Research on aging in behavioral sciences in the Federal Republic of Germany

The paper reports on cross-sectional and longitudinal studies on psychological, sociological, as well as physical aspects of aging completed or going on in the Federal Republic of Germany. Most of these studies are referring to community aged and point to the complex conditions of consistency and change in cognitive functioning and personality adjustment during the middle and later years. They stress the high degree of interindividual variability of the aging process and ask for a differential instead of a normative gerontology.