The concept of "successful aging" has become widely accepted in gerontology, yet continues to have no common underlying definition. Researchers have increasingly looked to older individuals for their lay definitions of successful aging. The present analysis is based on responses to five questionnaires administered to surviving…

Delineates how changes in research methodology have impacted field of gerontology over past three decades. Illustrates impact of methodological changes on gerontology by discussing example of age-cohort-period problem as an innovation in research design. Examines case of confirmatory factor analysis as an illustration of how methodological…

Animistic responding was generally unrelated to logical classification ability or to analytic cognitive style. Results which found high levels of animistic thinking beyond adolescence do not support Piagetian theory. Adults may respond animistically because of emotional attachments which they have formed to certain meaningful physical objects.…

Fluctuations in cognitive task performance in older individuals have been reported. To examine intraindividual variability as a function of practice, 34 younger and 34 older female participants, aged 20-30 years and 70-82 years, respectively, performed a reading span task 16 times over four sessions. Each individual's recall accuracy was analyzed…

Examines age variations in perceptions of the emotional character of decades of the twentieth century (N=150 adults). Results showed that the emotional character of individual decades sometimes differs significantly as a function of age. Older adults viewed the century as more pleasurable and less distressing than younger adults. (JAC)

A study of college students showed that persons scoring higher in aggression demonstrated more negative attitudes toward the aged. Females, older students, and graduate students were more positive. Students majoring in business subjects tended to be more negative, while social work students had the most positive attitudes toward older people.…

Examined degree of adherence to age norms and mean preferred ages for 5 life course events (get married, have first child, become grandmother, finish school, retire) among 1,583 women. Using nonforced choice format, proportionately more women provided "right ages" for family events than for nonfamily events. Preferred timing varied by…

Investigated adult development of police officers compared to the development of subjects in Daniel Levinson's study. Interviews with 23 male police officers indicated that their lives generally corresponded to Levinson's theory. The nature of subjects' psychosocial stages was similar to Levinson's model for some age periods, but not all.…

The impact of early life events that take place under specific historical and societal circumstances on adult development have rarely been investigated in old age. We examined whether having started a family in young adulthood was related to the contents of possible selves generated by women aged 85 to 100+ in the Berlin Aging Study (N = 129; M…

Examined four large surveys to establish the existence of passages. Results indicated that age groups and their associated passages can be identified. The passages appear to progress with time, but are not stable across cultures. Suggests that the generational event theory provides a better model for explanation. (JAC)

Elderly women volunteers were given a pretest battery of conservation tasks. Conservation scores were the highest yet recorded by elderly participants; consequently, training was not implemented. Results suggest that advanced chronological age does not guarantee poor conservation performance. (Author)

Veterans Administration domiciliary residents in three age groups over age 50 completed measures of life satisfaction, locus of control and self-concept. Older veterans had resolved ego integrity v despair crisis more adequately than younger veterans. An institutional environment that facilitates self-esteem and satisfaction of elderly residents…

Examines subcultural variations in primary social isolation in older persons in Albany. Seven hypothetical subcultures contain enough respondents to be numerically important. Two subcultures have above-average rates of primary social isolation. Three subcultures have below-average rates. Results indicate that primary social isolation is a group…

Studied white and blue-collar men and women using a questionnaire seeking designation of the most suitable ages for various role transitions and age-related attributes. Comparisons with 1950s findings indicated loosening of the norms, but with continuing adherence to a prescriptive timetable and with persistent socioeconomic differences. Results…

Drew portraits of two cohorts of older adults from historical and sociological sources and tested hypotheses about cohort-specific values with data collected in 1957 and 1976. Results support view that adults born before 1900 were distinctive from other cohorts in that their happiness levels were closely linked with survival needs and firmly…