Ithaca College

On April 22, at noon, Peter Martin, Ph.D., professor and director of the gerontology program of the Institute for Social and Behavioral Research at Iowa State University, will be at the Ithaca College Gerontology Institute for a brown bag lunch.

Although some centenarians continue to function well and to live independently in their communities, many depend almost exclusively on others for their care and support. Peter Martin and Maurice MacDonald are part of a national team of researchers investigating the genetic, medical, and psychosocial factors in a study entitled "A Population-Based Multi-disciplinary Study of Centenarians."

The essential objective of the study is to identify predictors that distinguish between centenarians who are independent, healthy, and experience a sense of well-being and those who are dependent, unhealthy (frail), and do not experience a sense of well-being. A secondary objective is to compare centenarians to a younger age group, octogenarians.

The researchers propose to evaluate predictors that differentiate among centenarians and between centenarians and octogenarians with regard to their functional status on a number of adaptational criteria: functional capacity and subjective health, cognitive impairment, mental health and psychological well-being, and economic-financial dependency.

Ithaca College faculty, staff, and students are invited to bring their lunch to the institute's resource room, CHS 413, at noon on April 22, to hear about Peter Martin's research. This is an informal gathering and there will be no formal presentation -- but it affords interested people an opportunity to chat and ask questions about the oldest old.

For additional information please contact Terry Beckley at 274-1967.