Successful Aging: Perspectives from the Behavioral Sciences

ISBN-13: 9780521435826 / Angielski / Miękka / 1993 / 416 str.

Paul B. Baltes; Margaret M. Baltes

Opis

For a long time, research on developmental issues in the biological and social sciences has been primarily concerned with the early stages of the lifespan, such as infancy and adolescence. More and more researchers have recently turned their attention to the problems of development and aging in the later periods of life. This volume, based on papers presented by the European Network on Longitudinal Studies on Individual Development, deals with success in the aging process. From a medical or public health viewpoint, successful aging consists of optimizing life expectancy while at the same time minimizing physical, psychological, and social morbidity. Achievement of successful aging requires that the onset of infirmity, on average, increases more rapidly than average life expectancy, compressing morbidity into a shorter period. Current behavioral and social research shows physical plasticity in seniors, strong associations between lifestyle and health, increasingly healthy lifestyles on a national basis, and decreasing incidence of chronic disease.

Recenzje

'The high quality of both the theoretical and empirical essays make this an up-to-date and valuable contribution to the life-course literature.' Choice

Spis treści

Foreword; Preface; 1. Psychological perspectives on successful aging: the model of selective optimization with compensation; 2. Medical perspectives upon successful aging; 3. Successful aging in a post-retired society; 4. The optimization of cognitive functioning in old age: predictions based on cohort-sequential and longitudinal data; 5. The optimization of episodic remembering in old age; 6. Peak performance and age: an examination of peak performance in sports; 7. Personal control over development and quality of life perspectives in adulthood; 8. Successful mastery of bereavement and widowhood: a life-course perspective; 9. The Bonn longitudinal study of aging: coping, life adjustment, and life satisfaction; 10. Risk and protective factors in the transition to young adulthood; 11. Avoiding negative life outcomes: evidence from a forty-five year study; 12. Developing behavioural genetics and successful aging; Name index; Subject index.