Abstract
Successful aging is a prominent framework within gerontology, yet an understanding of how aging adults define “successful aging” is often missing in the social work discourse around what it means to age well. This cross-sectional, exploratory study used an online survey to explore community-dwelling adults’ (aged 55+; n=471) definition of successful aging, the underlying components across all definitions, and any differences in components based on whether or not the adults identified as aging successfully. Summative content analysis yielded five main themes and 13 sub-themes for those who identified as aging successfully and five main themes and 11-sub-themes for those who identified as not aging successfully with elements of health constituting the largest percentage of responses across both groups. Bivariate analyses found participants in the “not aging successfully” group mentioned elements of Being Healthy and Financial Security more than those in the aging successfully group, and elements of Sustain Participation, Curiosity, and Learning less than those in the “aging successfully” group. The findings illustrate the extent to which aging adults view successful aging as the presence of health and ability. Social workers should be mindful to the ways in which adults view successful aging and the elements they believe to contribute to successful aging in order to provide and tailor programs, services, and resources that are supportive of aging adults’ needs and wishes.
Highlights
Successful aging is a prominent framework within gerontology, yet an understanding of how aging adults define “successful aging” is often missing in the social work discourse around what it means to age well
Health was mentioned most frequently, which supports the underlying premise of successful aging as proposed by Rowe and Kahn (1997) as well as many studies that have attempted to examine the prevalence of successful aging by using operational definitions that reflect physical and/or cognitive health (Cosco et al, 2013b; Pruchno et al, 2010)
The second most common theme was Choice & Ability where participants defined successful aging as having self-determination and being self-sufficient, followed by Intrinsic Factors where participants viewed successful aging as a state of mind or being that allowed for peace, acceptance, resilience, and meaning
Summary
Successful aging is a prominent framework within gerontology, yet an understanding of how aging adults define “successful aging” is often missing in the social work discourse around what it means to age well. Many researchers have subsequently attempted to garner the views of aging adults through qualitative methods of successful aging and how it relates to their lives (see Cosco et al, 2013a and Teater & Chonody, 2019 for a review of the literature), or through systematic reviews of the literature examining the definitions of successful aging, and have explored the underlying dimensions or themes present across the definitions (Bowling & Dieppe, 2005; Depp & Jeste, 2006; Reichstadt et al, 2010; Teater & Chonody, 2020) Findings from such studies have highlighted that aging adults do not consistently view disease and disability as unsuccessful and have identified other factors as influential on their ability to age successfully, such as external elements, including financial resources and access to medical care, psychological elements of acceptance, coping, self-determination, and resilience, and other factors such as spirituality and/or religiosity, and gerotranscendence (i.e., the natural progression towards wisdom and maturation). Holding fast to the three criteria as specified by Rowe and Kahn (1997) is discriminatory to many older adults, those who live with dependency and disabilities, including age-related disabilities (Carver & Buchanan, 2016; Martinson & Berridge, 2015; Teater & Chonody, 2017), and can be viewed as a form of ageism where older adults are held to middle-age standards (Calasanti, 2003). Katz and Calasanti (2015) argue if older adults are “considered unsuccessful agers in theory, such labeling deeply affects their treatment by health care regimes in practice” (p. 29), which will be exacerbated through an intersectional lens of gender and gender identity, sexuality, race and ethnicity, and socioeconomic status
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