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THE AGED: SATISFIED OR DISSATISFIED?
Author(s) -
SHEETS ALFRED W.,
DACHAWICH S. JOHN,
ULLMAN PAUL S.
Publication year - 1968
Publication title -
journal of the american geriatrics society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.992
H-Index - 232
eISSN - 1532-5415
pISSN - 0002-8614
DOI - 10.1111/j.1532-5415.1968.tb00740.x
Subject(s) - medicine , diversity (politics) , gerontology , population , interpersonal communication , health problems , social psychology , psychology , environmental health , sociology , anthropology
On the basis of interviews with 129 elderly people in the Long Beach Jewish Community Center, the most impressive finding was that, with the exception of some widows and persons with serious health problems, these men and women were content with life and did not have many unmet needs or difficulties with adjustment to old age. They did not consider their life idyllic, however. Transportation was a real problem for some, and medical expenses for others. Incomes were usually too low to allow for much of the travel so many of them wished to experience. Some had difficulties in interpersonal relationships. Failing health was the greatest single problem; more than half of the group had had a major health impairment and one‐fourth had been in a hospital during the previous year. Nevertheless, in general this population of aged people was emotionally healthy, optimistic and interested in life and the opportunities it afforded them. It should be emphasized that this group was not typical of all the aged in the country. The study demonstrated, however, that in this society, old age can be a highly rewarding period of life. It would be most desirable to find some explanation for the diversity of attitudes observed in various reports in the literature and in the present report. Over‐all conclusions can be rendered meaningless if the aged in some of the groups and areas studied are unhappy and dissatisfied whereas those in other groups and areas are radically different in their reactions. Another factor in the diverse findings may be the ecological or social concentrations of different personality types.