PSY 402 Chapter Notes - Chapter 14: Dementia, Life Satisfaction, Old Age
Document Summary
The rowe and kahn definition of aging is the absence of disease and disability, high cognitive functioning and engagement with life. The definition is criticized for being unclear. Who definition: the process of optimizing opportunities for heath, participation and security in order to enhance quality of life as people age. To overcome the limitation of the former definition, researchers administered a study: They found that women highest in subjectively rated successful aging has high score in what they called psychological protective factors. These findings support the connection that r&k "s definition is overly narrow and that psychological resilience and optimism are more important contributors to the older individuals own sense of aging well. Sexuality is another component of successful aging. The overall scores of the women of the successful aging measures were related to sexual satisfaction but not actual sexual activity. Actual physical health appears to be less important in predicting successful aging.
