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Lessons On Aging From Three Nations, Volume 1: The Art of Aging Well

Sara Carmel, Carol A. Morse, and Fernando M. Torres-Gil (Editors)
Baywood Publishing Company (2007)
ISBN 9780895033697
Reviewed by Alma H. Bond for RebeccasReads (1/08)

“Lessons On Aging From Three Nations: Volume 1, The Art of Aging Well” is the first volume in the Society and Aging Series, edited by Jon Hendricks. The series provides a vital dialogue in gerontology that helps us gain perspective on how three developed nations—the United States, Australia, and Israel—address aging as it becomes ever more prominent and exerts an increasingly crucial impact on the social and economic infrastructures of our societies. A careful look at the present means of coping with aging in the three societies points to the areas requiring assistance. As such, it helps inform policymakers, scholars, and caretakers of the need for change and enables us to learn from the creativity, achievements, and failures of others.

Volume 1 is edited by Sara Carmel, Carol A. Morse, and Fernando M. Torres-Gil, top gerontological experts who have edited a groundbreaking book that is certain to become a classic in the field. By and large, it is well written and highly informative, bringing the latest material on research and demographics of aging in their respective countries. The material is new, sound, and at times exciting and illuminating. Like most books of compiled articles, chapters in Volume 1 vary in the quality of their content and literary style. Material of greatest interest to me is discussed below.

Jacob Lomranz, professor and director of clinical psychology at Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel, demonstrates how creativity contributes to optimal aging and emphasizes those adult developmental processes that are conducive to and enhance creativity. He quotes Dissanayake to the effect that human beings are “Homo Estheticus,” that creativity is a universal human endowment that has evolutionary significance and helps people to survive (p. 6). Lomranz believes that “creativity and art are human endowments, possessed by every person, reflected in emotional, cognitive, and behavioral processes to be found in everyday life” (p. 6). To him, that person ages optimally who reaches advanced years in a satisfying physical and mental condition, perceives life as meaningful, and experiences a feeling of well-being and creativity. He quotes Cohen (p. 8) to the effect that the second half of life is the “creative age,” that “emotional longevity can be achieved (Anderson & Anderson), and that the elderly can fulfill constructive roles in society and culture (Stuckellberger)” (p. 8).

Similar thoughts on health and well-being in later life through occupation are given by Linsey Howie, senior lecturer and head of the School of Occupational Therapy at LaTrobe University, Melbourne, Australia. Howie believes that “occupation is fundamental to human experience… and… an important dynamic between what people do with their time and how that shapes a sense of who they are” (p. 20). Howie states that research has found that health benefits accrue in an aged population in which activities are freely chosen and meaningful. He suggests that in addition to planning at midlife for eventual financial retirement, people begin to engage at that time in occupational planning for a healthful old age.

Nancy Pachana, psychologist at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, informs us that each person ages in a unique fashion, determined by factors such as environment, intelligence, mood states, interpersonal relationships, and state of health. As a result, according to her, it becomes increasingly difficult to illustrate what a “typical” older person looks like (p. 29). She also speaks of the “cohort effect” (pp. 29–30), referring to the fact that individuals born within a certain time frame tend to experience similar social, cultural, and political situations that influence their development and functioning.

Pachana describes cognitive changes that occur with normal aging (Vol. 1, pp. 2–3). She says that while cross-sectional studies report an inverse relationship between cognitive functioning and aging, other aspects of cerebral functioning remain stable. For example, she cites that the ability to use and interpret language remains relatively intact and verbal skills, such as vocabulary actually improve with age. She mentions the wisdom demonstrated by many older people, and, like Lomranz, stresses the positive correlation between age and creativity. She cites research showing that mental activities afford protection against future risk of dementia (pp. 32–33) and concludes that investigations into the interplay of psychosocial, cognitive, and physiological aspects of aging expand our knowledge of the aging process and help health professionals to better assist the older people in maximizing functioning.

John McCormack, lecturer in Health Sciences at LaTrobe University, Melbourne, Australia, has conducted interesting research on supercentenarians, which he discusses in “Making the Most of It.” In his experience, the “oldest-old” have an adaptive attitude to life and longevity that is positive and accepting without being unrealistic (p. 55). McCormack states that in very old age, no one escapes serious aches and pains, but, in the main, the centenarian respondents in his survey illustrate a stoic optimism, gratitude, and enjoyment toward the life they have experienced and continue to live. According to McCormack, “This demographic group is projected to increase rapidly in size in all industrialized societies, and it is important that we have a better understanding of their health, sociodemographics, and quality of life” (p. 66). Such knowledge can add valuable lessons about adding life to years rather than just years to life.

JoAnn Damron-Rodriguez, University of California, Los Angeles, and James E. Lubben, Boston College, in “Family and Community Care for Older Persons” discuss family and community health care for older people in an intelligent and knowledgeable manner. Community health care, as defined by Cantor (1994, p. 80) “is broader than the medical model, and is the entire spectrum of helping that supports older people in their environment.” Such services are designed to augment individual competency and environmental mastery rather than increasing dependency of the aging on external help. Quality of life and life satisfaction are variables of vital importance to social care.

According to the authors, the ideal of community health care aims to facilitate older adults to age well and continue to contribute to the community. It promotes older persons’ self-care capacity through enhanced home and community environments. It supports family and social networks through informed policy and programs. It seeks to facilitate the delay of disability onset in older persons or prevent it from happening altogether. (p. 89)

Howard Litwin, of the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel, in “The Interpersonal Milieu of Older People,” states, “The interpersonal milieu of older life is of particular importance in understanding personal well-being in later life” (p. 169). As individuals age, their need for support and assistance tends to increase, particularly with the onset of physical and mental impairment. Unfortunately, however, as individuals age, their interpersonal milieu tends to decrease, as a result of the death of age peers or because of the desire to focus on meaningful relationships.

The interpersonal milieu can best be understood as the social network people maintain and from which they may gain a wide range of benefits (p. 170). The networks can differ in size, composition, density, and content, as well as in the dynamics that exist within them. Such dynamics can be measured by variables such as frequency of contact, reciprocity of exchange (including delayed reciprocity, in which people return in later life what they had received earlier as children), and emotional closeness. Assistance can include affective support that communicates to the member that he or she is loved and respected, cognitive guidance and feedback, and a range of concrete aids available to members in need. Networks, however, can also be a source of conflict when members challenge the perceptions and behavior of others. Structurally, the networks of older people tend to be smaller than those of younger adults, denser, and composed more frequently of family members. These contacts are often characterized by longer duration and a shared history.

Interpersonal surroundings, the author continues, are not stable but tend to evolve along with changes in the individual's circumstances such as immigration-induced relocation. Such changes can increase the vulnerability of an age group already at risk.

The interpersonal milieu can provide older people with support. Unfortunately, when the needs of the elderly become the greatest, less help is available, as informal caretakers often turn over their responsibilities to formal authorities. Social policies must recognize the limitations of informal care, along with their potentiality and pitfalls.

“Lessons On Aging From Three Nations, Volume 1: The Art of Aging Well” is an important volume that should be required reading for policymakers, scholars, and caretakers of the elderly, as well as the growing numbers of intelligent individuals who wish to grow old in the best possible manner. The book is full of important information of use to both newcomers and people established in the field; it is highly recommended for everyone connected in any way with the discipline.

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