two prior editions of the Handbook of Theories of Aging, and Co-Editor of the book that preceded them, Emergent Theories of Aging, Dr. Bengtson has led the charge to transform gerontology into a field that is rich in both data and theories.