Older Adults and Their Outlook on Life

Narrative Case Analysis: Older Adults Perception of Their Roles in Society Over Their Lifespan

Narrative Case Analysis

Many societies have been described as holding up a stereotypic and sometimes negative perception of older adults. With that said research to determine older Adults perception of their roles in society over their Lifespan, has not been explored that much in the research. Most of the research has been about grand parenting, role transitions and ageism. However, this study used qualitative research in the form of a single case study of a 75-year-old woman, who is a grandmother and housewife. The investigation led utilized an explanatory phenomenological method. This study was selected to determine the perceptions and lived experience of perception of their roles in society over their lifespan throughout U's life and discover if these experiences aided her in handling life surprises in old age. Emerging themes exposed were neglect to family, regret from retirement, pressure, transitioning, and resistance to change, guilt and determination. Likely different perceptions into real managing were collected in terms of future viewpoints.

Thematic analysis

The theme of neglect was widespread during the course of the interview. When asked about an experience with family and time, she diverted directly.

K How did you handle being a full time housewife?

U was a kind of woman that enjoyed working and had done so mostly all of her life. & #8230;. Guilt arising from struggling to balance work and family has been a recurrent topic of interest in the media and popular press now days and U. experienced this for years. She admitted that even after retirement she often thought about work and had wished that she could have returned over the years. Retirement is a major transition in the lives of older adults. The process of "getting used to the changed circumstances of life in retirement" has been described as adjustment to retirement (Van Solinge & Henkens, 2008, p. 423). Individuals like U

differ significantly in their ease of adjusting to retirement. Even though for most retirees the retirement transition seems to go by rather smoothly, a considerable share of retirees experiences adjustment problems.

The literature refers to regret from retirement as "attachment Phase" This is because these retirees such as U. may be exceedingly attached to their jobs and could have had fewer chances to invest in other roles over the sequence of their working life. In that admiration, they could possibly observe the social changes related with retirement as something that is troublesome.

Another developing theme was Ageism. The institutionalization of ageism has its origins in the progressively negative approach the United States (and to a reduced degree, other nations, see Ng, 2002 for a detailed review) outlooks adults that are older. Adults that are older in the United States are the ones that tend to be relegated, established, and exposed of responsibility, power, and, in the end, their self-respect (Nelson, 2002a).

In contrast, as an older adult, U holds mentions some issues she had as a result of getting older in life.

The years really went by very fast. I look back on them and I ask myself where they have all gone. What puzzles me now is that we do not live in a society that respects getting old. When I was growing up people looked at those that were older than them as the ones that were wise. Not so much now.

U sentiments are actually share by the research that makes the point that in most prehistoric and agricultural societies, people that were older were regularly held in high respect. They were recognized as being the teachers. By quality of their age and superior experience, they were look upon as wise and they were the guardians of the customs and history of their people. During the biblical times, if a person lived beyond age 50, it was believed he or she was chosen by God for a heavenly purpose (Branco & Williamson, 1982)

I love getting older but it seems like the society does not accept us as we age, it is not our fault and everybody has to age someday, right? I just think things need to return to the old days which is where we were all respected.

The literature shows that nevertheless, attitudes toward older individuals began to shift intensely with two major expansions in civilization. Originally, the start of the printing press was liable for a major change in the position of elders (Branco & Williamson, 1982). The culture, custom, and history of a tribe or society now could be repeated countless times, in exact detail by means of books, and the status and power elders once had as the village historians was significantly condensed and, in numerous cases, excluded. I response to the question about the ageism issue, U was more than happy to give an answer.

Now days at appears that the younger generation sees aging as a curse instead of a blessing. I think that it is sad because I actually think that my latter days are in some ways even better than the days before.

The research showed that society was not ready to deal with this new big inhabitants of adults that are older. Society started to partner old age with qualities that are negative and older adults were observed as non-contributing problems on the community (Branco&Williamson, 1982). All of these type of bad attitudes have persisted in our society, and have in reality, simply went up (Nelson, 2002a; Palmore, 1999). U seems to be handling her ageism process because she still makes plans with her husband to do some of the things she use to do when she was much younger. She made the point that even though she looks in the mirror and sees an aging face and body, U still feels like she is a young woman in the inside. There are times when she feels as though she is like a young woman being trapped in an old woman body just waiting to get out. She even referenced that by mentioning the following:

Sometimes I feel like a bird trapped in a gilded cage just waiting to get out and fly away. Fly away to somewhere that fun.

Life problems can; on the other hand, does kind of drag things. The theme of role transitioning has been the hard part for U; sometimes throughout the years, she noticed that her children have not been as accepting into the new transition in her life. Even after quitting her job to stay home to be a housewife, changes were seen even then. However, U sort of blames some of this on herself because she does admit that she was not that easy to get along with during those times because she did not want to quit her job. However, she even believes that now days that transitioning has put some strain on the relationship with her children.

I spend my whole day doing it, taking care of my house and B. This is all I do these days. My daughter came back the other day. We had a fight. All I did was told her to do her own laundry. You know, she is a grown woman now. She talked back saying I didn't contribute enough to the family and I didn't make any money and all that. How is that not enough? It hurts.

The stress of the children not really accepting this transition has been a rough ride for U. The research even shows that the lack of socialization to old age causes more stress on these middle-aged grown-ups. Socialization organizes people to face difficulties by helping them classify appropriate behaviors and obtain the skills they need to instrument these behaviors. Managing strategies are the ones that reflect the attitude and skills individuals gain through socialization, as well as their dispositions and behavioral inclinations (George, 1980). However, neither older adults nor their adult children have been gone out to cope optimally with the intergenerational matters complicated with longevity that has gone up. Such as the case with U. And her family. She thinks that her children place other things above her and that they look at money as first and family as second. U even made the point that they probably got that concept from her since she was constantly working. "I was a cleaner for a bus company. After I finished my work every day, I would go home and be a housewife, cooking and grocery shopping." However, U makes the point that as she settled in as a housewife and sort of got used to things, her outlook on things sort of changed. She felt that her family was more important and that she had to start making some kind of sacrifices for her children.

Yeah. Family comes first. Money is second. It is not… Yeah, I think family is the most important thing and health, also very important, and then maybe working and money.

In this transitioning process, U does not feel that the family members share the same sentiments as her because she thinks that they see her more of a burden than as a help and that is even with her being a babysitter to her grandchild. The transitioning has been stressful but she has found her comfort in the babysitting. U makes the point that she does this so that they will not see her has someone that is sitting around and not trying to make things easier on her children. According to the literature, it agrees with U. because it makes the point that thus, without help and, guidance recently emerging three- and four generational families are displaying signs of stress especially when it comes down to the children. American culture provides inadequate or inaccurate normative guidance. Social supports are immature or hard to contact and the entire family is left susceptible to moralisms regarding "responsibility" or correctness (Kuypers & Bengtson, 1983). However, U feels that as a housewife still she is still trying to do her bit in order to keep the tensions down.

Oh, I am a housewife. Cooking, cleaning and taking care of my family are what do. I also take care of my grandchild, who is one-year-old now, so that his parent can go to work, you know, my son and his wife.

Throughout this interview the theme of grand parenting and age identity. This theme is an interesting because even though U. did not spend as much time as she would have like to in her early years with her children, she finds herself trying to make it up with the relationship that she has with her grandchild. U does not feel that she has a problem with age identity but mentions her husband probably does more than her.

The age identity is a subjective measure of age, which includes more social and psychological significance than chronological age per se. Therefore, individuals of the same consecutive age may report a wide range of subjective age identities. For instance, a 65-year-old possibly will feel comparatively young (e.g., 50) or comparatively old (e.g., 80). U by the way does feel that she is comparatively young but does not mention the age she really feels. However, even though she does adore her grandchild a feels that babysitting him does in some way make up for some lost time, it is still not at the top of her top ten list. U enjoys being a grandmother but sees herself young but not really as a grandmother. She made the point that her identity was in her work and now that she has gotten older, she really misses what she use to do. U admits that the babysitting is not really her cup of tea. As said by Riley et al. (1988, p. 247), "The ways people age are affected by the social locations through which they move, by the social and cultural conditions to which they are exposed at particular ages, and by the life-course experiences of others with whom they interact as they grow older." Like U. It appears that the social roles that people inhabit and the transitions they experience during the course of their lives are chiefly significant. Central to this study is the meaning of the grandparent role for age identity.