The passage of time is fundamentally experienced through people's interaction with their social worlds. Life-course scholars acknowledge the multiple aspects of time-based experience but have given little attention to age identity in a dynamic context. Drawing from a stress-process model, we expected that turbulence within people's family…

Tested Erikson's theory of an ego integrity versus despair crisis in old age using interviews with 40 older adults. Four integrity statuses were defined: integrity achieving, dissonant, foreclosed, despairing. Results supported the validity of the integrity status construct and the interview designed to measure it. (JAC)

This study examined four older adults at the time of retirement to determine the extent to which there was intraindividual variability and stability in self-concept during the retirement transition, and to see whether patterns of change were replicable across subjects. Results showed that three to four dimensions of self-concept variability…

Attribution theory and gerontology would be enriched by the application of a life-span approach to attribution, involving increased attention to the age of the stimulus person and developmental factors associated with self-attribution. In studies on achievement attributions about older people, chronological age appears to be a more salient cue for…

Suggests that the established life history approach to the study of aging has been reformulated to include the macrostructural and cultural context. Demonstrates the utility of some core concepts in social phenomenology and ethnomethodology, particularly Schutz's concept of biographical work, for developing this new conception of the self.…

The author describes gerotranscendence as a process that occurs when older adults shift from a rational focus on the present-day, material world to a more universal and transcendent perspective. Accompanying this shift is a desire to move toward the end of life with a sense of integrity and acceptance of one's choices. By gaining an understanding…

The developmental model of self-concept proposed by M. Lynch and M. Levy (1982) is extended through the entire adult life cycle. Self-concept is seen as a set of cognitive rules that have affective or cognitive consequences and that operate like the ego functions proposed by Freud. (SLD)

This study examined older adults' quality of interpersonal relationships and self-concept through semi-structured interviews with 39 70-year-old people in Malmo, Sweden. The gathered data is described on individual and group levels. Findings indicate that the elderly in this group have frequent contacts with their children and siblings. They…

This guide for educators, human service workers, and others interested in social gerontology contains four sections covering fifteen subject areas/sessions. Unit 1, Societal Structure and Its Relationship to the Aged, presents data concerning demographics of the aging population, historical factors having an impact upon value processing of older…

This encyclopedia contains 106 articles on adult development that were written by more than 75 specialists in such diverse fields as anthropology, communication, education, health sciences, history, and psychology. In a guide to related topics that is presented at the beginning of the encyclopedia, the 106 articles are grouped under the following…