Robert N. Butler, M.D.

The history of this volume is quickly told. In anticipation of the 1981 White
House Conference on Aging -- and the key role to be played by the Conference
committee on research -- the National Institute on Aging (NIA) was asked to pro-
vide a series of background papers on various aspects of psychosocial aging. The
objective of this task was to broaden scientific understanding of the psychosocial
components of the aging process, to contribute more accurate information on the
place of older people in society, and to call attention to a number of "leading
edges" in research on aging.

The importance of this task was monumental. Although past White House
Conferences on Aging have recognized the potential impact of aging research on
the development of public policy, this was the first time that research was allot-
ted committee stature. We at the NIA considered it necessary that the delegates
understand the vital role of research on psychosocial aging in the context of Con-
ference objectives. We hear a good deal about the "graying of America." What
we need to know is how the striking changes in the age composition of our soci-
ety will affect labor, housing, health care, and other areas of concern, and how
we can plan and promote an effective national policy on aging.

Leading Edges: Recent Research on Psychosocial Aging ( NIH Publication No.
81-2350) was published in November 1981 for purposes of the White House Con-
ference on Aging. This limited edition was almost immediately exhausted. Now,
for a wider audience, the papers appear under a new title -- reformatted, reor-
dered and reedited.

Had the NIA been able to update Volume I of Aging and Society: An Inventory
of Research Findings (Riley, Foner, and associates, Russell Sage Foundation,
1968) it would have more than met the Institute's obligation to the White House

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