Creating Positive Experiences as We Age

Meaning through Connections

Marcie Pitt-Catsouphes, Ph.D.pittcats@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 “retirement-eligible.”

Celebrating Transitions

Expectations

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

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

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.

The Prism of Age

Chronological Age

• Health and physical functioning

• Expectations for accomplishments and experiences at particular ages

• How old you feel compared to people around you

• How old do you think others think you are

• Accumulation of competencies and skills

• Developmental stages of understanding life experiences and making meaning of them

• Roles and responsibilities associated with life events, such having children

• Cultural perspective shared by groups born in a particular generation

• Connections to organizations and institutions

Subjective Age[You are as old as you feel.]

Life Experience and Age

Age and Life Events

Age and Transitions

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%).

63% involved in Paid Employment 34% involved in Caregiving 32% involved in Volunteering Activities 40% involved in Educational Activities

Involvement by Age Group

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

Source: Sloan Center on Aging & Work , 2010. Life and Times in an Aging Society

Engagement by Age Groups

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)

And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.

Abraham Lincoln

If you were to live to 100, where would you put more time and effort?

Assign 100 ‘points’ to the following options:

Improve your health _____Earn more $ _____Save more $ _____Develop your talents _____Family _____Friends _____‘Giving back’ to your community _____Engaging in your faith/your faith organization _____Other _____________________ _____ Total = 100 points

Are They Engaged?

Young @ Heart Chorus

http://www.youtube.co

m/watch?v=-3uOOhm8Fj8