Pregledni rad

Older Adults’ Perception of Successful Aging

Ivana Tucak Junaković ; Sveučilište u Zadru, Odjel za psihologiju
Marina Nekić ; Sveučilište u Zadru, Odjel za psihologiju

Sažetak

Successful aging is in a way controversial concept which is not easy to measure. Different theoretical approaches use different criteria or definitions of successful aging on which different ways of operationalization of this construct are based upon. This study uses subjective or laypersons’ conceptions of successful aging or the way that older people themselves understand successful aging. The study with the aim of exploring the older adults’ perception of successful aging was conducted on a sample of 235 community-dwelling subjects older than 60. The Croatian translation (Ambrosi-Randić and Plavšić, 2008) of the list of 20 attributes of successful aging, which Phelan et al. (2004) identified in published literature on successful aging, was used in the study. Results showed that 12 out of 20 attributes were rated as important to successful aging by more than 70% of respondents. Good health, being able to take care of oneself and feeling good about oneself were rated as important by the greatest number of respondents. Living a very long time, being able to work after usual retirement age and continuing to learn new things were rated as the least important to successful aging. Additionally, differences in ratings of importance of some attributes of successful aging regarding some sociodemographic characteristics were found. Precisely, significantly more women than men considered support from family and friends as important for successful aging, while participants with higher, compared to those with lower educational background, continuing to learn new things rated as more important to successful aging. Efforts to define successful aging should undoubtedly consider older adults’ beliefs about successful aging as well.

Ključne riječi

health; laypersons conceptions; older adults; successful aging; well-being

Hrčak ID:

190147

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/190147

Datum izdavanja:

30.10.2017.

Podaci na drugim jezicima: hrvatski

Posjeta: 4.430 *