Creating Positive Experiences as We
Age
Meaning through Connections
Jacquelyn B. James, Ph.D.
jamesjc@bc.edu
A 21st Century Focus on Aging
• The U.S. is aging--people are
living longer than ever before.
• Older adults are healthier
than ever before.
• The economy has affected
plans of the “retirementeligible.”
Celebrating Transitions
How old are you….really?
Your chronological age
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
How old you feel when you try a new physical activity
vital and energetic
frail and ‘spent’
How old you feel when you are with people 20 years older than you
young
old
How old you feel when you compare the types of life experiences
you have had with those you thought you would have at this age
way ahead of schedule
on time
way behind schedule
How old are you….really?
Your chronological age
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
How old you feel when you try a new physical activity
vital and energetic
frail and ‘spent’
How old you feel when you are with people 20 years older than you
young
old
How old you feel when you compare the types of life experiences
you have had with those you thought you would have at this age
way ahead of schedule
on time
way behind schedule
How old are you….really?
Your chronological age
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
How old you feel when you try a new physical activity
vital and energetic
frail and ‘spent’
How old you feel when you are with people 20 years older than you
young
old
How old you feel when you compare the types of life experiences
you have had with those you though would have at this age
way ahead of schedule
on time
way behind schedule
Expectations for Aging: Quiz
1.
Most older adults have difficulty adapting to change. In other
words, they tend to be set in their ways.
2.
Declines in all five senses normally occur in old age.
3.
The majority of older adults say that they are happy most of
the time.
4.
The vast majority of older adults will at some point end up in a
nursing home.
5.
Older adults who slowly disengage from work, social
connections, community activities are adapting to the
inevitable need to withdraw from the world.
Women and the Prism of Age
• Accumulation of
competencies and skills
• Health and physical
functioning
• Expectations for
accomplishments and
experiences at particular
ages
• How old you feel
compared to people
around you
• Developmental stages of
understanding life
experiences and making
meaning of them
• Roles and responsibilities
Subjective Age
associated with life events,
[You are as old as you feel.]
such having children
• Cultural perspective
shared by groups born in a
particular generation
• How old do you think
others think you are
• Connections to
organizations and
institutions
Chronological Age
Age and Generations
Entering New Territory
“All of us are now in uncharted
territory, a stage of life not seen
before in human history. And
whether woman or man, whether
working-class or professional, we
are all wondering how we’ll live,
what we’ll do, who we’ll be for the
next twenty or thirty years.”
Lillian Rubin, Sixty on Up: The Truth
about Aging in America, p. 54
Normative Disengagement?
The Journey Continues
生きがい
Good News: Life Satisfaction by Age Group
Source: Sloan Center on Aging & Work , 2010. Life and Times in an Aging Society
Gendered Lives Affects Choice about
Involvement
• Women still earn less than men and have higher rates of poverty.
Because women live longer, the number of poor older women in
2008 (2.4 million) was more than twice the number of poor older
men (1.1 million) (Purcell, 2009).
• Caregivers of the elderly are predominantly women (66%).
(National Alliance for Caregiving, 2009). Women between 50
and 64 are the group most likely to be caring for sick and disabled
family members (Ho, Sara, and Michelle, 2005).
• When asked about the future, women are somewhat more likely to
say that they expect to do volunteer work (83%) than men (77%).
Involvement by Age Group
63% involved in Paid Employment
34% involved in Caregiving
32% involved in Volunteering Activities 40% involved in Educational Activities
Source: Sloan Center on Aging & Work , 2010. Life and Times in an Aging Society.
Engagement by Activity
Source: Sloan Center on Aging & Work , 2010. Life and Times in an Aging Society
Engagement by Age Groups
Source: Sloan Center on Aging & Work , 2010. Life and Times in an Aging Society
If you are involved, there are rewards of
for greater engagement.
• High engagement predicts greater outcomes of well-being
compared to no involvement.
• Low engagement predicts lower outcomes of well-being
compared to no involvement.
A Bright Future across the Life Course
[Today’s older generation]… could play the lead role in
demonstrating to the world the power of the 50-50 model of life,
in which you spend the first half of your life exploring the world
and developing your skills, and the second half using that
expertise to help others.”
(Carstensen, L., 2009, p. 253-254)
None are so old as those who have outlived
enthusiasm.
Henry David Thoreau
Are They Engaged?
Young @ Heart
Chorus
http://www.youtube.c
om/watch?v=3uOOhm8Fj8