Showing papers in "International Journal of Aging & Human Development in 1980"
TL;DR: Family life and standard of living were found to be significant determinants of life satisfaction, for both sexes at each stage of adulthood.
Abstract: This investigation examines, via multivariate analysis, the effect of financial situation, health, standard of living and family life upon the life satisfaction of adult men and women. The stages of adulthood examined here include: Early Adulthood (ages 22--34). Early Middle Age (ages 35--44), Late Middle Age (ages 45--64), and Late Adulthood (ages 65 and older). The data used in this analysis were collected from a national probability sample (N = 2164), but the present study includes only persons twenty-two years or older with a response for each item under investigations (N = 1786). Life satisfaction was relatively high for both men and women at each stage across the lifespan. It was noted, however, that for men life satisfaction is related to age stage in a monotonic increasing fashion. On the other hand, life satisfaction scores remained relatively constant across the age stages for women. Family life and standard of living were found to be significant determinants of life satisfaction, for both sexes at each stage of adulthood.
123 citations
TL;DR: Adult grandchildren tended to be significantly closer to maternal than paternal grandparents, and were significantly closer emotionally to the maternal grandmother than to each of the other grandparents.
Abstract: Some of the major aspects of the relationship between young adult grandchildren and their grandparents were examined. A sample of 269 undergraduate females, each with at least one living grandparent, responded to a survey instrument that assessed their current frequency of interaction and perceived emotional closeness with respect to each living grandparent. Results suggested that the grandparent's kin position relative to the grandchild was a critical variable, more so than the grandparent's sex, in influencing the intensity of the bond, Adult grandchildren tended to be significantly closer to maternal than paternal grandparents, and were significantly closer emotionally to the maternal grandmother than to each of the other grandparents. Also found was a wide variability among young adult grandchildren in their current involvement and emotional attachment to grandparents.
93 citations
TL;DR: Development and refinements of attitudes scales such as the Aging Opinion Survey are necessary elements for proceeding beyond the current theoretical and empirical difficulties in gerontological attitude literature.
Abstract: Attitude instrument development remains a necessary task in aging research, for the eventual explication of attitude-behavior relationships. The present report describes initial development of the Aging Opinion Survey, an instrument based upon a multidimensional view of attitudes towards aging and the elderly. After identifying substantive attitudinal content areas, an initial 120-item pool was constructed, balanced across referent groups and direction of wording. Pilot analysis eliminated sixty items with minimal variances. Administration of the reduced item set to a subsequent sample of 200 gerontological practitioners and students produced four meaningful factors. Poor items were again eliminated and replacements constructed. Another administration (n=226) again produced four meaningful factors, three of which met the criterion of reliability: (1) Stereotypic age decrement, (2) Personal anxiety toward aging, and (3) Social value of the elderly. These scales appeared to reflect peer, personal, and generalized-elderly referents, respectively. Development and refinements of attitudes scales such as the Aging Opinion Survey are necessary elements for proceeding beyond the current theoretical and empirical difficulties in gerontological attitude literature.
92 citations
TL;DR: Using the Imaginal Processes Inventory, aspects of daydreaming and associated mental activity were examined for sex differences in 1200 well educated middle and upper-middle class whites aged seventeen to ninety-two years and found male curiosity about things was equally as strong as their curiosity about people.
Abstract: Using the Imaginal Processes Inventory, aspects of daydreaming and associated mental activity were examined for sex differences in 1200 well educated middle and upper-middle class whites aged seventeen to ninety-two years. Females reported higher levels of daydreaming and nightdreaming frequency and emotional reactions to daydreaming as well as more daydreams of a problem solving nature. Females also reported lower levels of daydreams of a sexual, bizarre-improbable, heroic and achievement-oriented nature. Most sex differences persisted over the life span with the difference for sexual daydreams increasing with increasing age level. Except for problem-solving daydreams, all daydreaming contents investigated decreased with increases in age. Across the lifespan problem-solving daydreams were the most likely for both sexes except for seventeen to twenty-nine year old males where such daydreams were second most likely; from age seventeen to twenty-nine sexual daydreams were most likely for males. After age fo...
87 citations
TL;DR: Self reports of mood showed a relatively more positive effect of reminiscing and thus support the hypothesis that reminiscence may serve an adaptive function in later life.
Abstract: The impact on mood of verbal reminiscing was compared with that of talking about the present or future in a group of thirty-six female participants between the ages of forty-six and eighty-five. Se...
64 citations
TL;DR: Based upon findings and the relationships among the dependent variables, the older veterans appear to have resolved the ego integrity versus despair crisis more adequately in spite of having lived for a longer period of time in what has often been viewed as a sterile, blunting environment.
Abstract: The literature regarding age differences in life satisfaction, locus of control and self-concept reveal seriously conflicting results while that on the relationships among these dependent measures has largely supported Erikson's proposals regarding the psychosocial crisis of ego integrity versus despair. A total of ninety-nine V. A. Domiciliary residents, with thirty-three in each of three age groups (50-59, 60-69 and 70+), completed measures of life satisfaction, locus of control and self-concept. Multivariate analysis of covariance demonstrated a significant age difference with the older veterans, who were less well educated and institutionalized longer, more positive on the composite of the three measures. Univariate analysis, however, resulted in significant age differences in self-concept and life satisfaction but not in locus of control. Based upon these findings and the relationships among the dependent variables, the older veterans appear to have resolved the ego integrity versus despair crisis more adequately in spite of having lived for a longer period of time in what has often been viewed as a sterile, blunting environment. Perhaps, contrary to popular assumptions, an institution may provide an environment that facilitates and nourishes the self-esteem and satisfaction of elderly residents.
62 citations
TL;DR: It was concluded that environmentally based interventions could significantly enhance well-being and in many instances have more widespread effectiveness than time-consuming attempts to change the individual.
Abstract: The relationship between neighborhood characteristics and the well-being of elderly tenants was studied through a national area probability sample of 153 planned housing environments and over 3000 tenants in them. Six indices of tenants' psychological and social well-being were used as dependent variables in hierarchical multiple regressions where neighborhood characteristics were entered after personal factors were controlled. Neighborhood environmental factors accounted for a significant proportion of the residual variance in every index of well-being. In general, quiet neighborhoods in small or middle sized communities where the risk of crime was low were conducive to active and satisfying lives for older people. Well-being tended to be higher in segregated buildings even with other factors such as exposure to crime controlled. Although these residual effects were often small it was concluded that environmentally based interventions could significantly enhance well-being and in many instances have more...
56 citations
TL;DR: The Automatic Interaction Detector (AID3) was used to develop a model based on the interaction of predictors of life satisfaction and found that a simple linear-monotonic relationship between the predictors was too restrictive.
Abstract: The Automatic Interaction Detector (AID3) was used to develop a model based on the interaction of predictors of life satisfaction. The sample consisted of 871 people over fifty-five years of age. Thirty-one potential predictors were used representing demographics, environmental variables, and social psychological variables. The findings indicate that nine predictors explained 22.1 per cent of the variance in life satisfaction scores. The most important predictors of life satisfaction were family life satisfaction, personal health satisfaction, and satisfaction with dwelling. The interactions between the predictors indicated that a simple linear-monotonic relationship between the predictors was too restrictive.
48 citations
TL;DR: The wide diversity of their patterns of aging, the presence of positive aspects of gay aging, and the high life satisfaction of many of the respondents contradict the stereotype of the lonely, isolated old gay man.
Abstract: Homosexual men and women have seldom been studied by gerontologists and almost nothing is known about the lifestyles, pattern of development through the adult years, and the effect of homosexuality on aging. Fourteen gay men, ranging in age from fifty-five to eighty-one, were interviewed about their life history and experiences of aging as gay men. Three of the respondents had long-term relationships that lasted up to forty years; two had experienced the death of a lover and had begun a new long-term relationship; four had been married to women and two had children (one unmarried man adopted a son and is now a grandfather). The wide diversity of their patterns of aging, the presence of positive aspects of gay aging, and the high life satisfaction of many of the respondents contradict the stereotype of the lonely, isolated old gay man.
47 citations
TL;DR: Conclusions were drawn that meanings of mental health constructs cluster differently depending on the type of analysis employed and questions as to the relative contributions to happiness of the affective and dispositional components represents an important problem for future research.
Abstract: A major intention of the article was to delineate and clarify issues related to the usage and conceptualization of mental health constructs commonly utilized by gerontologists. Conclusions were drawn to the effect that (a) meanings of mental health constructs cluster differently depending on the type of analysis employed, (b) happiness may be considered the most apposite representative of the array of mental health constructs employed by gerontologists, (c) happiness has been conceptualized either as containing current affect and dispositional components or current affect components only, (d) contemporary models of happiness favour neither the expansionist nor contractionist positions as a means of attaining happiness and, (e) questions as to the relative contributions to happiness of the affective and dispositional components represents an important problem for future research. A final intention of the article was to provide a speculative reconceptualization of the happiness construct.
43 citations
TL;DR: For the sample of sixty, all seventy years or over, the security explanation was supported: low APP was associated with less anxiety, more perception of self as dominant and affiliative in interaction, and more appropriate expectations of responsible others.
Abstract: The lack of concern among the elderly with future crises has been related either to the presence of security or to the avoidance of threat. To explore these conflicting hypotheses a measure of anticipation, planning and preparation in the areas of health, living arrangements and finances (APP) was correlated with measures of demographic characteristics, functional status, past experience, emotional states, futurity, interpersonal relationships and self-in-interaction. For the sample of sixty, all seventy years or over, the security explanation was supported: low APP was associated, for example, with less anxiety, more perception of self as dominant and affiliative in interaction, and more appropriate expectations of responsible others. Concern with future adversities is apparently nonfunctional, reflecting a preoccupation with events that may not occur because of “event uncertainty” and “timing of event uncertainty.”
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the relationship between locus of control and life satisfaction and found that life satisfaction of fifty-six institutionalized elderly women was associated with internality (belief in personal influence).
Abstract: Examination of the relationship between locus of control and life satisfaction was prompted by a report that external locus of control (belief in the controlling influence of others) promotes good morale for the institutionalized elderly. Contrary to this report, life satisfaction of fifty-six institutionalized elderly women was associated with internality (belief in personal influence). Life satisfaction was also inversely related to perception of institutional constraint (r = -.61), which was its most powerful determinant.
TL;DR: The concepts of self-care and self-help have moved forcefully into the field of health, surrounding the health care consumer with opportunities to take a more active role in maintaining or improving the state of his or her health.
Abstract: The concepts of self-care and self-help have moved forcefully into the field of health, surrounding the health care consumer with opportunities to take a more active role in maintaining or improving the state of his or her health. Books advise readers How to Be Your Own Doctor (Sometimes) [ 1 ] , and urge them to Talk Back to Your Doctor [2]. Television news shows feature physicians-in-residence who alert viewers to screening programs for kidney disease or recommend exercise programs. Newspaper health columns offer advice on hemorrhoid control and flu shots. Hospitals and Health Maintenance Organizations sponsor courses that teach patients to take blood pressure, measure heart rate, or take throat cultures.
TL;DR: Seven frequently used measures of life satisfaction, adjustment and morale were subjected to the techniques of construct validation and items from six of the seven measures were found on the two factors that best represented the conceptual area of life Satisfaction.
Abstract: Seven frequently used measures of life satisfaction, adjustment and morale were subjected to the techniques of construct validation. Data for the analysis was obtained from 259 people over the age of sixty who represented three clusters: nursing home residents, homebound older people and “community” aged. The data were analyzed through Alpha factor analysis methods. Items from six of the seven measures were found on the two factors that best represented the conceptual area of life satisfaction.
TL;DR: Independence, commitment, companionship and qualities of caring were significant elements in these long-lasting marriages.
Abstract: A descriptive study of factors in the lifestyle of fifty couples married an average of 555 years and an average age of seventy-nine years provided data for this report The non-random sample was heterogeneous using traditional socio-economic indicators Life-Satisfaction (LSI-Z), Locke-Wallace Marital Adjustment scores, and perception of health were all high More than half the sample were now or had been sexually active within the past five years Independence, commitment, companionship and qualities of caring were significant elements in these long-lasting marriages
TL;DR: Financial situation was a slightly stronger predictor of life satisfaction for persons under age sixty-five, whereas health condition had a stronger impact on the life satisfaction of persons over age fifty-four.
Abstract: The relative effects of health and income on life satisfaction were analyzed using data collected in three recent national surveys Financial situation was a slightly stronger predictor of life satisfaction for persons under age sixty-five, whereas health condition had a stronger impact on the life satisfaction of persons over age sixty-four An attempt was made to quantify the relative impact of health and income on life satisfaction through an analysis of conjoint influence with contingency tables
TL;DR: Fear of walking alone at night has increased among all cohorts, but the greatest increases have taken place among the older cohorts, consistent with interpretations that stress characteristics of the aging process to account for the elderly's greater fear of vulnerability to criminal victimization.
Abstract: Using data from two national surveys, cohort changes in fear for one's safety on the streets are examined over an eleven year period. Fear of walking alone at night has increased among all cohorts, but the greatest increases have taken place among the older cohorts. These results are consistent with interpretations that stress characteristics of the aging process to account for the elderly's greater fear of vulnerability to criminal victimization. Language: en
TL;DR: The results suggest the difficulties in identifying age related adult life phases through national surveys of attitudes and challenges the underlying assumptions for the existence of uniform age related stages.
Abstract: This study investigates the existence of age related life stages and the presumed evolution of attitudes and perceptions in accordance with passages through these successive developmental plateaus The research utilizes data from six national samples gathered as part of the General Social Survey between 1972 and 1977 by the National Opinion Research Center (N=9120) Criteria suggested by developmental theorists and other social scientists are employed to examine respondents' life orientation and satisfaction In most Instances age is minimally related to attitudes in these areas while social class and to a lesser extent race and sex emerge as statistically significant and substantively important predictors of these dimensions The results suggest the difficulties in identifying age related adult life phases through national surveys of attitudes and challenges the underlying assumptions for the existence of uniform age related stages
TL;DR: The Life Satisfaction Chart is presented as a method for studying perceptions of the course and determinants of life satisfaction and both men and women rated high on use of the defense mechanism of denial reported higher levels of retrospective life satisfaction.
Abstract: The Life Satisfaction Chart is presented as a method for studying perceptions of the course and determinants of life satisfaction. Analyses of reports from forty-five men and forty-six women in the Oakland Growth Study indicated the following: (1) Early-maturing boys, particularly in the working class, recollected their early adolescence as more satisfying than did the late-maturing boys, while early-maturing girls remembered early adolescence as less satisfying. (2) Upward social mobility was associated with an increase in reported life satisfaction for both sexes, but at a statistically significant level for men only. Unexpectedly, both men and women who were upwardly mobile recollected their childhoods as less satisfying than did the downwardly mobile. (3) Women rated above the mean in physical attractiveness during high school did not recall their teen-age years as more satisfying than those below the mean. The top quartile, however, did recollect these years as more satisfying than the bottom quartile. (4) Both men and women rated high on use of the defense mechanism of denial reported higher levels of retrospective life satisfaction.
TL;DR: This field study of nursing home accommodations examines the influence of type of living accommodation and personal characteristics upon environmental perception and interaction preferences with regard to privacy and sociability to show consistency with an adaptation model of privacy-sociability preference.
Abstract: This field study of nursing home accommodations examines the influence of type of living accommodation and personal characteristics upon environmental perception and interaction preferences with regard to privacy and sociability. Ward residents view their dwelling as less secure and feel less able to control social encounters occurring therein than do single room residents. In terms of preferences, however, it is the single room residents who express greater desires for isolation and disclosure restriction. These data and the absence of differences in resident satisfaction, are consistent with an adaptation model of privacy-sociability preference.
TL;DR: It was found that elderly adults perceive death-related events as less stressful than do younger adults and group differences were found for the elderly salient events.
Abstract: Adults from different age groups (18–24, 30–40, and 65–86) were tested to determine if they differ in their perception of certain stressful life events. Twenty adults from each age group were asked to rate a series of events according to their perceived relative stressfulness; included were events thought to be particularly salient for elderly adults. Amster and Krauss' list of events and Holmes and Rahe's procedure for quantifying stress were used. Group differences were not found for the elderly salient events; however it was found that elderly adults perceive death-related events as less stressful than do younger adults.
TL;DR: The accuracy of estimation of short time intervals was studied in old institutionalized and young college male and female participants as a function of three levels of audible background metronome rate to suggest that their greater social conformity and their inability to ignore irrelevant stimuli might also be explicable in the same theoretical terms.
Abstract: The accuracy of estimation of short time intervals was studied in old institutionalized and young college male and female participants as a function of three levels of audible background metronome rate (0, 40 and 90 beats/min). The main effects of metronome and interval length, as well as the age by metronome rate interaction, were significant. Unlike the young participants, the time judgments of the older participants were significantly and systematically determined by metronome rate. These results are consistent with the notion of increased field-dependence among older persons and suggest that their greater social conformity and their inability to ignore irrelevant stimuli might also be explicable in the same theoretical terms.
TL;DR: The extent to which elderly clients are integrated into the family and the method by which such integration was measured was measured in a sample of one hundred adult foster homes in New York State are discussed.
Abstract: The rationale behind adult foster care (AFC) has been that “participation in the life of the family” is superior to institutionalization. The extent to which AFC is familial has been widely debated, ranging from claims that this environment provides a surrogate family, to claims that it is no more than a mini-institution. This paper discusses the extent to which elderly clients are integrated into the family and the method by which such integration was measured in a sample of one hundred adult foster homes in New York State. The four dimensions used to measure familism were Affection, Social Interaction, the performance of Ritual, and the minimization of Social Distance.
TL;DR: Loneliness was the main factor underlying failure to adjust and widowhood and being alone seem to have a considerable influence on the degree of social adjustment in a home for the elderly.
Abstract: An attempt was made to determine the order of magnitude of a number of variables which a bivariate analysis had demonstrated to show some degree of correlation with the way in which institutionalized elderly individuals adapt socially. To determine the multivariate impact of all these variables on the degree of social adjustment to life in a home, a path model was developed that permitted detection of both the direct and indirect effect of the variables. It was found that loneliness was the main factor underlying failure to adjust. Furthermore, widowhood and being alone seem to have a considerable influence. The degree of disability and the age of the individual proved to have a smaller impact than we had assumed to be the case. The operationalized model explains 27% of the variance of the social adjustment in a home for the elderly.
TL;DR: The relationship between ethnicity and mental health deserves more consideration than it usually receives and some suggestions and data are offered that might encourage further efforts in this area.
Abstract: The relationship between ethnicity and mental health deserves more consideration than it usually receives if we are to understand how values translate into behavior. This question could be explored productively with a variety of subgroups, but in this paper the emphasis will be on the aged. What is the relationship between ethnicity and the mental health problems of the elderly in American society? This paper offers some suggestions and reviews some data that might encourage further efforts in this area.
TL;DR: National and international efforts to assess the needs of the elderly confront common problems: lack of an accepted definition of terms such as “need,” “want” and “demand;” perceptions which vary with age, professional role, relationship and time.
Abstract: Need is a multi-faceted, multi-dimensional concept. National and international efforts to assess the needs of the elderly confront common problems: lack of an accepted definition of terms such as "needs," "want" and "demand;" perceptions which vary with age, professional role, relationship and time; a range of methodologies encompassing rational, empirical and relativistic approaches, as well as subjective, objective and statistical measures. Research instruments are being refined and shared, but the state of the art remains in its infancy. Use of index of incapacity measures appears to offer the best data base for planning needed services.
TL;DR: Internal orientation was found to be significantly related to feelings of political incapability, political discontentment, and anomie among older Americans, and early personal orientation toward problem solving led to generalized expectations which provide long range motivational and behavioral patterns for individuals which follow them throughout life.
Abstract: Utilizing a sample of older Americans this paper focused on the relationship between their personal motivation (whether internally or externally oriented) and their feeling of political incapability, political discontentment and anomie. The individual was defined as internally oriented to the degree that he felt there was a direct causal chain between his actions and given social outcomes, and externally oriented to the degree that he thought that luck, chance or fate determined these outcomes. Following Olsen's example, political incapability was defined as a feeling that the social system is preventing one from reaching desired goals, political discontentment was defined in terms of the political world not being worth one's participation, and anomies was defined as estrangement from one's social world [1]. External orientation was found to be significantly related to feelings of political incapability, political discontentment, and anomies among older Americans. The data tended to indicate that early personal orientation toward problem solving led to generalized expectations which provide long range motivational and behavioral patterns for individuals which follow them throughout life.
TL;DR: The focus of this paper is application of the generational analysis model to the question of life cycle change in personal values and the issues of whether value change over the life course is a result of period shifts or individual maturation and whether differences in values among age strata are a function of cohort experience or Individual maturation.
Abstract: The focus of this paper is two fold: 1. conceptual and methodological problems underlying the life-span sociology literature that heretofore have not been discussed; and 2. application of the gener...
TL;DR: It was concluded that a shift in significant relationships away from the family may be an important factor in successful adjustment to a retirement home.
Abstract: Changes in the choice of significant others from pre- to postinstitutionalization were examined in relation to life satisfaction in a population of well-aged retirement home residents. A total of fifty-nine residents, both male and female, ranging in age from 69 to 101 placed in three groups based on length of residence (Group 1 - up to 2 years, Group 2 - 3 to 8 years and Group 3 - 9 to 17 years), and asked to indicate whether a relative, or friend was most important to them at both pre- and postinstitutionalization. Reported preferences were examined in relation to subject scores on the Life Satisfaction Index - A (LSI-A). Significant changes in reported preferences, from pre- to postinstitutionalization were found only in Group 3, with the shift being away from relatives. LSI-A score differences between the groups were significant, only in the Group 1 vs 3 comparison. Analysis of LSI-A scores for residents who changed vs those who did not change pre- to postpreferences produced significant differences within the three groups with change individuals achieving higher scores in Groups 2 and 3. It was concluded that a shift in significant relationships away from the family may be an important factor in successful adjustment to a retirement home.
TL;DR: Covariance analyses indicated that educational level is generally more closely related to logical concept performance than is chronological age, and separate factors for general intelligence, classification, relations, and conservation were revealed.
Abstract: Performance on Piagetian logical concept tasks, standardized intellectual measures, and measures of memory ability, was assessed cross-sectionally One-hundred-sixty individuals participated Differential item difficulty patterns were noted on the Piagetian tasks Curvilinear trends were evident for class inclusion, combinatorial reasoning, and conservation of surface area Factorial analyses of variance revealed significant chronological age main effects for all tasks except transitivity of weight Covariance analyses indicated that educational level is generally more closely related to logical concept performance than is chronological age Dimensional analyses revealed separate factors for general intelligence, classification, relations, and conservation The youngest and oldest age groups has similar factor patterns; these differed from those of the mature participants