Strategies for living in old age

Abstract

The presented article is devoted to the problem of identifying and describing life strategies in old age. The theoretical part of the article shows the importance of "separating" similar terms often used in the study of the elderly as synonyms: "strategy", "paradigm", "model", etc. It is proposed to understand a life strategy in the spirit of activity and victimological approaches as general plans subordinated to a common goal that is fundamentally important for the functioning and development of personality, which requires the mobilization of resources both in previous ages and in the current one to ensure a safe, comfortable life at a young age. The fundamental importance of the victimological approach in the formulation of life strategies in old age is proved, since this age is the most sensitive to victimization. Biographical, autobiographical and meaningful content analysis were used as research methods. The materials of the analysis were the content of websites on the Internet, where the problems of the elderly are actively discussed. The scientific novelty of the study consists in identifying and describing the main life strategies in old age and their victimological assessment. Thus, such strategies were identified and described as: labor, family, home/country, sports strategy; hobby strategy; religious strategy and victim strategy. In addition, variants of these strategies were meaningfully highlighted. It is concluded that any strategy of life in old age should have the security of one's personality as the main meaning of leading activities, since it is by this age that victimization trends are increasing. Victimization, in principle, begins to be age-related. Each of the described strategies has its limitations depending on the level of health, success in the profession, family status and other factors. Therefore, for successful functioning in old age, it must be borne in mind that the most preferred strategy may not be implemented due to objective circumstances. Hence, it is necessary to have backup options for life strategies in old age and provide preparation for them in other age periods. A consciously chosen "victim" strategy is the most ineffective, since the conditions of its implementation victimize an elderly person, etc.