Aging Well

In the ultra-young-person-oriented United States, aged people have been the butt of jokes.  For instance, they often are dismissed as being demented, delusional, or generally out-of-touch with whatever is current.  Similarly, the elderly regularly are described as being feeble, resentful, or depressed.  And the definition of aged has been determined by whoever has the podium at the time.  Jack Weinberg of the 1960s Free Speech Movement at UC Berkeley is credited with the most absurd extension of ageism in his statement, “We have a saying in the movement that we don’t trust anybody over 30.”  Not surprisingly, that slander subsequently was adopted by other activists and the press who widely disseminated the instruction:  Don’t trust anyone over 30.

In keeping with the anti-aged tradition, many Americans believe that elderly people tend to be generally depressed and isolated.  Where is the evidence?  N. J. Shook and colleagues (2017) investigated the issue.  They reminded us that, as a group, contrary to popular opinion, older adults often report less negative and more positive emotion than do younger adults.  This previously identified phenomenon has been called the “well-being paradox” to underscore how unexpected the finding had been.

The Shook investigation supported the belief that aged people can feel very well.   Consistent with previous studies, it revealed that their older subjects did experience more positive emotion than did the younger subjects.  However, both groups evidenced equal amounts of negative emotion.  The research also produced a new insight: the aged were higher in mindfulness.  That is, elderly subjects focused more on the here-and-now than did the younger ones.  Shook proposed that it was their higher mindfulness that accounted for the elderly persons’ superior positive emotion.

One might speculate about the connection among positive emotion, mindfulness, and aging.  Just like persons of all ages, the elderly cannot change their past or predict their future.  But they can exert reasonable control over the present moment, deciding what to think, what to do, and where to go.  That sense of control is empowering and emotionally elevating.  Perhaps aged persons with a positive attitude have developed an unconscious inclination to remain in the moment as a means of compensating themselves for the fact that they have less time left on earth.

Certainly, no single study definitively answers any issue as complicated as well being.  Neither does it prove that the elderly are happy-go-lucky.  As we all know, some aged are demented, delusional, generally out-of-touch with whatever is current, feeble, resentful, depressed, or isolated.  But so are some younger persons.  The point, of course, is that no one should stereotype anyone due to any single factor, including age.  Since we believe what we expect, it is easy to dismiss an elderly person as “losing it” if they forget someone’s name, and to excuse that same slip when committed by a young person.  The problem, as I see it, is that ageism is much more automatic and tolerated in America than are most other forms of prejudice.

Regardless of your birth date, you are aging, and that is infinitely better than is the alternative.  I suggest that you would do well to be mindful of that.

References

Shook, N. J., Ford, C., Strough, J., Delaney, R., & Barker, D. (2017). In the moment and feeling good: Age differences in mindfulness and positive affect. Translational Issues in Psychological Science, 3(4), 338-347. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/tps0000139

“Don’t trust anyone over 30” – or under 30 (or over 40)

http://www.quotecounterquote.com/2015/06/dont-trust-anyone-over-30-or-under-30.html