Life Span Development: Elderly Interview Insights

Introduction and Interview Overview

Interviewing an elderly person proves a very effective way to gain insight into life span development. By posing appropriate questions, one can elicit information about how certain aspects and influences shape life development over time.

The interview I conducted was with the grandfather of a close friend. He is 87 years of age. Although I had some prior knowledge of the interviewee, I was astounded by the amount of information concerning life development that could be gleaned from a well-structured interview.

The focus of my interview was on the way that certain aspects and events had affected the life development of the individual. In other words, my aim was to ascertain through the interview questions which events and circumstances had been "life-changing," in both a psychological and sociological sense. In order to limit the interview to a reasonable length, I decided to focus more heavily on socio-cultural developmental aspects and on the interviewee's later years — specifically developmental issues after the age of sixty. Aspects that were highlighted during the interview were also researched to determine whether they are referenced in the scholarly literature.

The questions I asked fell into the following main categories:

Questions about his earlier life and influences on development — such as environment, family, and friends. Questions relating to central developmental factors that had influenced him as an adult. Questions relating to life after sixty.

My central approach in the interview was to allow the interviewee to expand on certain important aspects and to direct the conversation in areas of his own choosing, without limiting his self-expression. I wanted to focus on issues he himself saw as central to his life development.

Early Life Influences and Developmental Challenges

I began with questions about influences in his early youth and developmental years. Many of the common factors that shape any individual's life were apparent. His early developmental years had been marked by severe financial difficulties; he had grown up under hard economic conditions during the 1930s. This had a marked effect on his later development in terms of his outlook on the world and his sense of self-worth.

Another aspect that emerged from the interview was the influence and importance of peers and culture in his life. He stated that he regretted very little in his life, except the way he had succumbed to the negative influences of peer pressure and peer groups. He confided that for many years, well into his early thirties, he had struggled with alcoholism, and that his drinking problem had its origins in his desire for peer approval — a desire that was itself rooted in deeper issues of self-worth.

What was also especially interesting in the interview was his response to the final set of questions directed at his life after sixty. When asked about the way older people are often stereotyped and prejudiced against — seen as incapable or "senile" — his response again highlighted the influence of social prejudices and perceptions on life development. In this case, however, the influence was seemingly much more positive. He stated that the latter part of his life had been characterized by a growing sense of self-worth, independence, and a greater sense of his own identity after the age of sixty.

Self-Actualization, Identity, and Peer Pressure

After carefully reviewing the interview, a central developmental pattern emerged. While many aspects of the interviewee's life story are important, what stands out most clearly is the individual's deep need for self-actualization and for the expression of a genuine sense of self and self-worth. This finding aligns with theoretical perspectives put forward by Carl Jung and others regarding the aims and goals of life development. Jung believed that healthy individual development was grounded in an innate desire for "wholeness" of self — what Abraham Maslow would later term "self-actualization" (Boeree). Equally compelling is the strong impression, derived from the interview, that this search for identity is often hampered by the views, perceptions, and biases embedded in culture and society.

The interviewee stated that his earlier years were not only economically difficult, but that his father was often absent and emotionally distant when he was at home. As a result, the interviewee developed a feeling of guilt and came to believe he was somehow responsible for his father's lack of care and concern. This became a central factor that appeared to initiate his poor sense of self-esteem and self-worth. His late youth and early adulthood were almost completely dominated by the need for friends and belonging — a need to justify and bolster his sense of identity through others.

He discussed at length his deep regret about failing to recognize how thoroughly he had been denying his own identity and replacing it with the needs and desires of those around him. During this period, one of the most troubling incidents in his life occurred when he took part in petty crime in order to "belong" to a group. He would not go into detail about this episode, but it was clearly of profound significance to his later development. This period also contributed to many years of alcohol abuse, which were obviously traumatic and difficult for him to recall.

He married relatively late in life and only began to raise a family when he was well into his thirties. However, the responsibilities and demands of family life shifted his development in a new direction. Although he remained susceptible to the prejudices and biases of those around him, he began to discover a new sense of self and identity in his late forties.

Conclusion and Areas for Further Exploration

This interview, while not extensive or sufficiently in-depth to explore every relevant aspect of the individual's life development, revealed a compelling and coherent pattern across one man's life span. The central theme that emerged is the tension between the individual's need for self-actualization and the obstructive power of social norms, peer pressure, and cultural biases at various life stages.

Further exploration of this individual's life span development would benefit from deeper investigation into the relationship between self-identity and self-actualization as components of the aging process — and, concomitantly, the ways in which society and peer pressure can hamper later life development and personal growth. Such inquiry would contribute meaningfully to the growing body of literature on positive aging and the psychological dimensions of life satisfaction in older adults.

References

Ashman, O. Lifespan Development: A Social-Cultural Perspective (abstract). Retrieved November 9, 2008.

Boeree, C. Abraham Maslow: 1908–1970. Retrieved November 6, 2008.

Wynne, R. J., & Groves, D. L. (1995). Life span approach to understanding coping styles of the elderly. Education, 115(3), 448+. Retrieved November 11, 2008, from Questia database.