This article examines patterns of service use and predictors of unmet needs among a purposive sample of 74 Latino grandparent caregivers in New York City. Study participants tended to be unmarried, middle-aged, and older women who were monolingual Spanish speaking and had very low levels of educational attainment and income. Nearly all respondents were connected to the formal service system, yet they still reported substantial unmet needs. Lack of knowledge was the major barrier to service use, and predictors of unmet needs included low education, poor health, high levels of life stress, and lack of reliable help with child rearing. Implications for policy and practice strategies that focus on role-related needs of Latino custodial grandparents are discussed.

This article uses a role theory perspective to examine the social relationships of 74 Latinos, mostly middle-aged and older Puerto Rican and Dominican women, rearing their grandchildren in New York City. Fully 81% of households were below poverty level. Most grandparents had large families and were socially connected, but two thirds of households were skipped-generational and many grandparents lacked reliable help with child rearing. Most relied on a focal secondary caregiver, usually an adult daughter, and extrafamilial supports. These and other sources of strain and support for the grandparent caregiver role in Latino families are discussed, as is the impact of this role on their social relationships.

Objectives: To test the independent and combined impact of social cohesion and geographic locale (urban/rural) on quality of life (QoL) for older adults in China. Using conditional process analysis, we tested three hypotheses: (1) QoL will be lower for persons living alone than those who live with family; (2) social cohesion will mediate the association of living arrangement and QoL; and (3) geographic locale will moderate direct and indirect pathways in the mediation model. Design: Cross-sectional data from WHO Study on Global Aging and Adult Health (SAGE) (China, Wave 1, 2007–2010). Setting: National probability sample of 74 primary sampling units in China, 32 in urban, and 32 in rural areas. Participants: A total of 9,663 adults aged 50 years and older. Measurements: We measured QOL with the 8-item version of the WHOQOL-Bref; living arrangement as alone versus with family; and social cohesion with an 9-item index of frequency of a range of social activities in the previous 12 months. We controlled for sociodemographic characteristics and health and mental health variables in multivariate analyses. Results: Data supported the first two hypotheses; however, the mediating effects of social cohesion held only in urban areas. Conclusion: This study advances the large body of work on living arrangements and well-being of older adults in China. Social cohesion contributed to better QoL regardless of living arrangement, and cohesion mediated the association of living arrangement and QOL in urban but not rural areas. Programs and policies that strengthen social cohesion through older adults’ community involvement, especially in urban areas, will help to enhance QoL.

Purpose:An increasingly important task for all disciplines involved in aging research is to identify and prioritize areas for investigation. This article reports the results of a national Delphi study on setting research priorities for gerontological social work. Design and Methods:Delphi methodology, a structured process for eliciting and correlating informed opinions from a panel of experts on a specific topic, was used. A national expert panel of 46 gerontological social workers completed three successive Web-based questionnaires with controlled feedback to delimit a set of high-priority research topics. Results:There were 49 independent research topics identified, 16 of which attained high or highest priority and high or moderate consensus ratings. The top-priority topic was developing and testing psychosocial interventions across specific populations and conditions. Three additional topics on intervention research achieved similar ratings, as did all four topics on services research.Implications:The research priorities identified by expert panelists in this study represent critical knowledge needs for the social work profession in aging, and they overlap and complement the current research agendas of the National Research Council and the National Institute on Aging. They are thus expected to help guide the development and prioritization of social work and interdisciplinary research to improve practice and policies affecting older adults and their families.