On Turning Sixty

Frontiers in Psychology, 2021

Previous research has shown that will to live is a strong predictor for survival among older people, irrespective of age, gender, and comorbidities. However, research on whether life at age 100 is perceived as worth living is limited. The available literature has presented evidence for good levels of positive attitudes and life satisfaction at such an advanced age, but it has also suggested that a longing for death is common. This study aimed to add to the existing data on this matter by exploring centenarians' will to live and the associated factors. The sample comprised 121 centenarians (mean age, 101 years; SD, 1.63 years), 19 (15.7%) of whom were males, from two centenarian studies (PT100). Answers to open questions were analyzed to identify the centenarians' will to live and the reasons behind it. Three groups were created (willing to live longer, not willing to live longer, no clear positioning) and further analyzed in terms of sociodemographic characteristics, health ...

Australian and Aotearoa New Zealand Psychodrama Association Journal, 2015

Elizabeth and I greet each other with pleasure. I'm standing in the passage outside our office to give participants in a new group directions to our room. In greeting me she slows, but keeps moving slowly and steadily down the long passage. Her body is angled forward, her walker bearing her weight. She's the first to arrive, as she was for every session of our previous group.

Contemplating Old Age - doctoral thesis

Self & Society, 2017

Adultspan Journal, 2012

27,000 SUNRISES: EVERYDAY CONTRIBUTIONS OF GRATEFUL AND GIVING AGE 70+ ADULTS, 2020

Although the increasingly older population has been described as a burden (Doron, 2013; Rozanova, 2010), older adults who are willing to take up the hard work of elderhood have important gifts to contribute (Conley, 2018; Jenkinson, 2018b; Pevny, 2014; Schachter-Shalomi & Miller, 2014). Older adults’ contributions have been studied predominantly as tangible services, missing important, less tangible services that were found to contribute to the sustainable nature of communities. This critical ethnographic study reveals the meanings age 70+ older adults make with others in their everyday lives. Of the main participants, seven were male and two female; one was indigenous (n=9). The other people that older adults interacted with and who were included in this study (n=16) were family, friends, workshop participants, and work colleagues. The researcher conducted “go-alongs” in order to observe and document everyday life. Main participants completed life maps, LifeForward Plans and a questionnaire, including measures of wisdom, generativity, and transcendence. Two meanings—Create and Share Other Realities and Value the Connection between People and Place— and three meaning-making processes—Turn Grief to Gratitude to Giving, Continue to Grow, and Shape Future through Ordinary Acts of Kindness— were examined for their contributions to more sustainable and compassionate communities. One example of the meaning Create and Share Other Realities is exemplified in the supplementary video to this dissertation Chris opening up worlds that didn’t exist (Southam, 2019). A new model was created where grief and gratitude drive generativity, rather than cultural demand (McAdams, Hart, & Maruna, 1998). A fifth dimension of self-actualization was added to the Foray (4A) model of lifelong learning (Corley, 2011) resulting in a new model Foray (4A+) – Beyond Self. Future research on the developmental tasks of older adults and on communication approaches that lead to sustainability are needed. Renewed calls for elderhood could strengthen the social, environmental, and economic well-being of our communities.

De Gruyter eBooks, 2023

What does it mean to live to 100? Centenarians' narratives are currently en vogue. As readers, we turn to these narratives because we want to unravel the secret of what it means to grow extremely old. This book delves into centenarians' autobiographies in more detail. Often written by African American centenarians, these life narratives seem to be in close dialogue with the concept of "Successful Aging": They argue that anyone can live to 100. In their autobiographical accounts, centenarians reveal their own "secrets" to why they have lived so long - from honey to yoga and yoghurt. What these narratives fail to address, however, is the role of systemic inequalities, such as race, class, or gender. This book reads centenarians' autobiographies both with the grain and against the grain: It argues that the notion of "Successful Aging" is both seductive and deeply troubling. It is contestable especially in pitting age and disability against one another in the "master narrative" of extreme old age.

Christian Leader, 2017

The holidays can be a difficult season for some senior adults. How can we bless them?

The Milbank Quarterly

2012