The purpose of this study was to identify a predictive model of successful aging of the Korean elderly by interdisciplinary approach. We investigated how Korean elderly thought about the concept of 'successful aging' or 'bliss in aging' by the depth i ...
The purpose of this study was to identify a predictive model of successful aging of the Korean elderly by interdisciplinary approach. We investigated how Korean elderly thought about the concept of 'successful aging' or 'bliss in aging' by the depth interview. Furthermore we classified a successful aging group and an unsuccessful aging group and then, investigated the differences between two groups in terms of daily life, emotion experiences, psychological characteristics, social relationships, opinions about aging, effects of social events such as wars and starvation, the relationship of aging and ecological features. The participants were old people over 65 who were dwelling on the Chuncheon or Seoul and all of them already participated first and second wave of Hallym Aging Study, from 2002 to 2005. To classify a successful aging group and an unsuccessful aging group, we made medical, sociological, and psychological standards based on the academic rationale. Finally we selected the successful aging group who were maintaining physical health, psychological well-being and social activity(N=84, male 60, female, 24/ mean age = 72.23, sd= 4.88) and the unsuccessful aging group who had physical and psychological problems, and had no social activity(N=69, male 20, female 49/ mean age = 75.57, sd=3.89). To conduct depths interviews about successful aging, we contacted a participant by individually. Well-trained professional interviewers visited participants' house and had an interview. Ultimately, 123 participants' interviews were collected and analysed.
In result of the depth interview about successful aging, the elderly answered that physical health, economic stability, and psychological well-being were the most important components of successful aging. Especially, the successful aging group emphasized the importance of their family's happiness(children or spouse). However, the unsuccessful aging group emphasized the importance of the economic stability and physical health. There were differences in evaluation one's own life: the 70% of the successful group expressed their satisfaction of their lives but the 70% of the unsuccessful group expressed unsatisfaction of their lives and assessed their lives negatively. We compared the successful and the unsuccessful group in reference of daily lives, emotion experiences, coping strategies, and social activity. In result, the successful aging group's daily lives were regular. The successful aging group had their own activities and works, and regulated their emotions by using effective and active coping strategies. In contrast, the unsuccessful aging group' s daily life was irregular. The unsuccessful aging group had no special works or activities, and regulated negative emotion experiences passively and helplessly. There were differences between two groups in awareness of 'self': the successful aging group realized their negative and positive aspects of themselves and assessed positively, but the unsuccessful aging group were not aware of themselves distinctively and assessed negatively. In regards of social activity, the successful group participated in several activities actively and were aware of the meaning of the social activities and the importance of their roles, but the unsuccessful group didn't. In respect of the experiences of wars or starvation, the successful group minimized the negative effects of those experiences by positive reinterpretation but the unsuccessful aging group expressed their negative views about the result of traumatic experiences, such as wars and starvation. To validate Korean elderly's successful aging model, we did ecological analysis and compared our model to other successful aging model. The meanings of this study which is building Korean's own successful aging model were discussed.