Strategies for Adjustment of the Aged

Abstract

To measure the “Strategies for Adjustment of the Aged” among the three age-group subjects, some truly effective measures are required to postpone and treat human aging in urban society by tackling it as an engineering problem. This paper describes an objective test consisting of 34 items; each item contains a statement representing a problematic situation relating to the home, health, emotional life, or social life of the subject along with four alternative responses. The responses represent four alternative strategies of adjustment; i.e., Intrapersistive Approach Mode (IAM), Extrapersistive Approach Mode (EAM), Punitive Avoidance Mode (PAM), and Defensive Avoidance Mode (DAM). The IAM was preferred among all age groups more often than any other mode to solve various problems.

Introduction

T he changing scenario in modern society—the deterioration in the status of elderly people—and remedies for this are altering. In ancient times, when society was still at a rudimentary stage and moral values were evolving, the elder people of India commanded respect and were considered to be the veritable sources of wisdom. They had control over land and other economic resources of the families, and as such they had an enviable status in the society. Their opinions were respected and translated into actions. For a long time in Indian society, old was really regarded as gold. But unfortunately, today with the erosion of values and of the traditional noble view, old people have suffered a decline in prestige and status.

Adjustment is a process involving both mental and behavioral responses by which an individual strives to cope with inner needs, tensions, frustration, and conflicts and to bring harmony between these inner demands and those imposed upon him by the society in which he lives. Strategy of adjustment (SA) is a mode of coping with stress or problem situations. Sources of stress for individuals are many and so are the variations in coping strategy. Nature and the sources of problems of the aged people have certain typical characteristics. Aged people generally cling to older ideas and are slow to adopt new ones,^1,2 but it would be wrong to infer that the coping strategies old persons are somewhat different. According to Cavan et al.³ aged people adopt some special strategies to cope with their adjustment problems.

Literature Review

Pareek⁴ developed a semiprojective technique to measure coping style with the help of role pictures. He categorized coping strategy into (1) avoidance mode and (2) approach mode. Each of the two coping strategies is characterized by four dimensions of behaviors; avoidance mode, for example, is characterized by (1) aggression or blame, (2) helplessness or resignation, (3) minimizing the significance of the stressful situation by accepting it with a sense of resignation, and (4) denying the presence of stress. Similarly, the approach mode is characterized by (1) hope that things will improve, (2) effort made by the respondent to solve the problem, (3) expectations from others that they will help or ask for help in relation to stress, and (4) doing something about the problem jointly with others.

A critical look at the different classifications regarding coping strategies given by various psychologists like Burke and Belcourt,⁵ Caplan et al.,⁶ Gore,⁷ Burke and Weir,⁸ Lazarus,⁹ and Jarvik,¹⁰ indicates that classifications suited for the coping behaviors of industrial workers and managers are not totally relevant for aged persons in general. Thus, to measure the SA of aged people, the objective test described here is an effort to bridge the gap.

Methodology

From the available findings, an open interview of 30 aged persons was standardized to obtain an idea of their SA in relation to their different problems. The information collected from the interview supported the broad categorization of the approach mode of coping given by Pareek.⁵ On the basis of review of the findings in this area and the interviews held with aged persons, two most distinctive strategies of approach and avoidance modes were selected that provided the following four dimensions to the proposed strategy of adjustment questionnaire: Intrapersistive Approach Mode (IAM), Extrapersistive Approach Mode (EAM), Punitive Avoidance Mode (PAM), and Defensive Avoidance Mode (DAM).

IAM refers to the respondent's plan to take actions or make serious efforts himself to solve his problem. This involves active participation and efforts on the part of the respondent to solve the problem.

EAM refers to the respondent's desire of solving the problem through or with the help of other individuals and agencies. This involves requesting others for solutions or taking help from others to find a solution to the problem. The respondent believes that the solution to his problems will come from others or by joint efforts of the respondent and others.

PAM refers to the respondent's inability to solve the problem. He admits the problem and stress on that account but expresses his inability and limitations in solving it. He either curses his lot or carries guilt (self-blame) or blames the situations and outside factors for the problem leading to his failure.

DAM refers to an adjustment in which the respondent avoids the problem by denying it. His ego defense mechanism plays significant role in developing rationalization for the problem. He disowns the problem and its related stress and at times points out certain benefits from the same.

Item construction

Taking into account the area of adjustment, different adjustment areas of life were selected for framing problem situations, i.e., home, health, emotional life, and social life. From each area, a number of problems were picked up on the basis of Ramamurti's Problem Inventory.¹¹ For each problem, an item was constructed in the form of a statement and four response categories to represent the four strategies were provided to each item to represent IAM, EAM, PAM, and DAM. The subjects were asked to identify one of the four modes that was true for them. To verify the hypothesis, the study was conducted on a sample of 300 persons drawn from the different areas of Bhagalpur city (Bihar). The sample consisted of three groups called as “middle aged” (MA), “nonretired aged” (NRA), and “retired aged” (RA).

Instruction and scoring

The SA questionnaire had a simple instruction in which the subject was asked to tick mark one of the four responses that he would like most to perform in the situation given in the items. The frequencies of responses given by a subject in respect to the four different strategies were taken as indications for the different strategies of adjustment. The possible scores in respect of any of the four strategies ranged from 0 to 34, with a higher score indicating greater preference.

Validity and reliability

The SA questionnaire was validated against judge's rating. Only such items were included in the questionnaire that were rated as unambiguously related to a specific area and SA. Regarding reliability, the questionnaire was administered twice at an interval of 3–5 weeks on 100 people who were 50 years old and above.

Procedure

The procedure of data collection from the aged or old subjects was either through a mailed questionnaire or personal contact. As mentioned by Kushler,¹² personal contact by home visit was most suited for studies on aging and so this was followed in the present research. The subjects were processed statistically; the mean ± standard deviation (SD) was calculated for the four SA scores.

Results and Conclusions

The results are shown in Table 1. The IAM strategy received highest preference, followed by the EAM and the DAM. The PAM strategy of adjustment was preferred least by the subjects of the three groups. People of all age groups used IAM more often than any other mode to solve their various problems. The age differences in this regard were not significant, although persons in pre- and postretirement age groups used somewhat more “avoidance modes” and slightly less “approach mode” as their strategy of adjustment as compared to the middle-aged persons.

Table 1.

Mean ± Standard Deviation of Different Strategies of Adjustment of the Three Groups

	N		SA
Groups		IAM	EAM	PAM	DAM
RA	90	15.08 ± 6.52	7.34 ± 4.82	3.34 ± 3.12	8.41 ± 4.15
NRA	110	15.46 ± 5.36	7.70 ± 4.21	3.64 ± 3.77	7.41 ± 4.10
MA	100	16.52 ± 5.67	7.78 ± 4.32	3.16 ± 2.95	6.56 ± 3.67

N, Number of sample size; RA, retired age; NRA, nonretired age; MA, middle aged; IAM, Intrapersistive Approach Mode; EAM, Extrapersistive Approach Mode; PAM, Punitive Avoidance Mode; DAM, Defensive Avoidance Mode.

Initiatives

The declining position of the aged people in our country, and for that matter all over the world, has drawn the increasing attention of psychologists and sociologists. It has been almost unanimously held by these scholars that in the wake of the growth of capitalistic economies and the advent of the industrial revolution, there has been a complete metamorphosis of society. The large joint families have been split up and nuclear families have surfaced in the rural, urban, and industrial societies. In recent times, the media have highlighted the suffering and miseries of older people, so that efforts are being made to improve the living conditions of aged people. The construction of old-age homes on a massive scale will go a long way to stabilize the insecure and instable life of the elderly people.

Psychologists have suggested that special provisions should be made in the State/Central budget for the improvement of the lot of these people. The role of the nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), in particular, can be also very important in this direction. I am keen to examine in the future the ever-increasing range of challenges among cross-cultural challenges faced by aging people and to find solutions for their proper adjustment in the social fabric.

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