Mohammed T. Abou-Saleh

WORLD STATISTICAL TRENDS AND PROSPECTS 91Most people now spend much longer as the parent of an adultchild than they do raising minor children; increasing proportionswill have step- and half-kin of various kinds and will live to knowtheir great-grandchildren. However, expectations about thesetypes of relationships may be confused. The increasing diversity ofpartnering and parenting patterns may also have implicationsboth for mental health in later life and the support of those withmental health problems.REFERENCES1. Council of Europe. Recent Demographic Developments in Europe.Strasbourg: Council of Europe Publishing, 1998.2. United Nations. World Population Prospects, The 1998 Revision. NewYork: UN.3. Preston SH, Himes CL, Eggers M. Demographic conditions responsiblefor population aging. Demography 1989; 26: 691–704.4. Grundy E. The health of older adults, 1841–1991. In Charlton J,Murphy M, eds, The Health of Adult Britain 1841–1991, Vol II.London: HMSO, 1997; 183–204.5. Thatcher R. The demography of centenarians in England and Wales.Population Trends 1999; 96: 5–12.6. Kannisto V. Development of oldest-old mortality, 1950–1990: evidencefrom 28 developed countries. Odense: Odense University Press, 1994.7. Haskey J. First marriage, divorce, and remarriage: birth cohortanalyses. Population Trends 1993; 72: 24–33.8. Grundy E, Holt G. Adult life experiences and health in early old agein Great Britain. Social Science and Medicine 2000; 51: 1061–74.9. Grundy E, Murphy M, Shelton N. Looking beyond the household:intergenerational perspectives on living kin and contacts with kin inGreat Britain. Population Trends 1999; 97: 33–41.10. Grundy E. Population review: the population aged 60 and over.Population Trends 1996; 84: 14–20.11. Grundy E, Glaser K. Trends in, and transitions to, institutionalresidence among older people in England and Wales, 1971 to 1991. JEpidemiol Commun Health 1997; 51: 531–40.