Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-vsgnj Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-22T10:05:43.290Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Theorizing about Aging Well: Constructing a Narrative*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 March 2010

Sherry Ann Chapman
Sherry Ann Chapman*
Affiliation:
Department of Human Ecology, University of Alberta
*
Requests for offprints should be sent to: / Les demandes de tirés-à-part doivent être addressées à : Sherry Ann Chapman, M.M.St., Department of Human Ecology, University of Alberta, 302 Human Ecology Building, Edmonton, AB T6G 2N1. (sherryc@ualberta.ca)
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Aging well is new, again. The recent interest is part of a 50-year period of research. Contradictory conceptualizations of aging well create an opportunity to consider assumptions that underlie the concept. In this paper, through the construction of an aging-well, theorizing narrative, an underlying assumption is identified in past aging-well conceptual frameworks: to age well is to achieve self-integration in relation to particular sets of resources or forms of engagement. The narrative relates how more recent aging-well theorizing is being shaped by a growing interest in later-life meaning-making. Evidence is presented of a contemporary shift toward describing aging well as the negotiation of the co-construction and reconstruction of multiple selves in an ongoing, open-ended process of meaning-making amid later-life events and transitions. The paper concludes with implications for future research.

Résumé

On redécouvre le concept de la vieillesse réussie. Ce récent regain d'intérêt s'inscrit dans une recherche menée depuis 50 ans. Les conceptualisations contradictoires entourant la vieillesse réussie nous amènent à examiner certaines des hypothèses sur lesquelles repose le concept. Par l'entremise du développement d'une « théorie narrative de la vieillesse réussie », l'auteur cerne une hypothèse fondamentale des cadres conceptuels passés : bien vieillir est la réalisation de l'auto-intégration de certains ensembles de ressources ou de certaines formes d'engagement. L'auteur explique que les récentes théories en matière de vieillesse réussie sont influencées par l'intérêt croissant pour la recherche de sens au troisième âge. Il existe, à l'heure actuelle, un nouveau courant de pensée selon lequel la vieillesse réussie consiste à négocier la coconstruction et la reconstruction de plusieurs sois dans un processus continu et ouvert de recherche de sens à travers les événements et transitions du troisième âge. L'article offre en conclusion des pistes pour la recherche future.

Keywords

aging welltheorizingnarrativeintegratedselvesbien vieillirthéorie narrativenarration/récitintégrésois
Type
Articles: Symposium: Aging Well
Information
Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue canadienne du vieillissement , Volume 24 , Issue 1 , Spring/Printemps 2005 , pp. 9 - 18
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Association on Gerontology 2005

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

I thank Norah Keating for her invaluable mentorship; my committee members; and the helpful comments of the anonymous reviewers. I also thank Hyekyong Choi, Kees Knipscheer, and Clare Wenger for their insightful thoughts on earlier drafts. This paper was written with the support of a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Doctoral Fellowship.

References

Atchley, R.C. (1971). Retirement and leisure participation: Continuity or crisis? The Gerontologist, 11, 13–17.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Atchley, R.C. (1989). A continuity theory of normal aging. The Gerontologist, 29(2), 183–190.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baltes, P.B., & Baltes, M.M. (1990). Psychological perspectives on successful aging: The model of selective optimization with compensation. In Baltes, P.B., & Baltes, M.M. (Eds.), Successful aging: Perspectives from the behavioral sciences (pp. 1–34). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Basting, A.D. (2003). Looking back from loss: Views of the self in Alzheimer's disease. Journal of Aging Studies, 17, 87–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bengtson, V.L., & Allen, K.R. (1993). The life course perspective applied to families over time. In Boss, P.G., Doherty, W.J., LaRossa, R., Schumm, W.R., & Steinmetz, S.K. (Eds.), Sourcebook of family theories and methods: A contextual approach (pp. 469–499). New York: Plenum Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berkhofer, R.F. Jr. (1995). Beyond the great story: History as text and discourse. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Berman, H.J. (2000). Self-representation and aging: Philosophical, psychological, and literary perspectives. In Cole, T.R., Kastenbaum, R., & Ray, R.E. (Eds.), Handbook of the humanities and aging (2nd ed., pp. 272–290). New York: Springer Publishing.Google Scholar
Bernard, M., Chambers, P., & Granville, G. (2000). Women ageing: Changing identities, challenging myths. In Bernard, M., Phillips, J., Machin, L., & Davies, V. Harding (Eds.), Women ageing: Changing identities, challenging myths (pp. 1–22). London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Biggs, S. (2001). Toward critical narrativity: Stories of aging in contemporary social policy. Journal of Aging Studies, 15, 303–316.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Black, H.K. (2003). Narratives of forgiveness in old age. In Gubrium, J.F., & Holstein, J. (Eds.), Ways of aging (pp. 13–35). Malden, MA: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Blaikie, A. (1999). Ageing and popular culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Bruner, J. (2003). Self-making narratives. In Fivush, R., & Haden, C.A. (Eds.), Autobiographical memory and the construction of a narrative self: Developmental and cultural perspectives (pp. 209–225). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Carstensen, L.L. (1991). Selectivity theory: Social activity in life-span context. Annual Review of Gerontology and Geriatrics, 11, 157–217.Google Scholar
Cavan, R.S., Burgess, E.W., Havighurst, R.J., & Goldhamer, H. (1949). Personal adjustment in old age. Chicago: Science Research Associates.Google Scholar
Coleman, P.G., Ivani-Chalian, C., & Robinson, M. (1993). Self-esteem and its sources: Stability and change in later life. Ageing and Society, 13, 171–192.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coleman, P.G., Ivani-Chalian, C., & Robinson, M. (1999). Self and identity in advanced old age: Validation of theory through longitudinal case analysis. Journal of Personality, 67(5), 819–849.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cross, S.P., & Madson, L. (1997). Models of the self: Self-construals and gender. Psychological Bulletin, 122, 5–37.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cumming, E., & Henry, W. (1961). Growing old. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Dittmann-Kohli, F. (1990). The construction of meaning in old age: Possibilities and constraints. Ageing and Society, 10, 279–294.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eales, J., Keating, N., & Damsma, A. (2001). Seniors' experiences of client-centred residential care. Ageing and Society, 21, 279–296.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Erikson, E.H. (1963). Childhood and society (2nd ed.). New York: Norton.Google Scholar
Erikson, E.H., Erikson, J.M., & Kivnick, H.Q. (1986). Vital involvement in old age. New York: Norton.Google Scholar
Fahey, C.J., & Holstein, M. (1993). Toward a philosophy of the Third Age. In Cole, T.R. (Ed.), Voices and visions of aging (pp. 241–256). New York: Springer Publishing.Google Scholar
Fisher, B.J. (1992). Successful aging and life satisfaction: A pilot study for conceptual clarification. Journal of Aging Studies, 6(2), 191–202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gee, E.M., & Gutman, G.M. (2000). Introduction. In Gee, E.M. & Gutman, G.M. (Eds.), The overselling of population aging: Apocalyptic demography, intergenerational challenges, and social policy (pp. 1–4). Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Gubrium, J.F. (1973). The myth of the golden years: A socio-environmental theory of aging. Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas.Google Scholar
Gubrium, J.F., & Holstein, J.A. (2003). Beyond stereotypes. In Gubrium, J.F., & Holstein, J.A. (Eds.), Ways of aging (pp. 3–10). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harper, S. (1997). Constructing later life/constructing the body: Some thoughts from feminist theory. In Jamieson, A., Harper, S., & Victor, C. (Eds.), Critical approaches to ageing and later life (pp. 160–172). Buckingham, UK: Open University Press.Google Scholar
Havighurst, R.J. (1961). Successful aging. The Gerontologist, 1, 8–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Havighurst, R.J., Neugarten, B.L., & Tobin, S.S. (1964). Disengagement, personality and life satisfaction in the later years. In Hansen, P. (Ed.), Age with a future: Proceedings of the Sixth International Congress of Gerontology, Copenhagen, 1963. Philadelphia: F.A. Davis.Google Scholar
Hendricks, J., & Achenbaum, A. (1999). Historical development of theories of aging. In Bengtson, V.L. & Schaie, K.W. (Eds.), Handbook of theories of aging (pp. 21–39). New York: Springer Publishing.Google Scholar
Hepworth, M. (1995). Positive ageing: What is the message? In Brunton, R., Burrows, R., & Nettleton, S. (Eds.), The sociology of health promotion: Critical analyses of consumption, lifestyle and risk (pp. 176–190). London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Herzog, A.R., & Markus, H.R. (1999). The self-concept in life span and aging research. In Bengtson, V.L. & Schaie, K.W. (Eds.), Handbook of theories of aging (pp. 227–252). New York: Springer Publishing.Google Scholar
Holstein, J.A., & Gubrium, J.F. (2000). The self we live by: Narrative identity in a postmodern world. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Holstein, M.B. (2000). The “New Aging”: Imagining alternative futures. In Schaie, K.W. & Hendricks, J. (Eds.), The evolution of the aging self: The societal impact on the aging process (pp. 319–331). New York: Springer Publishing.Google Scholar
Hubbard, G., Cook, A., Tester, S., & Downs, M. (2002). Beyond words: Older people with dementia using and interpreting nonverbal behaviour. Journal of Aging Studies, 16, 155–167.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Katz, S. (2000). Busy bodies: Activity, aging, and the management of everyday life. Journal of Aging Studies, 14(2), 135–152.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kenyon, G.M. (1991). Homo viator: Metaphors of aging, authenticity, and meaning. In Kenyon, G.M., Birren, J.E., & Schroots, J.J.F. (Eds.), Metaphors of aging in science and the humanities (pp. 17–35). New York: Springer Publishing.Google Scholar
Kenyon, G.M., Ruth, J.-E., & Mader, W. (1999). Elements of a narrative gerontology. In Bengtson, V.L. & Schaie, K.W. (Eds.), Handbook of theories of aging (pp. 40–58). New York: Springer Publishing.Google Scholar
Kitwood, T. (1997). Dementia reconsidered: The person comes first. Buckingham, UK: Open University Press.Google Scholar
Kuhl, D.R., & Westwood, M.J. (2001). A narrative approach to integration and healing among the terminally ill. In Kenyon, G.M., Clark, P.G., & de Vries, B. (Eds.), Narrative gerontology: Theory, research, and practice (pp. 311–330). New York: Springer Publishing.Google Scholar
Lawton, G. (1943). Aging mental abilities and their preservation. In Lawton, G. (Ed.), New goals for old age (pp. 11–33). New York: Columbia University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lawton, G. (1946). Aging successfully. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Lawton, M.P. (1982). Competence, environmental press, and the adaptation of older people. In Lawton, M.P., Windley, P.G., & Byerts, T.O. (Eds.), Aging and the environment: Theoretical approaches (pp. 33–59). New York: Springer Publishing.Google Scholar
Lawton, M.P. (1986). Environment and aging (2nd ed.). Albany, NY: Center for the Study of Aging.Google Scholar
Lawton, M.P., & Nahemow, L. (1973). Ecology and the aging process. In Eisdorfer, C. & Lawton, M.P. (Eds.), The psychology of adult development and aging (pp. 619–674). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marshall, V.W. (1999). Analyzing social theories of aging. In Bengtson, V.L., & Schaie, K.W. (Eds.), Handbook of theories of aging (pp. 434–455). New York: Springer Publishing.Google Scholar
Martin, P. (2002). Individual and social resources predicting well-being and functioning in the later years: Conceptual models, research and practice. Ageing International, 27(2), 3–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McAdams, D.P. (1996). Narrating the self in adulthood. In Birren, J.E., Kenyon, G.M., Ruth, J.-E., Schroots, J.J.F., & Svensson, T. (Eds.), Aging and biography: Explorations in adult development (pp. 131–148). New York: Springer Publishing.Google Scholar
McMullin, J.A., & Marshall, V.W. (1999). Structure and agency in the retirement process: A case study of Montreal garment workers. In Ryff, C.D. & Marshall, V.W. (Eds.), The self and society in aging processes (pp. 305–338). New York: Springer Publishing.Google Scholar
McPherson, B.D. (1998). Aging as a social process: An introduction to individual and population aging (3rd ed.). Toronto: Harcourt Brace.Google Scholar
Mead, G.H. (1934). Mind, self and society: From the standpoint of a social behaviorist. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Nilsson, M., Ekman, S.-L., & Sarvimäki, A. (1998). Ageing with joy or resigning to old age: Older people's experiences of the quality of life in old age. Health Care in Later Life, 3(2), 94–110.Google Scholar
Nussbaum, J.F., Pecchioni, L.L., Robinson, J.D., & Thompson, T.L. (2000). Communication and aging (2nd ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Ovrebo, B., & Minkler, M. (1993). The lives of older women: Perspectives from political economy and the humanities. In Cole, T.R. (Ed.), Voices and visions of aging (pp. 289–308). New York: Springer Publishing.Google Scholar
Parsons, T. (1960). Toward a healthy maturity. Journal of Health and Human Behavior, 1(3), 163–173.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Polkinghorne, D.E. (1996). Narrative knowing and the study of lives. In Birren, J.E., Kenyon, G.M., Ruth, J.-E., Schroots, J.J.F., & Svensson, T. (Eds.), Aging and biography: Explorations in adult development (pp. 77–99). New York: Springer Publishing.Google Scholar
Rosow, I. (1967). Social integration of the aged. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Rowe, J., & Kahn, R.L. (1997). Successful aging. The Gerontologist, 37(4), 433–440.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sabat, S.R., & Harré, R. (1992). The construction and deconstruction of self in Alzheimer's disease. Ageing and Society, 12, 443–461.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scheidt, R.J., & Humpherys, D.R. (1999). Successful aging: What's not to like? Journal of Applied Gerontology, 18(3), 277–281.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, D.G. (1991). Hermeneutic inquiry: The hermeneutic imagination and the pedagogic text. In Short, E.C. (Ed.), Forms of curriculum inquiry (pp. 187–209). Albany, NY: State University of New York.Google Scholar
Strong-Boag, V. (1988). The new day recalled: Lives of girls and women in English Canada, 1919–1939. Markham, ON: Penguin.Google Scholar
Tornstam, L. (1992). The quo vadis of gerontology: On the scientific paradigm of gerontology. The Gerontologist, 32(3), 318–326.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tosh, J. (2000). Introduction. In Tosh, J. (Ed.), Historians on history (pp. 1–15). Harlow, UK: Pearson Education.Google Scholar
Usita, P.M., Hyman, I.E. Jr., & Herman, K.C. (1998). Narrative intentions: Listening to life stories in Alzheimer's disease. Journal of Aging Studies, 12(2), 185–197.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wenger, G.C. (1997). Reflections: Success and disappointment – Octogenarians' current and retrospective perceptions. Health Care in Later Life, 2(4), 213–226.Google Scholar
Wong, P.T.P. (1989). Personal meaning and successful aging. Canadian Psychology, 30(3), 516–525.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wong, P.T.P. (2000). Meaning of life and meaning of death in successful aging. In Tomer, A. (Ed.), Death attitudes and the older adult. New York: Brunner/Mazel Publishers.Google Scholar
Woodward, K. (2003). Against wisdom: The social politics of anger and aging. Journal of Aging Studies, 17, 55–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar