Individual Perceptions of Successful Aging

Individual Perceptions of Successful Aging

Half of the babies born in the United States today will live to see their 100th year, and many of their cohorts will also live longer lives compared to recent generations. As people grow older and experience the benefits of accumulated wisdom together with the ravages of age-related infirmities and illnesses, definitions of successful aging will undoubtedly experience some fundamental changes. Therefore, examining these issues in the broader social context represents a timely and worthwhile enterprise. To this end, five primary societal and/or individual differences that can contribute to different perspectives of successful aging are discussed below to identify how people personally define the concept of successful aging, to determine whether this personal definition differs from the broader society's viewpoint, and how this personal definition relates to the concept of "quality of life." Finally, an examination concerning the manner in which an individual's cohorts and cultural identity affect the perception of both of these concepts is followed by a discussion concerning the potential effect of these forces on definitions of successful aging in the future.

DISCUSSION

Five primary societal and/or individual difference (e.g. lifestyle) factors that contribute to perceptions of success aging.

While it is reasonable to suggest that definitions of success vary significantly from individual to individual, with these definitions ranging the entire spectrum of the human condition. Despite these differences, it is also reasonable to suggest that five primary societal and/or individual difference factors that contribute to successful aging include the following which resemble Maslow's hierarchy of needs, but which are also specifically elderly related:

1. Money. Money may not buy happiness, but it does buy better healthcare and more nutritional food, superior shelter and other factors that contribute to longer lives that are more comfortable than life without money. Without sufficient monetary resources, people become reliant on social systems that are already bursting at the seams, and state and federal budgets are being stretched to their limits in the aftermath of the Great Recession of 2007-2009.

2. Active Sex Life. Just because people grow older does not mean that their libidos must vanish or even be diminished. Intimate relationships with significant others during an otherwise lonely period in life can represent the foundation of an individual definition of successful aging. This is not the same thing, of course, as the need for socialization (discussed further below) and may involve romantic expeditions after the loss of a lifelong mate.

3. Comfortable Shelter and Dignified Accommodations. Although everyone would like to remain in their own homes as long as possible and live an independent lifestyle, age-related diseases and infirmities frequently require placement of the elderly in long-term care facilities that vary drastically in their quality of care. Some progressive facilities employ evidence-based interventions such as pet therapy, art therapy and music therapy that have been shown to be effective in promoting quality of life among the elderly, while others simply allow their residents to wither away, neglected, unnoticed and uncared for by family or friends.

4. Reasonable Assurances of Safety (freedom from crime, terrorist attacks, etc.). In the culture of fear that has emerged in the United States and elsewhere following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, older people, like anyone else, want to be assured of their physical safety as they go about their day-to-day lives.

5. Social Life. Many elderly people will experience the harsh reality of witnessing many of their family members and friends die as they grow older. A lack of available transportation and an inability to drive may further hamper their ability to socialize as they are accustomed as they grow older. To the extent that older people are able to socialize will likely be the extent to which they avoid the crushing effects of loneliness and depression that can result, thereby contributing to an improved quality of life.