Planning for "Successful Aging" at Mid-life

A phrase we see quite a bit these days is "successful aging." As a gerontologist, I probably see it more often than most of you, but I believe it is an idea that captures the imagination at midlife. We Baby Boomers are pretty competitive, and we like to do things well, so we are eager to prove we can age well. We've seen the ads for medications in magazines and the self-help columns and books spouting other related phrases, too: "vital aging," "productive aging," and various "age-defying" products.

Theories of aging

Trying to figure out how we age, and by association, how to age "successfully," dates back to the 1950's when gerontologists began to design research with the modest goal to better understand "normal aging." How do older people differ psychologically and socially from younger people? Or more importantly, how do older people differ from their younger selves? Early theories of aging that sought to explain how people age included Activity Theory and Disengagement Theory, two that were developed and debated in the 1960's and early 1970's. Activity Theory pointed to the importance of having social roles and activities in later life to replace those that are inevitably lost­ -say, because of retirement or widowhood. Disengagement Theory, meanwhile, pointed to the often-observed narrowing of older peoples' social worlds and argued that it is natural phenomenon to disengage socially and emotionally when aging.

Gerontologists now believe that both these theories were overly simplistic to be the 'universal theory of aging.' Disengagement theory has been roundly criticized for encouraging a negative view of old age. But even Activity Theory does not address individual preferences and the fact that just being busy or active does not make life meaningful or assure "successful" aging. These days there is less emphasis on identifying a single theory of aging. We've learned that there are consistencies across chronological aging, but there are many, many more individual paths and much heterogeneity among older adults. In some ways, people grow less alike as they age, rather than more alike.

One of the theories of aging that I particularly like is called socio-emotional selectivity theory. The kernel idea of this theory is that as we age, in part in response to a sense of limited time left to us, we are more selective about the relationships in which we invest emotional energy. The theory, developed by Dr. Laura Carstensen, has fueled interesting research about how older people may differ in their social and emotional needs from younger people. Overall, some of the findings suggest, older people tend to choose relationships they see as reliable and comfortable, whereas younger people tend to respond more favorably than their elders to novelty and stimulation in relationships. Although this theory has been used to explain behavior of people in senior housing and nursing homes, one study reported that these changes start by around age 30!