Health, Illness and Optimal Aging undertakes the difficult task of assembling an objective and holistic picture of human aging, including the physical aspects of aging, chronic disease, and health promotion in the later years, for students and professionals. Aldwin and Gilmar provide comprehensive, multi-disciplinary coverage of the demography of the aging population, theories of aging, and physical aging, including normal age-related changes, disease-related processes, and promotion of optimal aging. They also cover psychosocial aspects of aging, including mental health, stress and coping, and spirituality, as well as care giving in later years. Features: - a comprehensive approach, with coverage of psychosocial factors that affect physical health in addition to biological aspects of aging, thus providing integrated coverage of information from the fields of biology, psychology, and the social sciences - coverage of issues in healthcare systems - case studies in each chapter to augment student understanding with real-life examples - discussions of methodological issues in some of the research presented to help students become more critical consumers of research and data.