“When I Get Older Losing My Hair...” - Individuals’ Concepts of Successful Aging

Abstract

Many well-established developmental theories concentrate on strategies of regulation and try to explain how individuals compensate for possible losses in old age. In public debates, and in laypeople’s perception of aging, however, activity and productivity seem to be central concepts associated with successful aging. The present research focuses on subjective developmental theories on aging from an older individuals’ point of view. Within this research project, the aim was not only to focus on older individuals’ perceptions, but also whether they are similar or potentially different to younger adults’ views on aging, since younger individuals are more distant to a concrete idea of what it means to ‘be old’. In a first qualitative study interviews with older individuals were conducted, focusing differences in subjective theories on aging. In a second study two sub-samples of adults (225 older adults, aged 60 to 100 years and 194 young adults, aged 18–30 years) were investigated concerning particular aspects of successful aging, including activity and disengagement. Both studies give evidence for the importance of balancing gains and losses and show the relevance of both, activity and disengagement for successful aging. Moreover, the importance of control over individually meaningful aspects for successful aging is discussed.

Keywords

Successful aging life-span development concepts of aging subjective theories mixed methods research

Successful Aging from a Developmental Perspective

Gerontological research in its beginnings has concentrated on deficit-oriented approaches, resulting from a focus on age-related loss of functions and resources. Subsequently, a definition of “psychological and physical health and/or stability as the absence of illness or stress” (Greve & Staudinger, 2006, p. 827) has been adopted. Overall, there are many intersecting classical concepts concerning aging, using different terms and definitions (“productive aging”, Baltes, 1996; Butler & Gleason, 1985; “usual” versus “successful aging”, Rowe & Kahn, 1997, 2015; “robust aging”, Garfein & Herzog, 1995; “constructive aging”, Saup, 1991; see also Cosco, Stephan, & Brayne, 2013). Some of them are directly addressing successful aging, a term Havighurst (1961) introduced in the early sixties. Its connotations with activity-oriented strategies, has been perceived as an antipole to the deficit-oriented research on aging at this time.

Aging does not simply happen to us. On the contrary, it is a highly configurable and influenceable process. Thus, many of the modern theories of life-span development concentrate more on strategies of regulation and try to explain how individuals compensate for possible losses in old age (i.e. selection, optimization, and compensation strategies, Baltes & Baltes, 1990; flexible goal adjustment, Brandtstaedter & Renner, 1990; Rothermund & Brandtstaedter, 2003; socioemotional selectivity, Carstensen, Isaacowitz, & Charles, 1999; Carstensen et al., 2011). Baltes and Baltes (1989) propose a distinction between ‘objective’ and ‘subjective’ criteria of aging well. According to the authors, objective criteria focus on life satisfaction, self-efficacy, control, aspects of self-concept, and possibly cognitive functioning to operationalize successful aging. However, Dittmann-Kohli (1989) criticized that life satisfaction and similar constructs are often equated with successful aging, but wellbeing is not necessarily an indicator of the mental state of an organism but could also be perceived as a person’s active strategy. In the author’s opinion, old age has to be seen as a process of interpretation, concerning self-evaluation, life appraisal, and meaning making.

Subjective Developmental Theories

“When I get older, losing my hair, many years from now…”, like in the Beatles song ‘When I’m Sixty-four’ (The Beatles, 1967), individuals do think about getting older: Will I be the same person, will I be interested in the same things, will I be able to do what I want, will I be needed?

What developmental perspectives and possibilities are important to older adults, and how can we involve these perceptions in psychological research? To answer this question, one has to consider, what functions subjective developmental theories could have. Subjective developmental theories can be sources but also outcomes of normative societal views on development. They show complex patterns of reasoning and argumentation and have functions parallel to common scientific theories (description, explanation, appraisal, prediction of developmental processes; Groeben et al., 1988, p. 19). Individually, subjective developmental theories can display normative ideas and explanations of development, and more precisely, they can also represent action beliefs (e.g. regarding parenting styles) or individual (re)constructions of the own development or certain developmental processes.

Greve argues that “the search for universal criteria of successful development which can be applied to all people […] is likely to be fruitless, because it follows from the actional perspective of human development that people’s ‘success depends to no small degree on what they themselves consider to be successful” (Greve, 2001 p. 6971). Not the objective situation, but the subjective interpretation and experiencing seem to be crucial for the perception of good aging (Conrad & Riedel-Heller, 2016; Lehr, 2008). Finally, Phelan and Larson (2002) stress, that especially for the fields of clinical and social work it is important to gain more information on how individuals understand aspects of successful aging. To be of social relevance, definitions of successful aging need to be expanded, so they not only reflect “mainstream cultural norms” (Bowling, 2007, p. 274). This also seems to be essential concerning criticism on successful aging regarding the neoliberal focus on productivity and success (Gergen & Gergen, 2001; Katz & Calasanti, 2014; Lamb, 2017; van Dyk, 2015). There has been a lot of research in the past decades on the question of aging well, however, only a few studies have investigated the topic from individuals’ subjective perspectives (Martin et al., 2015; Phelan, Anderson, LaCroix, & Larson, 2004; Phelan & Larson, 2002; Reichstadt, Sengupta, Depp, Palinkas, & Jeste, 2010; Tesch-Römer & Wahl, 2017; Torres & Hammarstroem, 2009).

The Present Studies

Thus, the importance of considering individuals’ perspectives for the descriptions of processes of successful aging is obvious. The aim of the research project, origin of the present studies, was not only to focus on older individuals’ perceptions, but also whether these would be similar or potentially different to younger adults’ views on aging. In contrary to middle aged adults, younger individuals are more distant to a concrete idea of what it means to ‘be old’. Phoenix and Sparkes (2007) did a study on possible selves, analyzing narratives of athletes. One aspect discussed is particularly mid-life people referring to ageing as a ‘state of mind’, which is probably not a particularly deliberating path for young athletes to develop a meaningful perspective of the later years (p. 12).

To investigate older individuals’ theories of development and what aging or successful aging, respectively, means to them, a mixed-methods design was chosen to approach these questions (Creswell & Plano, 2011) by using both, qualitative and quantitative methods. The sequential exploratory research design allowed for, a) a detailed understanding of subjective developmental theories on aging and how individuals reflect about their own experiences; particularly in what way people describe negative / deficit-oriented strategies, and how they mention positive / activity-oriented processes; and b) provided the chance of investigating differences in the perception of important aspects for successful aging between a group of older and younger adults.

In the following the two studies are described in detail. The first study focused on older peoples’ narratives about what age and aging means to them. The aim was to gain a broader perspective on aspects and strategies important for successful aging, but also developing items for the second study. In the second study the aim was to find out more about which aspects old adults consider to be central for successful aging. Two sub-samples of n = 225 older (60 to 100 years old, M = 73.1, SD = 8.83, 72 % females) and n = 194 younger (18 to 20 years old, M = 22.3, SD = 2.82, 74 % females) adults participated. They were asked to fill out a questionnaire investigating particular strategies that are related to successful aging. In the following, I will discuss each of the studies followed by a general discussion.

Study 1: “What Does ‘Aging’ Mean to You?”

As the aim of the project was to gain more information about individual differences in subjective theories on aging, a qualitative interview study was chosen as a first step to broaden the spectrum of aspects of successful aging.

Method and Participants

A sample of 7 individuals (4 women and 3 men) aged between 64 and 93 years participated in interviews, talking about their visions of aging, including the open question what they thought successful aging would be about. Participants were recruited purposively and approached in order to capture a broad variety in age, educational and professional background (completed only secondary school, vocational school, high school, or went to university) and current life and living situations (married, widowed; living on their own with or without help, or within an elder care facility). Interviews took place in participants’ homes or at another place they wanted to meet. Duration of the interview sessions varied from 25 to 120 minutes. The interviews were audio taped and verbally transcribed. Data were analyzed on the basis of content analysis (Mayring, 2014). The focus was on subjective developmental theories concerning successful aging.

Results

Participants reported a broad variety of different aspects of aging. Talking about aging in general, three recurring themes could be found that represent individuals’ personal reflection on developmental in old adulthood.

Life Changes in Old Adulthood

What is the difference between former stages of life and old age? First, dealing with time was discussed, and a more conscious and sensible reflection of the end of life. Particularly a more differentiated reflection on the relevance of death and dying, and the often-mentioned decreasing fear of thinking about the finiteness of one’s life seems to be salient. Second, participants talked about individual life goals. They reported reflections about changing priorities: there are other worries now, but some older burdens also could be removed. Additionally, one has to give up some plans and goals during life, because they cannot be achieved, and others over time simply lose importance. Finally, participants repeatedly stressed, that an important insight about old adulthood is, that aging means accepting: Taking things in life as they are, growing into situations and staying calm. One female participant commented ”now, when I’m turning 93, I think by myself, it cannot get that bad […] when you are young...you don’t realize that back then…you are thinking, the world is going under when growing old. But that is not true, the world is not going under.“

Aging in Between Gains and Losses

During the interviews, participants referred to potential losses that are related to old age, but these reports were rather brief and not described in large details. Individuals reported setbacks in life, the increasing incidence of physical restraints chronic illness, loss of social contacts, and the perception that oneself is not that resilient any more. Furthermore, participants stressed they encounter common ageism or rejection against older people on a daily basis, and that old age is depicted in stereotyped and offending ways in the media.

Additionally, the description of positive aspects of aging (gains), was framed in a much more detailed and expansive way. Participants named concrete gains, like no more pressuring job situations, decreasing family or work-life balance responsibilities. Altogether, old adulthood was described as rather satisfying and participants mentioned that, compared to past phases of their lives, they could concentrate on one’s own needs more.

Many of the subjective developmental theories that participants described, reflected well-known developmental theories, for example, primary and secondary control (Heckhausen & Schulz, 1995; Heckhausen, Wrosch, & Schulz, 2010), socioemotional selectivity (Carstensen et al., 1999), or accommodative and assimilative strategies (Brandtstaedter & Renner, 1990).

Age - A Relevant Category in Individuals’Lives?

In several interviews, participants would question the existence of a particular stage of life labeled old age. Some participants pointed out, that they do not perceive themselves as old, nor that there is any characteristic difference in their life now, comparing with former times. On the contrary, participants argued that an older individual’s behavior is more a consequence of personality than it is related to chronological age or ‘being old’ per se. While some participants pointed out, that they have never felt old before, others reported certain events or moments when they had the impression that dealing with aging had begun for them personally. Significant events of feeling older varied from retirement periods to certain birthdays, but also included specific memories of particular contexts, or reflection about the own age and aging. Interestingly, most older participants refused being old, whereas the two youngest participants (64 and 65 years old) did not bring up doubts in the relevance of the label ‘old’ for themselves.

Discussion Study 1

Within a qualitative approach individuals’ views on aging were investigated. As mentioned above, results showed that participants reported more gains of aging, than losses. One might see this as conflicting regarding common lay theories or stereotypes of aging. Considering this observation in more detail, we can suppose that strategies of regulation play an important role: likelihood of losses increases in old age, but they may have less salience in one’s subjective perception. Thus, a positive personal evaluation may result.

In the interviews, calmness was often mentioned as a characteristic of older individuals, or as part of a strategy, respectively. Priorities may change and some important things of times in life are not that relevant, or even not important at all anymore. Participants were asked to think about whether they would consider old age to have a specific quality compared to other phases in adulthood, resulting in answers being highly ambivalent. Not to feel old supposedly fulfills a self-stabilizing function and account for individuality and autonomy for some individuals.

Several reports of the participants describing dev-elopmental processes showed overlaps with common developmental psychological theories. However, one can also hypothesize that a relevant characteristic of subjective developmental theories is that they are far less normative than so-called expert theories.

One question within the present study was, how deficit-oriented and how activity-oriented participants would talk about their own aging experiences, or their concepts of aging in general. This is also resulting in the question, what role classical gerontological theories like activity theory (Tartler, 1961), continuity (Atchley, 1989) and disengagement (Cumming & Henry, 1979) play in peoples’ concepts of successful aging: activity as a precondition for successful aging appears as a strong opponent to the idea of coping through disengagement and retirement. But how do individuals perceive such ideas of successful strategies? What aspects in life play an important role in aging successfully, and what strategies are perceived as helpful towards aging well? Is there a difference whether people think about aging in general, or include their own strategies in aging well? As mentioned before the aim of the two studies was to focus on subjective theories on aging. Thus, a direct approach towards strategies of successful aging was chosen by confronting participants with strategies, aspects and processes that are potentially linked with aging well, instead of operationalizing successful aging by measuring well-being, life satisfaction, coping and reported health.

Study 2: Aging from the Perspective of Young and Older Adults

According to the questions above, one important aspect which is addressed in the second study is, whether there is a difference between young and older adults in the perception of successful aging. To investigate this in more detail, a larger sample of individuals is investigated in a second study by collecting self-report questionnaire data.

Two sub-samples of adults were investigated concerning subjective theories of successful aging. The main questions of the study were: (1) Which aspects do old adults view as most central for successful aging and are there differences compared to the perceptions of young adults? (2) Do individuals prefer activity or disengagement as potentially successful strategies? (3) do young adults think differently about activity, continuity or disengagement as older adults do?

Method

Materials

The aim of the present study was to gain more information about individuals’ views on specific aspects of successful aging. Thus, it was important to use subjective criteria, data assessed by direct self-report, and by directly asking what was important in terms of particular aspects. Moreover, a broad aspect of potentially important aspects should be covered, not only focusing on a particular theory (i.e. SOC by Baltes & Baltes, 1990). Since, to the knowledge of the first author, up today there is no questionnaire directly addressing a broad spectrum of criteria for successful aging, a questionnaire was developed first. Therefore, a multidirectional approach was chosen. Items were gained empirically from the previous qualitative study and from literature on subjective views on successful aging / aging well and related concepts.

Besides the analysis described before in study 1, the interviews were also analyzed concerning particular aspects of successful aging. Using inductive category development within a content analysis approach (Mayring, 2014), the resulting aspects were coded first into the following supra-categories:

Attitudes towards life (calmness, optimism, openness, wisdom and dignity, to be happy and satisfied, to be grateful, to come to terms with oneself);

Strategies and developmental processes (to accept losses while being able to see the good things in life, emotion regulation, self-reflection, disengagement, comparing with others, to keep in shape mentally and physically, letting go);

Domains (traveling, sports, politics, work, close friends and family, religion/spirituality).

The particular codes within these aspects were used for item construction of the Subjective Theories of Aging Questionnaire (STAQ), as described in the following section.

Successful aging

The aim of constructing a questionnaire was to actually focus on subjective theories, not using sub-constructs or performance measures to capture successful aging. The Subjective Theories of Aging Questionnaire (STAQ) contains 51 items. Out of the 51 items, 23 were resulting aspects of successful aging from the qualitative study on subjective theories (see above), 16 were important life goals reported as relevant for successful aging obtained from a previous study on perspectives in old age (Strasser, 2006), similar to the present study 1. Additionally, seven items were based on Phelan et al.’s (2004) study on subjective views of successful aging (“living a very long time”, “adjusting to changes that are related to aging”, “having no regrets about how I have lived my life”, “being able to work in paid or volunteer activities”, “being able to meet all of my needs”, “remaining free of chronic disease”, “continuing to learn new things”). Additionally, items should verbalize the propositions of the classical gerontological theories, activity theory (Tartler, 1961), disengagement (Cumming & Henry, 1979) and continuity theory (Atchley, 1989). All three approaches were therefore rephrased into five items for activity (i.e., “to search for new tasks in old age”, “to be active”), disengagement (i.e., “to partially disengage from social environment in old age”) and continuity (i.e., “to do the same things as in former times”). The items were coded into nine supra-categories, being tasks, autonomy, activity, openness, health, acceptance and adaptation, emotions, positive thinking, and social life. An inductive approach was chosen for the procedure (see Appendix for the assignation of items to superior factors). The 51 items are listed twice in the STAQ questionnaire, first regarding importance for successful aging (e.g. “being optimistic is important for successful aging”) and second, concerning perceived control over the certain aspects (e.g. “being optimistic is something I can control by myself”). The latter should provide a better understanding of whether individuals perceive certain aspects of successful aging under control, or as something external that simply happens to us, or not. A 5-point Likert scale was used (1, “not applicable at all” to 5, “very applicable”). Answers to the items of the STAQ were available in terms of values on a five-point-scale. Cronbach’s Alphas, between α= 0.62 toα= 0.81, reporting reliability of the theoretically assigned items to the appropriate categories (tasks, autonomy, activity, openness, health, acceptance and adaptation, emotions, positive thinking, and social life) were computed. Means of these nine aspects of successful aging, as well as activity, continuity and disengagement, were computed.

Participants

The sample of altogether 419 participants included two sub-samples, containing 225 older adults aged between 60 and 100 (M = 73.1, SD = 8.83) years. Participants were found with the help of local institutions that provide social services, and by students who received course credits for interviewing in Carinthia, Austria. Out of these, 72.1% were females. Concerning education, 31% had graduated from secondary school, 12% additionally had a university degree, and 64% were retired. Only 10.7% of the participants had no children. The second sub-sample comprised 194 young adults (who were students at the University of Klagenfurt, Austria) aged between 18 and 30 years (M = 22.3, SD = 2.82). Of the participants, 74.2% were females, which is approximately the same percentage as in the older adult sub-sample.

All participants were provided with the STAQ questionnaire and additional questions, described above. Completion of the questionnaire took from 10 to about 60 minutes, participants could take a short break if necessary. Some older participants were unable to read and write down the answers themselves because of visual impairments or a tremor, for example. In these cases, an interviewer assisted them.

A Hierarchical Cluster Analysis regarding the latter aspects was conducted and T-tests were performed to investigate differences between the different clusters. To investigate differences between chronological and subjective age-groups within the sample T-tests were performed.

Results

As described above, the items of the STAQ questionnaire were available in terms of superior categories of successful aging. In Table 1 Cronbach’s Alphas are indicated for each category concerning the importance for successful aging. All aspects were rated rather high on the 5-point scale.

Table 1

Means of Aspects of Successful Aging (Importance) and Cronbach’s Alphas

	Importance of Aspects
Categories	Cronbach’s Alpha	Mean	SD
Social Life Being socially active with family and friends	0.68 (3 items)	4.33	0.67
Health Being and feeling healthy	0.79 (4 items)	4.30	0.72
Autonomy Being independent, mentally capable	0.78 (5 items)	4.18	0.71
Acceptance and adaptation Accepting changes, coping	0.66 (5 items)	4.17	0.62
Positive Thinking Being optimistic and having beliefs	0.71 (4 items)	3.98	0.77
Activity Being active, doing things	0.62 (4 items)	3.84	0.65
Emotions Emotion regulation, calmness, empathy	0.81 (6 items)	3.82	0.77
Openness Being open an tolerant	0.73 (4 items)	3.82	0.77
Tasks Having tasks and a sense of purpose, pursuing goals	0.73 (7 items)	3.77	0.65

Note. Cronbach’s Alphas as well as means and standard deviations for importance of aspects of successful aging (“…is important for successful aging”), N = 419.

The young adults judged all factors to be significantly less important than the older adults. As shown in Fig. 1 the most evident difference between the young adults and the older participants from can be found concerning emotions, positive thinking and autonomy. Young adults viewed social life to be the most important aspect while for the old adults the most important aspects were health and autonomy.

Figure 1

Differences in aspects of successful aging between young and older adults. Means of categories of successful aging (importance), (older adult sub-sample: 60–100 years, M = 73.1, SD = 8.83, N = 225; young adult sub-sample: 18–30 years, M = 22.3, SD = 2.82, N = 194). Standard errors are represented in the figure by the error bars attached to each column. All differences between the two sub-samples concerning the described categories were significant (α= 0.05).

Activity or Disengagement?

Concerning the classical gerontological positions the question was whether young adults think the same way about activity, continuity or disengagement as older adults do. Of the 194 participants of the young adult sub-sample only 6.7% rated disengagement as important for successful aging, and even continuity played a relatively minor role (9.8%), whereas statements emphasizing activity were seen as important strategies by many participants (“searching for new tasks” 75.6%, “not to disengage but to remain active” 77.0%). Interestingly, young adults rated “searching for new tasks in old age” as even more important than the older adults did (M_old= 3.67, SD = 1.14, M_young= 4.02, SD = 0.88), t(405.030) = 3.520, p = 0.001, but they considered “not to disengage but to remain active” as important, but less important than the older adults did (M_old= 4.37, SD = 0.83, M_young= 4.08, SD = 0.87), t(405.030) = 3.520, p = .001. Continuity (“doing the same things as in former times”) was rated as less important by the younger adults (M_old= 2.99, SD = 1.13, M_young= 2.11, SD = 1.03), t(413) = –8.24, p < .001. The item expressing a disengagement position was considered being the least important of all by the young adults (M_old= 2.70, SD = 1.27, M_young= 1.73, SD = 0.92), t(397.523) = –8.760, p < 0.001.

As mentioned before, one cannot assume, that a single one of these positions is sufficiently describing individuals’ success in aging. In fact, we suppose that there are large individual differences (not only dependent from chronological age), and different patterns of agreement with these different gerontological positions (activity, continuity, disengagement). To investigate this, a Hierarchical Cluster Analysis was conducted (comprising the aspects activity “to be active, “to search for new tasks in old age”, “not to disengage but to remain active”; continuity “doing the same things as in former times”; and disengagement “to partially disengage from social environment in old age”) using Ward’s method with squared Eucledian Distances. Hierarchical Cluster Analysis suggested a five-cluster solution, using the elbow criterion. A cross-validation was conducted following Milligan and Cooper (1987), that is, data (N = 419) was split randomly into two sub-samples. Hierarchical Cluster Analyses were performed within both sub-samples. In a next step resulting means were used as starting values in a k-Means Cluster Analysis, which was performed two times with each sub-sample, first using the means from the respective sample as starting values, second using means from the other sub-sample. If these two analyses arrive at highly similar cluster structures – indicated by a high agreement between cluster membership in the two analyses – the structure is highly similar across the two sub-samples. Accordance between the resulting cluster memberships of the two k-Means Cluster Analyses was satisfactory (Kappa _ sub - sample _ A= 0.875, Kappa _ sub - sample _ A= 0.833), which means the cluster structure is a reliable specification for the whole sample as well. In the following the resulting five clusters (see Fig. 2) are described in detail.

Figure 2

Resulting five clusters regarding activity, continuity and disengagement. Means of activity, continuity and disengagement of the resulting five clusters (Hierarchical Cluster Analysis, N = 419). Standard errors are represented in the figure by the error bars.

For Cluster 1 (containing 16.9% of all participants) aspects of activity are the most important, whereas they would not see disengagement as important at all, neither continuity. Therefore, it was labeled New and social activities. For Cluster 2 (25.1%), again, continuity is not important, neither is disengagement, even though the latter is rated significantly higher than in Cluster 1. New tasks and to be active were rated as relatively important, whereas “not to disengage but to remain active” was perceived as significantly less important. Cluster 2 was named Activity. Members of Cluster 3 (13.1%) not only did rate disengagement higher in relation to all other clusters, they even perceived it as a rather important aspect. Continuity plays a minor role as well as “searching for new tasks”. More important for participants in this cluster seems to be activity in the sense of generally being active, and “not to disengage but to remain active”, which has more likely a social connotation. Cluster 3 was named Selective disengagement (see Lehr, 2006, p. 61). Cluster 4 (26.3%) rated disengagement as not important. They would see continuity as neither important nor unimportant, close to the theoretical mean of the scale. The same could be observed for the activity-related aspect “searching for new tasks”. Members of this cluster did perceive activity aspects as important, namely being active in general and “not to disengage but to remain active”, the latter in congruence with Cluster 1. Cluster 4 was labeled Continuing with activities. Members of Cluster 5 absolutely disagree on disengagement, whereas “not to disengage but to remain active” is as important as for members of Cluster 1. The most important aspect is activity, in particular “searching for new tasks”. Cluster 5 (15.9%) was named Continuity and tasks.

The cluster New and social activities, has a strong focus on activity, refusing disengagement as well as continuity. Following that, one can expect a focus on cognitive aspects of aging and capability, with emotional aspects seen as less important, and young participants to be over-represented in this cluster. Opposing to this, in the cluster Selective disengagement surprisingly coexistent priorities in disengagement as well as activity were found. As disengagement is important for the members of the Selective disengagement group, it can be assumed that other aspects of secondary control play a major role in comparison to other clusters. Older adults are expected to be over-represented in this cluster. Investigating these hypotheses, it was found that for cluster New and social activities aspects of health (M = 3.88, SD = 0.75) and as well emotion regulation (M = 3.33, SD = 0.71) are less important than in other clusters, whereas these members are characterized by a high agreement on life-long learning (“life is a process of constant learning and development”; M = 4.96, SD = 0.20). New and social activities comprises mostly young participants (M_young= 22.74, SD = 2.98, M_old= 69.23, SD = 6.21, see Table 2). Corresponding with the assumption above, participants in the Selective disengagement cluster rated emotion regulation as relatively important (M = 4.15, SD = 0.76), higher than in all other clusters, except the cluster Continuing with activities, F(4, 407) = 12.032, p < 0.001. Cluster Selective disengagement comprises mostly older adults (M_young= 22.30 SD = 2.21, M_old= 76.62, SD = 10.62). In comparison, for the cluster Activity, the representation of age groups is relatively equal (54.3 % are young adults, mean age for each age group is M_young= 22.65, SD = 2.81, M_old= 73.17, SD = 8.11). Similar as for the Selective disengagement group, the cluster Continuing with activities comprises mostly participants from the older sub-sample (M_young= 21.34, SD = 2.42, M_old= 72.53, SD = 7.97). As in cluster Continuing with activities health (M = 4.53, SD = 0.53), autonomy (M = 4.35, SD = 0.61) and social life (M = 4.57, SD = 0.50) are the most important aspects for the Continuity and tasks group. In contrary to the cluster New and social activities - whose members perceived aspects of activity as important in a similar way - for participants in cluster Continuity and tasks continuity plays a more relevant role, even though it was rated only slightly above the theoretical mean of the scale (M = 3.28, SD = 0.70). Similar as for the Activity cluster, representation of age groups for cluster Continuity and tasks is relatively equal (52.2 % are young adults, mean age for each group is M_young= 21.86, SD = 2.94, M_old= 68.44, SD = 6.77).

Table 2

Labels of the Five Clusters and Distribution of Age

Cluster	Description	N	Distribution of Age		Distribution of Gender
			Young Adults	Older Adults	Female
Cluster 1	New and social activities	71	30.2%	6.0%	67.6%
Cluster 2	Activity	105	29.7%	22.2%	69.5%
Cluster 3	Selective disengagement	55	5.2%	20.8%	68.5%
Cluster 4	Continuing with activities	110	16.7%	36.1%	80.9%
Cluster 5	Continuity and tasks	67	18.2%	14.8%	72.7%
			100.0%	100.0%

Note. Distribution of age: Values indicate percentage of how many participants of the young adult / old adult sub-sample are represented in each cluster. Distribution of gender: values indicate percentage of females in each cluster.

Interestingly controllability of disengagement seemed to play a relevant role for the Selective Disengagement cluster: there were no significant correlations of the importance of disengagement for successful aging with the controllability of disengagement, except for the Selective disengagement group (r = 0.38, p = .005).

Discussion Study 2

In the second study of the present research project over 400 individuals participated. The aim was to investigate important aspects for successful aging and to gain a better understanding about whether older individuals’ views differ from the perception of younger individuals. Finally, it was of interest what role activity and disengagement play in subjective theories of successful aging.

One hypothesis was that the perception of young adults concerning aspects of aging differs from the view of older adults, because normative developmental tasks in the period of life of “Emerging Adulthood” (Arnett, 2000) fundamentally differ from those in old age. Concerning the relevant aspects for successful aging, young adults stressed the importance of social life and viewed health issues as less important than older adults.

To investigate the relevance of activity and disengagement, a Cluster Analysis was conducted. A central hypothesis was that there are substantial individual differences in the perception of successful aging. Results show evidence for this assumption: the most evident difference was certainly found between the New and social activities cluster and the Selective disengagement cluster. While the first is characterized by stressing new activities and social involvement, the second shows both aspects, activity and disengagement as important for successful aging. Patterns of agreement of these two clusters on different developmental positions and aspects of successful aging are also reflected in Carstensen’s (Carstensen et al., 1999; Carstensen, Pasupathi, Mayr, & Nesselroade, 2000) theory of socioemotional selectivity. The first cluster perceived social aspects to be more important and emotional aspects to be less important than the Selective disengagement cluster. Following the theory young adults are more likely to be represented in the New and social activities cluster, and older adults in the Selective disengagement group. Emotion regulation contained aspects as empathy, putting negative issues aside, calmness and friendliness. Thus, the Selective disengagement group seems to be more in line with emotional expertise and emotion-oriented priorities. Tasks are less important for this cluster. Concerning the regulation of goals another interesting finding should be mentioned. Tenacious goal pursuit has been agreed to highly by all clusters, whereas flexible goal adjustment was only indicated as a personal strategy by participants of clusters Selective disengagement and Continuing with activities. For the Selective disengagement group one can assume that secondary control strategies are more likely within this group, i.e. flexible goal adjustment and processes that involve disengagement. But not everything comes down to chronological age. Even though these two clusters (New and social activities and Selective disengagement) also differ regarding distribution of age, there are patterns independent from age. The overall mean of control did not show any significant differences between the clusters. Assuming this can be seen an indicator similar to life satisfaction this could be evidence for the assumption, that there is no “ideal” pattern among the five clusters, but all different views are in accordance to a general sense of controllability. I would argue that not the presence or absence of activity or disengagement is defining successful aging, but it is highly relevant whether activity or disengagement are self-determined or not. In the present study evidence could be found indicating that only in the group with a significant correlation between disengagement and controllability of disengagement, this aspect actually was perceived as relevant for successful aging.

Conclusions

Within the present paper two studies on subjective theories of successful aging were reported. Measurements for the second study were developed, taking into account findings from the previous qualitative study on ideas of successful aging as well as aspects from literature concerning successful aging, wisdom and positions of classical gerontological theories. In both studies, the importance of dealing with gains and losses, and activity and disengagement for and understanding of aging well could be shown.

Subjective developmental theories reflect different patterns of successful aging. In the interviews of study 1 participants reported developmental strategies that are well corresponding with developmental theories of the lifespan. In Study 2 it was shown the coexistence of activity and disengagement being important for successful aging. Controllability of disengagement processes additionally seemed to play an important role. Thus, most likely self-imposed dependency helps to save resources, while on the other hand heteronomous dependencies more or less represent risk factors. Probably, especially these aspects have strong implications for clinical and political fields of gerontology (see also Jenull, 2011): Older individuals could be encouraged and supported, in more emancipatory approaches, to meet their individually different needs (activity and/or disengagement). Maintaining a high level of freedom of choice may be one of the crucial resources in old age, understanding aging in a more differentiated and less stereotyped way. Particularly the way individuals make meaning throughout their lives may play an important role for the perception of what is seen as relevant for aging personally. Probably this insight needs actual experience and cannot only be anticipation from a perspective of young adulthood; at least the differences between the clusters in study 2 may point to this conclusion.

Limitations and Further Research

As a matter of fact, one cannot be sure if differences between the age groups reflect changes over the lifespan or cohort effects. Nonetheless, longitudinal studies on the question of individual differences in coping with requirements specific to old age and subjective developmental theories concerning successful aging are necessary. It remains unclear whether individuals’ health impairment has to be seen a confounding factor in the present study; further research has to work out more precisely the meaning of the health status as a precondition for successful aging, possible differences between health states and individuals’ subjective perception of physical and mental health, and underlying coping strategies. In the present study two sub-samples were investigated, young adults (aged under 30) and older adults (aged over 60). Although sampling procedure was considered carefully, it still is not an actual representative sample. Thus, sample bias is an issue within the present study. Moreover, further research on “successful aging” should focus also on subjective developmental theories of individuals in middle adulthood and how they anticipate older age and aging from a more advanced point of view than young adults.

Many authors not only claim precise definitions of successful aging but also an adequate differentiation between predictors, conditions and outcome of successful aging. Results from the present study showed not only age-related differences of subjective theories on successful aging. Personality aspects may play a relevant role, but further research on underlying strategies, mechanisms and attitudes (e.g. control or self-determination) that lead to different perceptions of aging well may be even more important.

Footnotes

Appendix

Table

Overview of Scales and Items of the Questionnaire (STAQ)

Aspects	Description of Scales and Items of the STAQ
Aspects of Successful Aging	51 items
Importance of the different aspects for Successful Aging (…is important for successful aging; i.e. “being healthy is important for successful aging”; “learning new things is important for successful aging”)
	from 1 (“not applicable at all”) to 5 (“very applicable”)
Controllability of Aspects	51 items
	Same aspects as above, but concerning controllability (… is something I can control by myself; i.e. “being healthy is something I can control by myself”; “learning new things is something I can control by myself)
	from 1 (“not applicable at all”) to 5 (“very applicable”)

Tasks	Capability, To be useful, Being able to work in paid or volunteer activities, To have tasks, To search for new tasks in old age, Being able to meet all of my needs, To have and pursue goals	Acceptance and Adaptation	To accept what one cannot change, Having no regrets about how I have lived my life, Adjusting to changes that are related to aging, To cope with the requirements that come with old age, To be able to accept positive and negative aspects of life
Autonomy	Not to be reliant on help, Financial security, To be independent, Mental health, To be able to make decisions by oneself	Emotions	To be friendly, To be able to put aside negative issues, To be empathetic and sympathetic, To be calm and easeful, To be cheerful, To come to terms with oneself
Health	Not to have any diseases, Physical health, To be healthy, To feel healthy	Positive Thinking	To believe in something, To be grateful, To be optimistic, To focus on the good things in life
Activity	To be active, To take charge of one’s own life, Doing the same things as in former times, To take the time	Social life	To spend time with family, To have friends, Not to disengage but to remain active
Openness	To be tolerant, To be open minded, To be open for new things, Continuing to learn new things	Additional items	To be happy and satisfied, To be cultivated, To have no fear of dying, To be able to understand complex issues, To be religious, Living a very long life, To think about the end of life, To partially disengage from social environment, To think about oneself

Feeling old	Sub-sample 1 (older adults): When did you feel old for the first time?
	Sub-sample 2 (young adults): When do you think you are going to feel old for the first time?)
	Reporting a certain age or indicating “never”.
Subjective age	“How old do you feel normally”

Note. The STAQ contains 51 items investigating the “importance” and “controllability” of possible aspects concerning successful aging. Items were theoretically assigned to the appropriate categories as shown in the table.

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