GRAY POWER OR POWER OUTAGE - POLITICAL-PARTICIPATION AMONG VERY OLD WOMEN

The purpose of this paper was to examine the extent and nature of the political activity that can be observed among very old women, Towards this end, three political research questions were investigated among a sample of adults 85 years of age and older drawn from the caseload of a large metropolitan human service agency. Descriptive and inferentia l data analyses revealed a substantial decline in political participat ion, and identified several demographic variables that influence polit ical involvement among women in advanced old age. For service provider s, the data implied that advocacy efforts, leadership programming, and outreach services were urgently needed to combat the political ''powe r outage'' that occurs among women in advanced old age.