ABSTRACT

This chapter introduces the model of developmental adaptation, an extension of the adaptation model used in the Georgia Centenarian Study. The focus of this model is to combine distal experiences and past achievements as important predictors of well-being and adaptation in later life. Modeling results suggest that distal events have a direct effect on adaptation, proximal events have a direct effect on adaptation, and that the effect of distal variables on adaptation is mediated by proximal resources. Illustrations of the developmental adaptation model will be given. For example, results suggest that education and life-time negative events (as distal variables) predict mental health with competence (a proximal resource) as a mediator. The implications for understanding well-being in old-old age will be discussed.

INTRODUCTION

Very old individuals face a number of uniquely demanding life challenges. For those persons entering the 9th, 10th, and 11th decades of life, negotiating increasingly restrictive functional limitations and rapidly shrinking social-support networks becomes a dominant life concern and activity (Martin, Poon, Kim, & Johnson, 1996). How do older adults adapt to these changes? The purpose of this chapter is to introduce a model of developmental adaptation that incorporates distal and proximal influences in the prediction of longevity and adaptation in later life. In the first section of this chapter, we review a number of common adaptation models. This section is followed by an overview of studies based on the Georgia adaptation model.