Landmark Study Uncovers Surprising
Guideposts to Aging Well
An individual's lifestyle choices may play a greater role than genetics, wealth, race, or other factors in determining how happy people are in later life. Or, the secret to a long and happy life does not lie as much in our stars as in ourselves.
Led by George Vaillant, the Harvard Study of Adult Development tracked the lives of 824 individuals for more than five decades. Now the author has reported his surprising conclusion in his provocative and groundbreaking book, Aging Well.
The study included three cohorts: 368 socially advantaged graduates born about 1920, 456 socially disadvantaged Inner City men born around 1930, and 90 middle-class, intellectually gifted women born about 1910. Participants were interviewed at five-year intervals throughout the study.
Among the study findings:
- It is not the bad things that happen to us that doom us; it is the good people who happen to us along the way that facilitate enjoyable old age.
- What goes right in childhood predicts the future far better than what goes wrong.
- In old age it is all right to be ill as long as you do not feel sick.
- Mature defenses or the capacity to turn lemons into lemonade and not to turn molehills into mountains are essential to aging well.
- The concept of generativity (giving back) underpins successful aging.
- Human beings outgrow and recover from restrictive environments. In the absence of physical illness, mental health improves into the 7th decade.
- In the aging game, emotional riches trump financial savings.
- A good marriage at age 50 predicted positive aging at 80. But low cholesterol levels at age 50 did not.
- Aging well is facilitated by a capacity for gratitude.
- Gusto for learning in late life is highly correlated with psychological health.
- Living successfully means understanding death is part of the journey.
- There are many paths to aging well and no one way to do it right, according to the author. Vaillant is tentative when asked, "What makes the difference between aging well and not aging well?" He suspects the "Wow!" factor. "The celebrant sense is an important component in the whole adaptive process," he said.
Growing Old: "Something Worth Trying To Do Well"
Elizabeth Jane Howard is the author of thirteen novels including the Cazalet Chronicles. She was born in London, England in 1923. She has been married three times, most famously to Kingsley Amis. In her recent book, Slipstream: A Memoir, she writes:
One of the good things about living longer is that we have more
time to learn how to be old. It's clear to me now that inside the
conspiracy of silence about age… there is the possibility of art:
that is to say that it can be made into something worth trying to
do well, a challenge, an adventure. I don't want to live with any
sort of retirement, with nostalgia and regret wrapped around me
like a wet blanket. I want to live enquiringly with curiosity and
interest for the rest of my life.
Slipstream: A Memoir is published in London by Macmillan.
Legislation Required to Regulate Retirement Homes
"What? There are no mandatory standards for retirement homes," my friend asked incredulously. "How can that be?"
It's hard to believe, but true. The retirement home sector in Ontario is largely unregulated. While the Tenant Protection Act, Health Protection and Promotion Act, and Building and Fire Codes govern aspects of retirement homes no legislation regulates the operation of this sector. Ontarians must insist the province bring in the required legislation.
Retirement residences offer a flexible lifestyle option for seniors who are active and independent and who want to make their own choices. Some nursing services are provided. More can be purchased if needed.
Costs are privately paid and range in price from $1, 850 to $5,000 monthly. A long-term commitment is not required. Residents are free to move anytime after giving 30 days written notice.
Although only 7% of older Canadians live in institutions, adults 65 years of age and over are the fastest growing population group in the country, according to Statistics Canada. The demand for retirement facilities will only continue to increase.
I had more bad news for my friend: Anyone in Ontario today can open a retirement home with no qualifications, experience or expertise.
Consequently retirement homes are not equal. These facilities vary in location, size, price, amenities, programs and services. There is a wide range of competency among operators. While many retirement homes are very well run, others are not. Finding out what's what can be tough for older persons and their families. The lack of provincial regulations only exacerbates the problem.
More than a decade ago, the Ontario Residential Care Association (ORCA), a voluntary non-profit association established the Accreditation Standards Program to ensure members meet " the highest residential professional standards for care in the province."
ORCA's accreditation process requires applicants to undergo a rigorous evaluation of the following:
- Delivery of services and programs with special consideration for resident rights and quality of life;
- Quality, comfort and safety of the physical environment; and
- Quality as measured by resident satisfaction.
Following the initial accreditation, homes are reviewed based on a 1, 2, or 3-year cycle.
That's the good news. The bad news: accreditation is optional.
"Our association has been advocating mandatory standards for some time," says Mr. Gordon White, Executive Director of ORCA. "About 60% of retirement residences are accredited," he says.
If you are currently on the hunt for a retirement home for yourself or a family member, here are some handy tips from ORCA:
- Visit several homes and go with a prepared list of questions.
- Talk to residents about their perceptions of the place.
- Make return visits.
- Ask to see the kitchen area.
- Is a health assessment required?
- What happens if your health deteriorates?
- Ask for copies of paperwork required for admission along with samples of menus, activity calendars and newsletters.
- How often are rates for accommodation and/or services increased?
- What is the average annual rate of increases over the last few years?
- Look for the ORCA Standards Award Certificate.
"But even with this, the most important requirements of a home may not be immediately evident," says Mr. White. "For example, is the staff trained in critical procedures? What policies are in place to ensure records are complete, current and easily accessible? Sure, the home's ambience may be beautiful, even luxurious, but without skilled staff and thorough documenting procedures, this may not count for much."
If you are currently considering a specific retirement home, check the home's accreditation status by calling 1-800-361-7254 or by visiting ORCA's website: www.orca-homes.com.
Grandpa Fosters Sense of Wonder
Ben is six years old. He lives with his mother, Jane, in a lovely old house about 10 kilometers from Ottawa.
This afternoon, Ben is helping his mom clean the yard and get the garden ready for planting. For the past few weeks, he has been watching the ice break up in the Ottawa River, which runs beside his home. Over the winter, he tracked birds to the feeder outside the kitchen window. Now, he is comparing early bird sightings with his Grandpa, who lives in Guelph.
Recently, Ben has become an avid student of the night sky spurred on by books and videos about stars and planets - birthday gifts from his Grandpa and Aunt Anna. Learning that he lives on a planet soaring around a star floating in the vast ocean of the cosmos has left Ben spellbound, and brimming with questions.
Many children today are initiated into their world through T.V. especially through the ads that remind them, day after day, to be dissatisfied with what they have.
"The ad is our culture's primary vehicle for providing our children with their personal cosmologies… the culture's primary way for shaping our children," writes mathematical cosmologist, Brian Swimme in The Hidden Heart of the Cosmos: Humanity and the New Story (Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books)
Twenty thousand years ago in southern Europe, our ancestors crawled for days on their backs through the labyrinthine caves to gather for their religious celebrations.
Now, like those children in the past who gathered in the caves and listened to the chant of the elders - our children gather night after night in the television room and listen to the chant of the advertisement.
What is the effect on them? On us?
We have lost contact with the natural world as our home - lost our sense of wonder and celebration - lost the conviction that we live in a sacred universe.
Ben's sense of amazement in discovering the universe of birds and animals, stars and planets, amphibians and wetlands heartens his Grandpa. These seeds of wonder must be nurtured in the young, he believes, if we are to live the universe story as our personal story as well as our community story.
Why Ageism is a Problem
"It's not only what I think about aging, it's what others around me think too," Elizabeth told the members of her evening class.
That afternoon, Elizabeth, a smart, elegant woman in her seventies, had made a down payment on an apartment. When her husband died a year ago, she had decided to sell her home. For the past two weeks, she had tracked in and out of apartments and listened as superintendents hailed their buildings by the number of nights the residents played Bingo. "But I don't play Bingo," she said.
Age stereotyping has a negative impact on older adults.
While the scientific community's view of the aging process has undergone profound changes in recent years, the general public's perceptions of aging haven't caught up.
This is a problem because our expectations about aging have a serious impact on the aging process. In a major study, reported in the August 2002 issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, researchers found that holding a positive attitude towards the aging process can extend your lifespan by 7.5 years.
London Meeting Tackles the
Changing Landscape of Retirement
Around the globe, most spectacularly in the industrialized world, populations are aging. The response varies greatly by country depending on their demographic profile and their policies in regard to retirement.
This point was highlighted at an international conference on "Reinventing Retirement" that took place in London in November. Participants in the conference (sponsored by AARP'S Global Aging program and the UK's Financial Times newspaper) included government policy makers and representatives of business, academia and non-profit organizations from Europe, Canada, Japan and the U.S.
Among the major topics:
The importance of planning for demographic change. A pre-conference poll conducted for Global Aging found that while there is a general recognition among leaders of the G7 countries that aging issues are major priorities on their countries agendas, most countries are not yet ready to deal effectively with these challenges. Some are just hoping to "muddle through."
For Alan Johnson, Britain's Secretary of State for Work and Pensions "muddling through" is not an option. "The next generation of pensioners will have lived through technological revolutions rather than World Wars. They will have had to cope with the smart card rather than the ration book. They'll be independent, healthier and have very different political demands," he said.
Similarly, Andrew Gower, editor of the Financial Times, pointed out, people over age 65 have historically represented two or three percent of the developed world's population. However, older people account for 15 percent of these countries' population today, and the percentage will grow steadily in the coming decades. How successfully countries negotiate the demographic transition could reshape the global economy.
Reinventing retirement. Several speakers called for abolishing mandatory retirement entirely and eliminating incentives that encourage early retirement. So far, only the U.S. and Australia have done so.
But Ken Georgetti, President, Canadian Labour Congress, told the conference almost three-quarters of Canadians are worried they will have insufficient income to see them through their retirement years, yet the issue of retirement security is getting little coverage in Canada.
Out ahead are the Nordic countries with flexible retirement plans already in place. With a slow response to population aging, it is expected Italy, Germany, France and Japan will face the greatest challenges in the future.
On the street. When asked their top concern about getting old, a BBC online poll found 55% of people asked said health, compared with 20% who said money, and 9% who said loneliness.
With a Little Help From Older Parents
Older Canadians provide significant financial assistance primarily to adult children but also to their grandchildren throughout life, according to a new study.
The research, led by McMaster professor Jenny Ploeg, studied 138 persons aged 55 years and older from across Canada. Participants were well educated and had above average incomes. The majority was retired (85%).
Researchers found parents were motivated by love for their children and a commitment to family. They provided financial assistance to help children through important life events - wedding expenses, establishing a business, purchasing a home or car, and to help them rebuild their lives after a setback - loss of a job, illness, disability, debt, or divorce.
However, assistance was provided only when required, and as a temporary measure, "to give them a needed break from stress." Where the need proved to be ongoing, it sometimes became a drain on parent's resources. "My savings were intended to look after me in my senior years but I can see no end to the needs of family," one 79-year-old mother said.
The assistance to grandchildren took the form of educational fund investments and support with living expenses. Some provided money for holidays and plane tickets.
The study was reported in the Canadian Journal on Aging (2004). Volume 23, Supplement 1.
"I was so much older then. I'm younger than that now." - Bob Dylan
Subscriber's Corner
Thank you so much for your messages of encouragement and congratulations. In upcoming issues, look for snapshots of our subscribers as they chart new territory and forge new dreams for the middle years and beyond. Please send your news and comments to Ruth at info@AgingHorizons.com
