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THEORIES OF AGING
Theories of Aging: Life Course Perspective and Continuity Theory
0630
Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College
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THEORIES OF AGING
There are many different theories of aging that have been developed over the years to
help account for the ways in which people age and to explain the process of aging. As more and
more studies are performed and as education and knowledge in this area increases, certain
theories tend to emerge as more believable and probable, while others get discounted. Theories
have evolved and changed, beginning with earlier ones like Role Theory and Activity Theory, up
to the somewhat more recently developed theories such as Critical Theory and Feminist Theory.
Falling in between these two ends of the spectrum, lay several other theories, including both the
Life Course Perspective and Continuity Theory, both social in nature.
The Life Course Perspective attempts to explain how aging and its significance is shaped
by time, period, culture, history, cohort, and location within the social structure. Also considered
in this perspective is the individual development in cognitive function and personality. These
individual factors interact with the previously mentioned social aspects, as well as cohort
experiences. It is interesting to note that the Life Course Perspective is actually considered to be
more of a framework than a theory because it is based around a set of problems that call for
explanation (Hooyman & Kiyak, 2008, p. 319). The Life Course Perspective is all about
examining changes within a person’s life, including biological, developmental, historical, and/or
geographic, and trying to identify which factors affect how life changes and what transformation
these changes bring to a person’s life (Hendricks, 2012, p. 226).
Continuity Theory asserts that continuity is a key adaptive strategy for dealing with
changes due to ordinary aging. This theory attests that people, no matter their age, prefer to
maintain stability throughout their lifetimes and remain in the same roles that they had engaged
in during their life track even though they may not typically be able to hold these same roles due
to their progressing age and the obstacles that come with this factor. Also, a person will choose
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to continue the same psychological and social patterns they have come to adopt along their life
track, including attitudes, opinions, personality, behavior, etc., by developing secure activity
patterns that will help them to preserve earlier ones (Nimrod & Kleiber, 2007, p. 2).
There are strengths and weaknesses associated with both the Life Course Perspective as
well as the Continuity Theory. Although each has its limitations, both perspectives do serve a
purpose to help us to understand the aging process. The Life Course Perspective seems to cover
most of the fundamentals that make up a person’s life, including biological, psychological,
social, historical, and geographic factors. These factors, when intertwined with individual
development in both cognitive function and personality, along with cohort experiences, really do
help us to see a clear picture of a person’s life and their history. However, this perspective does
not account for individual difference, meaning that not all people share the same patterns of
development (Hooyman & Kiyak, 2008, p. 319). Mayer (2009), who has been reviewing and
assessing life course research since 2000, stated that life course sociology, in general, still has a
long way to go to fulfill its potential. This indicates that there is still more that needs to be
explored in this theory and perhaps it may need to be further reviewed and appropriately
modified.
The Continuity Theory’s main strength is that personality structure is stable; therefore it
does tend to remain considerably constant throughout a person’s lifetime. Unfortunately,
according to Hooyman and Kiyak (2008), this theory is “difficult to test empirically, since an
individual’s reaction to aging is explained through the interrelationships among biological and
psychological changes and the continuation of lifelong patterns” (p. 312). An additional
weakness is that this theory overlooks the role of various external factors that could alter the
aging process, including changes in health, traumas, and social circumstances (Hooyman &
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Kiyak, 2008, p. 312). I can also say that I personally experienced a situation in which it seems
that this theory may not always be so effective in explaining how people age. At my field
placement, I recently began meeting with a client, a 73-year-old male who divulged to me that
his wife was never a worrier all her life until a couple years ago when she underwent heart
surgery, and now she worries all the time. Conversely, this man told me that he used to always
be a worrier until recently, and now he doesn’t worry anymore. He said in some ways he feels
like he’s “a different person than he used to be” (professional communication, 2013). This
particular case makes me feel that the Continuity Theory’s message of personality remaining
stable over time does not always hold true, and makes me question what, and how much, we
actually really know about personality.
I believe that while these two perspectives on aging are both important to the field of
gerontology, they can’t both be used; as that wouldn’t be productive, being that they are too
different from one another. They each posit that life is comprised of different aspects that form a
whole, but the end result is reached differently in each perspective and is further drawn out and
detailed in one more so than the other. I deem the Life Course Perspective to be a more practical
choice for use in the work with older adults. The reasons for this choice are that, as stated
earlier, the Continuity Theory does not account for certain outside factors that many older people
face. I feel that the Life Course Perspective covers many more aspects of a person’s life than the
Continuity Theory and paints a more complete picture of everything that a life entails, from birth
to death (Alwin, 2012, p. 208). The importance of this is that I consider it to be necessary to
know every pertinent life detail about a client in order to be able to help them in the most
effective way possible. The Continuity Theory just leaves out too many important dynamics in a
life, and therefore can’t accurately account for change. Leaving out any of the factors of the Life
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Course Perspective would leave me without all the necessary facets that make up a person’s life,
and therefore I would not be able to understand how or what caused changes to occur, making it
very difficult to figure out what is going on in their life at the present time. Life is an ongoing
process from beginning to end, with each factor potentially influencing other factors. Each step
that occurs during a lifetime may be a building block for the next step, either directly or
indirectly (Hendricks, 2012, p. 231).
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References
Alwin, D. F. (2012). Integrating varieties of life course concepts. The Journals of Gerontology:
Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 67B(2), 206-220.
Hendricks, J. (2012). Considering life course concepts. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B:
Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 67B(2), 226-231.
Hooyman, N. & Kiyak (2008). Social Gerontology: A Multidisciplinary Perspective. (8th
Edition). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon.
Mayer, K. U. (2009). New directions in life course research. Annual
Review of Sociology, 35, 413–433.
Nimrod, G., & Kleiber, D. A. (2007). Reconsidering change and continuity in later life: Toward
an innovation theory of successful aging. The International Journal of Aging & Human
Development, 65(1), 1-22.