16.5: Successful Social and Emotional Aging in Late Adulthood

Learning Objectives

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

• Identify behaviors and traits associated with successful emotional aging
• Identify behaviors and traits associated with successful social aging
• Describe the selection, optimization, and compensation theory

Randall is ninety-two years old and enjoying life. In the last few years, though, he’s noticed declines in his physical ability. Most significantly, he has difficulty moving around on his own and needs more help from others than he would like in order to live at home. Since his retirement, however, he’s had time to enjoy and nurture his important relationships and day-to-day pleasures. He appreciates the experiences he’s had in life and the things he’s still able to do, and he starts each day with a sense of optimism and gratitude.

What happens as someone gets nearer to the end of life? How do people maintain good psychosocial well-being when physical functioning starts to decline? Research suggests that social activity and positive emotional states remain possible for those who have an optimistic perception of aging, are spiritually content, have a purpose in life, and have access to good social support (Kim & Park, 2017).

Successful Emotional Aging

Successful emotional aging is the norm, not the exception. Research suggests that life satisfaction tends to be relatively stable and either is maintained or increases as people age (Frijters & Beatton, 2012; Gana et al., 2013; Kim et al., 2021; Schilling, 2006). Happiness follows a similar pattern, increasing throughout the later part of middle adulthood and the earlier part of older age, although some research indicates it declines in the later part of older adulthood (Becker & Trautmann, 2022).

However, happiness and life satisfaction don’t happen by themselves. Adequate social support, regular exercise, and maintenance of good physical functioning are associated with more positive emotional changes in aging. Older adults who struggle financially, take on a caregiving role, have cognitive and physical declines, and experience depression, loneliness, or grief are less likely to enjoy these positive outcomes (Alexopoulos, 2005; Işik et al., 2020; Miller et al., 2019). Although the causal nature of these connections is hard to study experimentally, addressing financial, physical, or psychosocial needs is likely to benefit older adults.

Resilience and gratitude can be valuable tools in older age. Resilience is the ability to work toward positive outcomes when faced with challenges or adversity (Bolton et al., 2016). One factor that may contribute to resilience is our locus of control, the extent to which we believe we have control over our life and its outcomes. Locus of control can be either internal or external. People with an external locus of control generally believe the things that happen to them are out of their control, due to factors like luck, fate, or the actions of others. Having an external locus of control is often associated with low effort, a lack of perseverance, and negative outcomes such as depression and poor health choices. In contrast, having a strong internal locus of control, meaning you believe you are in control of your circumstances, has long been associated with a variety of positive outcomes. Individuals with this trait are more likely to put in more effort and persevere in the face of challenges. They also tend to exhibit better mental health (Gore et al., 2016; Song & Yang, 2015; Sujadi, 2020).

Locus of control has been demonstrated across a variety of contexts, such as schools and workplaces, and in different age groups including older adults. In a classic experiment, Langer and Rodin (1976) manipulated the locus of control for some new nursing home residents. The control group was informed the staff would be primarily responsible for their care and making decisions for them, while the experimental group was told they had more responsibility and choice. After a period of time, residents in the experimental group were more alert, were more likely to engage in activities, and had a stronger sense of well-being.

Another positive mental state is gratitude, appreciation for things that are meaningful or important to you (Sansone & Sansone, 2010) (Figure 16.21). Older adults display more gratitude than middle-aged and younger adults, and this trait has been associated with many positive outcomes such as a stronger sense of well-being (Chopik et al., 2019). Experimental evidence indicates that gratitude may actually cause some of these positive outcomes. One study found that assigning older adults to write daily about what they were grateful for resulted in less loneliness, better perceived health, and improved well-being (Bartlett & Arpin, 2019). Other interventions incorporating gratitude, such as writing thank you notes to friends and family, have been found to increase life satisfaction and happiness while decreasing depression (Ho et al., 2014).

Figure 16.21 Allowing yourself to be grateful is associated with many positive outcomes. (credit: modification of work “Trail overlook” by Justin Katigbak/Disabled and Here, CC BY 4.0)

Life Hacks: Gratitude

The benefits of gratitude can be experienced among all age groups. Gratitude among college students has been significantly related to increased happiness (Safaria, 2014), better perceived social support, and lower rates of hopelessness, depression, substance abuse, and risk of suicide (Kaniuka et al., 2020). Gratitude has even been found to benefit academic success in college. Higher levels have been associated with more engagement in college life, more social activity in college, more persistence, higher GPAs, and fewer failed courses (Mofidi et al., 2015).

The next time you find yourself in a “glass half-empty” kind of mood or you feel like everything’s going wrong, take some time to reflect on and take note of the things you’re grateful for as well as the things you appreciate in life. You could do this by writing these things down, drawing them, taking photos, making an art project, or recording them in some other way that feels right for you. Research shows that this brief exercise can be beneficial in a lot of ways.

Successful Social Aging

Recall from the discussion of socioemotional selectivity theory that while social networks may shrink in later years, the reason is a selective focus on more meaningful relationships that are important in achieving emotional goals (Figure 16.22).

Figure 16.22 Social relationships tend to maintain a person’s positive outlook in older age. (credit: modification of work “Portuguese retired people in theirs usual meeting point” by Pedro Ribeiro Simões/Flickr, CC BY 2.0)

Family and friends are important resources, but older adults also frequently benefit from social interaction and social support they find by participating in religious activities (Hayward & Krause, 2014). Such participation tends to increase as people get older (Figure 16.23), likely due to a combination of factors such as people’s searching for meaning near the end of life and having more time to commit after retirement (Mitchell, 2022). Those who regularly attend religious services are more socially connected and spend more time interacting with others than those who don’t, even after controlling for other variables such as extraversion and physical health (Hastings, 2016; Rote et al., 2013). In other words, the positive correlation between attending religious services and social interactions isn’t because the people attending religious services are healthier and more extraverted than people who don’t attend religious services.

Figure 16.23 The percentage of U.S. adults who attend religious services increases with age. (CC BY 4.0; Rice University & OpenStax)

However, increasing numbers of adults in many countries such as China, Canada, and Estonia are identifying as either nonreligious or not belonging to any specific religion (Hout, 2017; Woodhead, 2017). While most are emerging adults, not having a religious identity at a younger age often remains constant into older adulthood (Hout, 2017), so this trend is likely to persist as today’s cohort of young adults ages. This doesn’t mean nonreligious or nondenominational adults are lonely and distressed, though. In fact, some research suggests that the social dimension of religious participation is more important than the religious dimension, and that some of the same benefits associated with participation in religious activities are also enjoyed by people who participate in other activities such as sports and artistic endeavors (Lim & Putnam, 2010; Wheatley & Bickerton, 2019).

Theories and Ideas about Successful Aging

Even those who age successfully will eventually experience declines. But the fact that fewer than 5 percent of older adults live in long-term care facilities suggests that most maintain a high level of functioning despite these effects (Figure 16.24).

Figure 16.24 Older adults who are physically active are more likely to age successfully, not just physically but in terms of their emotions, social interactions, and cognitive ability as well. (credit: modification of work “Block Party” by Seattle Parks and Recreation/Flickr, CC BY 2.0)

The selection, optimization, and compensation theory (SOC), developed by Paul Baltes and colleagues, states that older adults engage in three activities to maintain their high level of functioning:

• Through selection, older adults become more discriminating in the activities they pursue. Based on their ability, goals, and needs, they may quit some activities that are not meaningful or necessary, allowing them to dedicate more time and resources to the ones they desire to maintain.
• Optimization enhances the activities the person has elected to maintain. Individuals achieve optimization by practicing the activity more, allocating more time to it, or giving it more focused attention.
• Compensation helps to deal with declines or losses. Such efforts include using assistive devices, asking for help, and changing strategies to maintain activities after declines have occurred (Baltes, 1997; Marsiske et al., 1995).

One example (Baltes, 1997) of the SOC theory in action came from a television interview with the internationally acclaimed concert pianist Arthur Rubinstein (Figure 16.25). Rubinstein, then eighty years old and still performing, was asked how he could still play at such a high level. Rubinstein first stated that he performed a smaller number of musical pieces than before, focusing only on those that were emotionally meaningful (selection). He then said he now had more time to devote to rehearsing those selected pieces (optimization). Finally, he noted that his ability to play very fast had declined. To adjust for this, he gradually slowed down before a tempo increase, to make it sound like he was playing much faster than he actually was (compensation).

Figure 16.25 (a) World-renowned pianist Arthur Rubinstein plays in concert in 1906 at age nineteen years, (b) and fifty-six years later in 1962, at age seventy-five years. He lived another twenty years, dying at age ninety-five years. (credit a: modification of work “Arthur Rubinstein 1906” by Library of Congress/Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain; credit b: modification of work “Optreden Arthur Rubinstein in Concertgebouw, Bestanddeelnr” by Nationaal Archief/Wikimedia Commons, CC0 1.0)

The SOC theory provides a compelling explanation for the way older adults can maintain important activities and high levels of functioning, but it may have its limits. When people approach age ninety years and beyond, age-related declines in health and functional ability become more prevalent and harder to manage (Baltes & Smith, 2003). Thus, researchers have called for efforts to develop psychological interventions that can help older adults develop the perspective and understanding to accept and deal with these losses (Makwana, 2022).

One such intervention is the Mental Fitness Program for Positive Aging (Bar-Tur, 2021). This program uses concepts of positive psychology to improve the quality of life among older adults. It includes activities such as acknowledging current strengths, increasing engagement in social relationships, considering goals for the remainder of life, reflecting on past accomplishments, and practicing gratitude, mindfulness, and kindness. The goal is to help older adults achieve a healthy perspective related to aging in general and their own aging in particular. Findings suggest that the activities in this program improved participants’ well-being despite significant declines in health and/or functional ability (Bar-Tur, 2021), consistent with the notion that successful aging is a multifaceted concept.

Actively engaging in life is another significant factor in successful aging, identified by Kim and Park (2017). Active engagement includes doing paid or unpaid work, being productive, and being socially connected. Here we start to see how different aspects of successful aging intertwine. If you consider successful physical and cognitive aging described in Chapter 15 Physical and Cognitive Development in Late Adulthood (Age 60 and Beyond) along with this chapter’s discussion of successful emotional and social aging, a trend clearly emerges. You can consistently predict the likelihood that someone is successfully aging in one domain by asking whether they are successfully aging in others (Table 16.1).

Table 16.1 Predictors of Successful Aging

Domain	Subdomain	Predictors of Successful Aging
Successful physical aging	Cognitive	Cognitive decline is related to declines in physical ability (Jylhävä et al., 2017).
	Emotional	Poor emotional states such as depression are a risk factor for both physical disability and mortality (Zenebe et al., 2021).
	Social	Isolation and lack of social interaction have been linked to poorer physical activity and health (Sepúlveda-Loyola et al., 2020).
Successful cognitive aging	Physical	Interventions that increase physical exercise result in improved scores on memory and other cognitive tasks (Carta et al. 2021).
	Emotional	Older adults free of depression tend to experience less cognitive decline than older adults with depression (Formánek et al., 2020).
	Social	Interventions that increased social interaction resulted in improved overall cognitive ability (Whitty et al., 2020).
Successful emotional aging	Physical	Poor emotional states, such as depression, can be a consequence of chronic physical health problems (Gold et al., 2020).
	Cognitive	Older adults experiencing cognitive decline including dementia are at increased risk of emotional problems such as depression (Brzezińska et al., 2020).
	Social	High-quality social interactions and social support are predictive of more positive feelings about your life (Diener et al., 2018).
Successful social aging	Physical	Physical activity and ability in older age can predict social network size (McPhee et al., 2016).
	Cognitive	Cognitive decline and dementia are related to decreased social interaction (Kuiper et al., 2015).
	Emotional	Individuals experiencing poor emotional states such as depression can become more isolated over time and tend to disengage socially (Elmer & Stadtfeld, 2020).

Although different aspects of successful aging are interconnected, research demonstrates different tendencies across domains. For example, a healthy lifestyle can help maintain physical functioning and health well into late adulthood, though not forever. And while some types of cognitive declines are likely, normative age-related declines don’t interfere with successful cognitive aging. Taken together, results show that successful aging is the norm for cognitive, social, and emotional abilities, particularly if the adage “use it or lose it” is applied. In general, older adults who age successfully tend to “use it” by maintaining activity across all domains. They pursue cognitively challenging tasks. They establish and maintain relationships at a high level. They are physically active. They also pursue activities meant to result in a more emotionally positive state (Maula et al. 2019; Stine-Morrow & Manavbasi, 2022).

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