Adaptation in Very Old Age: Exploring the Role of Resources, Beliefs, and Attitudes for Centenarians’ Happiness
Document Type
Article
Keywords
Happiness, resources, self-reverent beliefs, attitudes, centenarians
Disciplines
Psychology | Social and Behavioral Sciences
Abstract
When individuals reach very old age, accumulating negative conditions represent a serious challenge to their capacity to adapt and are likely to reduce the quality of life. By examining happiness and its determinants in centenarians, this study investigated the proposal that psychological resilience may come to an end in extremely old age. Data from the population-based Heidelberg Centenarian Study indicated high levels of happiness. Basic resources (i.e., job training, cognition, health, social network, extraversion) explained a substantial proportion of variance in happiness, but some resource effects were mediated through self-referent beliefs (e.g., self-efficacy) and attitudes toward life (e.g., optimistic outlook). Results challenge the view that psychological resilience reaches a critical limit or that the self-regulatory adaptation system loses its efficiency in very advanced age.
Article Number
1049
Publication Date
6-2006
Peer Reviewed
1
Recommended Citation
Jopp, Daniela and Christoph, Rott, "Adaptation in Very Old Age: Exploring the Role of Resources, Beliefs, and Attitudes for Centenarians’ Happiness" (2006). Psychology Faculty Publications. 51.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/psych_facultypubs/51
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Comments
APA Citation: Jopp, D. & Rott, C. (2006). Adaptation in very old age: Exploring the role of resources, beliefs, and attitudes for centenarians' happiness. Psychology and Aging, 21(2), 266-280.