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AGING
with an
Attitude
Unleashing
Potential
in Older
Adults
I
n graduate school, I continue to seize
every opportunity to acquire information
that could be benefi cial to my mission to
promote “aging with an attitude.” From my
studies, I found that gerontologists (scientists
who study aging) have been hard at work
to fi nd ways to enhance the quality of life in
late adulthood. In this article, I would like to
share the results of some fascinating studies
that they have conducted.
When someone mentions the words
“growth” or “potential” or “development,”
most people think of young people. Few
would entertain the idea that an 85-year
old would be referenced. But here’s an eye
opener—the science of lifespan develop-
ment has ample evidence showing that
growth, potential, and development
continue through one’s lifespan. Whether
it is obvious or not, older adults not only
welcome the opportunity to contribute but
relish the idea of helping shape the future.
First of all, let’s agree that potential is not
at all about brawn but about brains. Then,
let’s remind ourselves that older people can
and have been vital to society. They can and
are helping shape our future. Gerontologists
admit that research has painfully failed
older adults by not yet finding a reliable
way to measure and identify the extent of
their potential to contribute to society. This
lack of measurement has contributed to the
unjustified bias that exists towards older
individuals. BUT as you read this article,
I urge you to keep in mind the premise
that many older adults (even ones that
have been labelled as “absent”) still have
untapped potential.
What can we do?
Dorie Sugay is the Executive Director
of Visiting Angels, a company that
provides living-assistance services to
seniors and adults-in-need who wish
to stay in their own home or receive
one-on-one care within a facility.
This article is for informational and
educational purposes only. It was
written independently of Visiting
Angels. The names of clients and
caregivers were changed to
protect their privacy.
Here are a few thoughts to get the
discussion started…
We can have a more
“age-friendly” environment.
Something as simple as having more chairs
downtown so our older population can be
more engaged in the community socially.
In the Azores, they had small patches of
garden with chairs everywhere you go and
it defi nitely has invited a lot of their older
adults to go out for walks. We should too!
We can help our seniors with
“age-appropriate” activities.
A study involving 59-84 year olds who had
not exercised for many years were asked to
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GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2017
participate in an 8-week class involving
resistance training with elastic bands. The
results were encouraging – participants
measured for muscular strength showed
signifi cant improvement. We should have
more exercise classes for older adults in
the community.
We can get our older adults out there.
Let’s get our youth together with our older
adults. Ageism can severely affect physical
well-being (Ranzijn, 2002). Let’s change the
unjust labelling. In a study conducted in
1999 by Schooler, Mulatu and Oates where
they provided study-participants with
complex work that required “independent
judgment and making decisions involving
ill-defi ned or apparently contradictory
contingencies”— they had a pleasantly
surprising conclusion. They found that
older adults did much better than younger
workers! (According to another study by
Labouvie-Vief and Hakim-Larson in 1989
and a follow-up study by Sinnott in 1984,
“the ability to tap on these intellectual
abilities is evident in a stage of cognitive
development that occurs in adulthood—
development still at work there.”) Our
youth ought to know that there are things
they can learn from our older adults and
the best way to teach them that is to have
them be around each other!
We can avoid minimizing their contributions
because there is no paycheck behind it.
Remember that what you take for granted
should not diminish the importance of
the contribution. How many of you have
parents who babysit and perhaps assist
the children with homework, or learning
a song, or practicing their multiplication
tables? How many of you have parents
who have helped you with a few dollars
here and there, or helped your children?
How many of you have parents who
volunteer at the Church to count the
donations, do bookkeeping, or trim the
roses by the entrance? You may take these
for granted but these warrant points!
We can remember that generativity is part
of the developmental process of older adult
aging and it really should be given the
opportunity to express itself.
All people have a psychodynamic urge to
contribute to the welfare of other people,
which usually becomes evident in middle
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