Exam 1: Does Old Age Have Meaning

The life course perspective views "stages of life" as unchanging and universal in meaning.

Which of the following includes the main components of "successful aging"?

How do people find meaning in old age? Does the period of old age have intrinsic meaning? Explain.

Participation in intellectual and political leisure activities may have protective benefits for cognition during later life.

According to Scott-Maxwell, old people's outward appearance may seem drab, but inside they have much passion about life.

The most damaging threat to well-being in later life is:

Does leisure inevitably become a source of meaning in old age? Explain.

What does it mean to "age successfully"? What can society do to enhance the possibility of successful aging? Do you see any problems with this perspective on aging? What might an alternative perspective promote regarding aging?

Erikson, Erikson, and Kivnick argue that elders should accept the inevitable losses of aging and retreat from society.

Compare and contrast activity theory, disengagement theory, and continuity theory with respect to how they can be applied to the study of leisure activity patterns in old age. Of the three theories, which do you feel best reflects what you have observed about aging and later life?

According to Scott-Maxwell, old people think often about how old they will become and how much decay they will have to endure until death.

Life satisfaction is ______ among those with high levels of religious commitment compared to those with no sense of religious commitment.

People tend to become more religious as they age.

How, according to de Beauvoir, can old age bring both liberation and bitter disillusionment?

Some of the potential roles for elders in our society include which of the following?

As people get older and have more leisure time, they tend to take up new activities.

The question about whether old age has meaning is both a personal question and a challenge for social gerontology. The personal question is ultimately a matter of values: What is it that makes my life worth living into the last stage? From the vantage point of your current life course stage and age, how do you respond to this question?

To live a meaningful old age, de Beauvoir argues that we should do which of the following?

Scott-Maxwell suggests that life has changed her, and at the same time, it has left her nearly the same.