The Gerontologist· 2014Q1
Examining Rowe and Kahn’s Concept of Successful Aging: Importance of Taking a Life Course Perspective
- 242citations
- Q1SCImago
- 2014year
Short summary
Rowe and Kahn's successful aging model is critiqued for its static nature and overemphasis on personal control, neglecting historical context, social ties, and structural forces.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Key points
- Rowe and Kahn's successful aging model is challenged for its static definition.
- The model's emphasis on personal control overlooks external influences.
- Life course principles highlight development as a dynamic, context-dependent process.
- Historical time, social relationships, and structural factors are crucial but neglected elements.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY: This article critiques Rowe and Kahn's conceptualization of successful aging using tenets of the life course perspective. DESIGN AND METHODS: A review and synthesis of the literature on successful aging and studies that use a life course perspective. RESULTS: We draw on life course principles that view development as a dynamic lifelong process, embedded in historical time and place, and influenced by the web of relationships individuals are linked to, as well as more distal social structural factors. This discussion questions the relatively static nature of Rowe and Kahn's successful aging model, its emphasis on personal control over one's later-life outcomes, and neglect of historical and cultural context, social relationships, and structural forces in influencing later-life functioning. IMPLICATIONS: Caution in using the model in its current formulation is needed, and we promote thinking about how successful aging can better align with micro- and macrolevel issues through utilization of a life course perspective.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. The Gerontologist, 2014 · DOI ↗
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Field: Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology
Neuropsychology and Physiological PsychologyPsychology