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This state-of-the-art handbook will keep researchers and practitioners in gerontology abreast of the newest theories and models of aging. With virtually all new contributors and content, this edition contains 35 chapters by the most highly respected luminaries in the field. It addresses theories and concepts built on cumulative knowledge in four disciplinary areas√>=biology, psychology, social sciences, and policy and practice√>=as well as landmark advances in trans-disciplinary science. With its explicit focus on theory, the handbook is unique in providing essential knowledge about primary explanations for aging, spanning from cells to societies.

The chapters in the third edition place a strong emphasis on the future of theory development, assessing the current state of theories and providing a roadmap for how theory can shape research, and vice versa, in years to come. Many chapters also address connections between theories and policy or practice. Each set of authors has been asked to consider how theories in their area address matters of diversity and inequalities in aging, and how theories might be revised or tested with these matters in mind. The third edition also contains a new section, Standing on the Shoulders of Giants, which includes personal essays by senior gerontologists who share their perspectives on the history of ideas in their fields, and on their experiences with the process and prospects of developing good theory.

Hallmarks of the Third Edition:

• Highlights important gains in trans-disciplinary theories of aging

• Emphasizes the future of theory development

• Provides insights on theory development from living legends in gerontology

• Examines what human diversity and inequality mean for aging theories

• Emphasizes interconnections between theory, research, intervention, and policy

• Underscores international issues with greater representation of international authors

• Includes section introductions by the editors and associate editors that summarize theoretical developments

Key Features:

• Highlights variability and diversity in aging processes, from the cellular level of biological aging to the societal level of public policy

• Provides insights on theory development from living legends in gerontology

• Offers intergenerational, interdisciplinary, and international perspectives

• Disseminates a forward-thinking, future-oriented focus in theory development

Richard A. Settersten, Jr., PhD, is Professor of Social and Behavioral Health Sciences, Oregon State University, where he is also Endowed Director of the Hallie E. Ford Center for Healthy Children and Families and a member of the Center for Healthy Aging Research. Dr. Settersten is Editor of numerous books and journal issues. His research spans multiple periods of the life course (especially early adulthood and late life) and multiple levels of analysis (from genomics to demography). A fellow of the Gerontological Society of America, Dr. Settersten has played leadership roles in the GSA as well as the American Sociological Association. His recent co-edited book (with J. Angel), the Handbook of Sociology of Aging, won the 2012 Outstanding Publication Award of the American Sociological Association's Section on Aging and the Life Course. The MacArthur Foundation as well as multiple divisions of the National Institutes of Health have supported his research. He has also participated in activities of the National Academy of Science/National Research Council/Institute on Medicine panels on the health and wellbeing of young adults, and on new directions in social demography, social epidemiology, and sociology of aging.

Vern L. Bengtson, PhD, is AARP/university professor of gerontology emeritus and research professor, Edward R. Roybal Institute on Aging, School of Social Work, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California. A senior statesman in gerontology, Bengtson is a world-recognized expert on the sociology of the life course, family sociology, social psychology, ethnicity and aging. He has been elected as 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 more than 260 research papers. Early in his career, Bengtson started the Longitudinal Study of Generations, a multigeneration and multidisciplinary investigation of families, aging, and social change, which now is in its 45th year of data collection from more than 350 multigenerational families. He has received research awards from the Gerontological Society of America, the American Sociological Association, the American Psychological 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 coeditor 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.