successful aging essay

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Successful Aging: Fulfilling Life

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Published: Sep 16, 2023

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Defining successful aging, factors contributing to successful aging, challenges and strategies.

• Physical Health: Maintaining good physical health and functional abilities are essential aspects of successful aging. This includes regular exercise, a balanced diet, and managing chronic health conditions.
• Mental Well-being: Cognitive health is a vital component. Successful aging involves preserving mental acuity, memory, and emotional well-being. Lifelong learning and mental stimulation play significant roles.
• Social Engagement: Staying connected with others and maintaining a strong social network is crucial. Active social engagement contributes to a sense of purpose and belonging.
• Emotional Resilience: Coping effectively with life's challenges and maintaining emotional resilience is a key element of successful aging. This involves adapting to change and finding ways to manage stress.
• Financial Security: Economic stability and financial security are essential. Having the means to support oneself and enjoy leisure activities adds to a fulfilling life in later years.
• Purpose and Meaning: Feeling a sense of purpose and fulfillment is a cornerstone of successful aging. Engaging in activities that bring joy and satisfaction contributes to overall well-being.

Healthcare and Wellness

Lifestyle choices, social connections, financial stability, mental stimulation, emotional resilience, adaptation and resilience, lifelong learning, social engagement, healthcare advocacy.

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Article Contents

Successful aging 2.0: resilience and beyond.

Correspondence should be addressed to Deborah Carr, PhD, Department of Sociology and Institute for Health, Health Care Policy & Aging Research, Rutgers University, 112 Paterson St., New Brunswick, NJ 08901. E-mail: [email protected].

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Rachel Pruchno, Deborah Carr, Successful Aging 2.0: Resilience and Beyond, The Journals of Gerontology: Series B , Volume 72, Issue 2, 1 March 2017, Pages 201–203, https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbw214

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Thirty years ago, the MacArthur model of successful aging, described by John Rowe and Robert Kahn (1987 ; see also 1997 , 1998 ) transformed the study of aging from a discipline focused on disease and decline to one emphasizing health and growth. Thousands of conceptual and empirical articles struggled to explain what successful aging is and how best to achieve it. Critics challenged the model for paying insufficient attention to the voices of older people, for being too narrow, for being too exclusive, and for stigmatizing those not aging well ( Martinson & Berridge, 2015 ). Propelled by the global challenges of an aging society, the goal of empowering people to age successfully has motivated researchers and policy makers alike.

The Gerontological Society of America journals have been at the forefront of publishing work that challenges, extends, and moves forward models of successful aging. In 1997, The Gerontologist published one of Rowe and Kahn’s earliest formulations of the successful aging perspective, and nearly 20 years later, the authors revisited and updated their model, publishing the essay “Successful Aging 2.0: Conceptual Expansions for the 21st Century” (2015) in The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological and Social Sciences . This 2015 essay served as a springboard for the Call for Papers that have resulted in this special issue. These creative and methodologically diverse papers add to the rich literature about successful aging worldwide and suggest important implications for policy. They suggest new directions for research, while reminding us of the importance of the foundation established by Rowe and Kahn (see also the February 2015 issue of The Gerontologist for further expansions on the successful aging model).

The papers published in this special issue engage with two themes at the core of debates regarding successful aging: meanings and measurement of the concept, and the appropriateness of the successful aging framework for understanding contexts of adversity and challenge. Regarding the former, papers by Feng and Straughan (2017) , Gu and colleagues (2017) , Huijg and colleagues (2017) , Jopp, Jung, Damarin, Mirpuri, and Spini (2017) , and Pace and Grenier (2017) urge us to think more deeply about the meaning of successful aging. At the heart of these papers is the struggle to define what successful aging is across a range of cultural and social contexts. The crux of this issue is whether successful aging should be defined and measured objectively as Rowe and Kahn suggest or whether it is best represented by the subjective appraisals that older people make of their lives. Earlier work suggests that successful aging has both objective and subjective components ( Pruchno, Wilson-Genderson, & Cartwright, 2010 ), raising questions about how these dimensions of successful aging relate to one another. Papers by Hicks and Siedleckim (2017) , Kok, Aartsen, Deeg, and Huisman (2017) , and Mejia, Ryan, Gonzalez, and Smith (2017) identify pathways for achieving successful aging. They urge us to identify individual, sociocultural, and environmental characteristics, taking a life course perspective in order to understand how to promote successful aging. Findings from these studies help to identify pathways for interventions that will improve the lives of older people.

A second theme that emerged powerfully is the question of whether successful aging can occur in contexts of disadvantage and adversity. These papers reveal that older adults can indeed age successfully despite physical limitations and structural obstacles, raising provocative questions about whether and how successful aging is distinct from resilience ( Pruchno, Heid, & Wilson-Genderson, 2015 ). The concept of resilience first gained attention in the 1970s, as it helped to explain why some children raised in highly aversive circumstances emerged as functional and capable individuals ( Garmezy, 1972 ; Rutter, 1979 ; Werner, Bierman, & Fresnch, 1971 ). Three decades later, resilience again captured the attention of researchers and theorists studying trauma-exposed adults ( Bonanno, Papa, & O’Neill, 2001 ; Bonanno et al., 2002 ; Ryff & Singer, 2002 ) as they sought to understand why some people recovered from serious accidents or life course adversities while others did not. Although gerontology has been slower to embrace the construct of resilience than related fields such as developmental psychology, core aspects of resilience play a prominent role in the Selection, Optimization, and Compensation (SOC) model proposed by Baltes and Carstensen (1996) .

In this special issue, studies using both qualitative and quantitative methods show that people with early-onset ( Molton & Yorkston, 2017 ) and later-life onset of physical disabilities ( Tesch-Romer & Wahl, 2017 ), those using assistive devices ( Freedman, Kasper, & Spillman, 2017 ) and individuals with diabetes ( Chard et al., 2017 ) would not conform to the successful aging definition proposed by Rowe and Kahn. But, they can teach us volumes about resilience. Similarly, although some people exposed to unanticipated and potentially devastating stressors like a hurricane will experience setbacks from which they will not fully recover, others will heal and become stronger ( Wilson-Genderson, Pruchno, & Heid, 2017 ).

Unlike successful aging which is an end state of its own, resilience focuses on how people respond to adversity. Although the successful aging model has been criticized for being within the reach of advantaged persons only, resilience is a goal that can be achieved by all. While successful aging is usually studied as a state, resilience is a process. Papers by Kail and Carr (2017) and Carpentieri, Elliot, Brett, and Deary (2017) show that resilience can be nurtured.

The successful aging model and the papers it has generated offer a roadmap for enhancing the well-being of older adults. In 2012, 562 million people worldwide (8.0% of the global population) were aged 65 and older; in 2015, the older population rose by 55 million (8.5%); and in the next 10 years there will be an increase of 236 million people aged 65 and older ( He, Goodkind, & Kowal, 2016 ). From a policy perspective, it behooves us to learn more about how to promote both successful aging and resilience. We need to know, for example, who are the 5% ( McLaughlin, Jette, & Connell, 2012 ) of older adults who meet Rowe and Kahn’s definition of successful aging, and how did they get there? But we also need to know what makes people resilient to the unavoidable challenges of aging and how we can enable people to be resilient. The papers in this Special Issue have not only met Rowe and Kahn’s “Successful Aging 2.0” charge, they have advanced our thinking about successful aging and resilience to new heights.

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What Does “Successful Aging” Mean to you? — Systematic Review and Cross-Cultural Comparison of Lay Perspectives of Older Adults in 13 Countries, 2010–2020

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• Published: 16 October 2020
• Volume 35 , pages 455–478, ( 2020 )

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• Afton J. Reich 1 , 2 ,
• Kelsie D. Claunch 1 , 3 ,
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• Matthew T. Dungan 2 ,
• Shellie Anderson 1 , 4 ,
• Colter K. Clayton 1 , 5 ,
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• Evan L. Thacker   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-3813-0885 1 , 2  

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Successful aging is a concept that has gained popularity and relevance internationally among gerontologists in recent decades. Examining lay older adults’ perspectives on successful aging can enhance our understanding of what successful aging means. We conducted a systematic review of peer reviewed studies from multiple countries published in 2010–2020 that contained qualitative responses of lay older adults to open-ended questions such as “What does successful aging mean to you?” We identified 23 studies conducted in 13 countries across North America, Western Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Oceania. We identified no studies meeting our criteria in Africa, South America, Eastern Europe, North Asia, or Pacific Islands. Across all regions represented in our review, older adults most commonly referred to themes of social engagement and positive attitude in their own lay definitions of successful aging. Older adults also commonly identified themes of independence and physical health. Least mentioned were themes of cognitive health and spirituality. Lay definitions of successful aging varied by country and culture. Our findings suggest that gerontology professionals in fields including healthcare, health psychology, and public health may best serve older adults by providing services that align with older adults’ priority of maintaining strong social engagement as they age. Lay perspectives on successful aging acknowledge the importance of positive attitude, independence, and spirituality, in addition to physical and cognitive functioning.

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Reich, A.J., Claunch, K.D., Verdeja, M.A. et al. What Does “Successful Aging” Mean to you? — Systematic Review and Cross-Cultural Comparison of Lay Perspectives of Older Adults in 13 Countries, 2010–2020. J Cross Cult Gerontol 35 , 455–478 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10823-020-09416-6

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Successful Aging of Societies

As America ages, policy-makers’ preoccupations with the future costs of Medicare and Social Security grow. But neglected by this focus are critically important and broader societal issues such as intergenerational relations within society and the family, rising inequality and lack of opportunity, productivity in late life (work or volunteering), and human capital development (lifelong education and skills training). Equally important, there is almost no acknowledgment of the substantial benefits and potential of an aging society. The MacArthur Foundation Research Network on an Aging Society offers policy options to address these issues and enhance the transition to a cohesive, productive, secure, and equitable aging society. Such a society will not only function effectively at the societal level but will provide a context that facilitates the capacity of individuals to age successfully. This volume comprises a set of papers, many of which are authored by members of the MacArthur Network, focusing on various aspects of the opportunities and challenges facing the United States while it passes through its current demographic transformation. This essay provides a general overview of the strategy the Network has used to address the various components of this broad subject.

John W. Rowe, a Fellow of the American Academy since 2005, is Professor at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and Chair of the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on an Aging Society. He is the author of Successful Aging (with Robert L. Kahn, 1998) and was the Chair of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies project the Future Health Care Workforce for Older Americans, which authored the report Retooling for an Aging America: Building the Health Care Workforce (2008).

Policy-makers and pundits are increasingly preoccupied with the negative economic effects of population aging on public health and pension entitlements, including Medicare and Social Security. The enormous unfunded future obligations of these programs, especially Medicare, tend to crowd out all other considerations. While these entitlement programs surely require modifications to ensure their sustainability and fairness, the current debate neglects other critically important issues related to the aging of America: future intergenerational relations and tensions; socioeconomic disparities and inequalities; changes in the structure and function of the family and its capacity to serve the traditional safety-net role; the impact of technology; and the critical importance of adaptation of core societal institutions, including education, work and retirement, housing, transportation, and even the design of the built environment (the supporting residential, recreational, commercial, and transportation infrastructure). Equally important, there is almost no acknowledgment of the substantial positive contributions and potential productivity of an aging society.

Our goal is to develop and help implement policies that assure our transition to a cohesive, productive, secure, and equitable aging society. Failure to reach this goal will leave us with a society rife with intergenerational tensions – characterized by enormous gaps between the haves and the (increasingly less-educated) have-nots in quality of life and opportunity – and unable to provide needed goods and services for any of its members, especially a progressively older and more dependent population.

Gloomy though this scenario is, it is avoidable. We have time to put in place policies that will help strengthen the future workforce, increase productive engagement of older individuals, and enhance the capacity of families to support elders. Many such policies may, at the same time, lessen the burden on Social Security.

How did we get here? Given the advance warning decades ago that an age wave was coming, why has U.S. society been unable to prepare? Part of the failure to act lies with a set of archaic beliefs regarding the true nature of societal aging. Stakeholders failed to realistically assess challenges and envision opportunities and squandered the time available to formulate appropriate public policy. The denial continues: a recent Pew Research Center survey of global attitudes on aging shows that less than 26 percent of Americans feel that an aging society is a “major issue”! Only Indonesia and Egypt ranked lower on the survey. 1 Contributing to this denial are two pervasive and disabling myths about aging in the United States: the first myth concerns the impact of the baby boom; the second assumes that an aging society is only concerned with the elderly.

The influence of the baby boom on U.S. population aging is not temporary. Contrary to what the popular myth suggests, the passing of the baby boomers through the age structure will not terminate population aging or return us to the age structure of earlier periods of U.S. history. Rather, the demographic changes that have taken place over the last century are permanent. The age structure of all current and future populations either have already been transformed or are about to permanently shift, aggravated in part by the unusually large post – World War II birth cohort, but driven primarily by the combined effect of unprecedented increases in life expectancy and decreases in birth rates.

The second widely accepted myth is that an aging society is defined by and is solely concerned with its elders. This belief tends to pit generations against each other, overlooking the critical fact that the proper unit of analysis for policy-makers is not one specific age cohort but rather society as a whole. Policy-makers must consider the intergenerational effects of their policies and design solutions that benefit all of society, not just any one interest group.

Whereas countries in Western Europe aged ahead of the United States – reflecting their post – World War II baby bust and sustained reductions in total fertility below the replacement rate – the U.S. baby boom and higher fertility rate have combined to delay by a few decades the emergence of an aging society (defined here as one with more individuals over age sixty-five than are under age fifteen). For instance, the United States will not meet Germany’s current population age distribution until 2030. And Germany’s age structure has not caused ruin for its society or its economy. Thus, one would think that the experiences of the Western European countries, which are like the United States in many ways, would provide a clear road map for the policies the United States needs to adopt for a successful transition to a productive and equitable aging society. But although the United States certainly has much to learn from looking at the experiences of older societies in Europe and even of Japan, differences across societies, cultures, and policy strategies may limit the utility of these comparisons, thus requiring the development of a uniquely American resolution to the issues presented by an aging society. In short, international comparisons can be valuable, but we must be cautious in generalizing experiences from other cultures.

The MacArthur Network has developed a set of closely related components that form the core of a theory of adaptation in an aging society. Although there is substantial overlap between these components, identifying each has value. To begin, a plan of action must first:

1) Analyze society and its institutions. The unit of analysis should be the society and the adaptation of its core institutions (such as family, work and retirement, education, media, religion, and civic affairs) and should encompass a multigenerational and intergenerational perspective, rather than focus solely on individuals of any one age group (elders or youth).

2) Take a long-term view and consider structural lag. The primary focus should be on adjusting and adapting core institutions – including education, work and retirement, health care, the design and function of housing and cities, and transportation – over the long term. It is important to keep in mind gerontologist Matilda Riley’s concept of structural lag: the recognition that most societal institutions are resistant to change and lag behind the shifting population of their members. 2

3) Adopt a life-course perspective. U.S. society needs to adopt a life-course perspective that urges redistribution of life’s activities (such as education, work, retirement, childrearing, and leisure) across the individual life span. Stakeholders need to detail the impact of socioeconomic, racial/ ethnic, and gender differences on life-course trajectories and specify how they influence the effectiveness of various lifestyle related interventions.

4) Consider benefits and risks. Analysis of policy changes should consider both the possible benefits and risks to an aging society and should develop a unifying strategy that optimizes the balance between the two. As societies attempt to deal with the many challenges derived from demographic transition, too little attention is paid to its potential upside: the longevity dividend. This includes the previously unimaginable capability of older individuals to participate productively in society either through the workforce or through civic engagement. Older people have much to offer, including accrued knowledge, stability, unique creative capacities for synthetic problem solving, and increased ability to manage conflicts and consider the perspectives of other age groups. As a society, the United States should harness the life-stage-appropriate capabilities and goals of people of all ages, including older adults, to enhance societal benefits and reduce social stratification.

5) Focus on human capital. Policy-makers should focus on strategies that take advantage of all available talent in the population, employ social norms based on ability rather than chronological age, and transition from an emphasis on investment early in life to recognition that investments across the full life span can pay dividends. These payoffs will be individual, intergenerational, and societal (with both crossover and spillover effects); and because they can be positive or negative, the outcomes must be monitored.

The MacArthur Network has developed three strategies for policy analysis. First, it is critical to develop a toolbox of more sensitive and predictive economic and social indicators – including lifestyle dimensions – that permit accurate assessment of the current conditions and likely future trajectory of the population and society along the principal policy dimensions of interest. We need an alternative to the archaic old-age dependency ratio, which simply equates old age with dependency. Metrics that express the full array of benefits-to-costs relationships of a long-lived society, as well as alternatives for life-course trajectories, are also essential. This toolbox can be used to model possible outcomes of societal investment in factors that alter the impact of an aging population. Second, in order to encourage the identification of effective solutions, researchers and policy-makers must present and analyze multiple policy options, rather than advocate single proposals, and should target multiple factors (such as the financial, social, life-course evolution, behavioral, and physical). Further, policy-makers should consider and employ both private and public involvement and federal and local approaches.

Finally, policy analysis must assess policy impacts. The MacArthur Network suggests adopting a strategy similar to that used to assess the environmental impact of a planned development. Specifically, Network members propose that all policies be evaluated for the effects they have within each generation, as well as on the interactions between generations (known as assessing intergenerational effects), in order to be most effective.

In addition, the MacArthur Network has identified six high-priority domains for policy analysis. They include:

1) Intergenerational relations. This general area requires understanding at both the societal and individual family-unit levels. For society, the core question relates to cohesion. What is the potential for the widening gap between the haves and have-nots and for the increased competition over scarce resources being channeled into entitlements to tear at the fabric of our society and create a “war” between the generations?

The MacArthur Network prefers to use the term cohesion to describe the issues related to intergenerational relations (or tensions) because it focuses on age integration rather than age segregation and addresses intergenerational transfers, attitudes, multigenerational strategies, and changes in family structure. Cohesion can be viewed as the debate regarding the traditional social compact – which we prefer over the more commonly used legalistic “contract” – between the generations.

Substantial empirical evidence shows strong support by middle-aged and younger Americans for older Americans and highlights social cohesion’s benefits; but, as many observers have noted, the future increase of entitlement costs may place substantial stress on this balance. 3 Depending on future economic and educational gaps, will future young-adult and middle-aged Hispanics, for example, reflect the same support for elderly white Americans? Further, what impact will future immigration policies, whose intent may be to eliminate the shortfall of skilled U.S. workers, have on these tensions?

2) Family (evolution, supports, changing roles). Families make up the front line of our adaptation to an aging society. For the family, the core question of the aging society relates to the uncertainty regarding its capacity to play its traditional role as safety net and exhibit adaptive capacities to respond to a variety of financial, social, and health-related needs. Factors threatening the family’s role include the emergence of an array of family forms with different capacities for support (such as a childless family unit), increased longevity, geographic dispersion, economic challenges, and likely future reductions in entitlements.

Moreover, these changes are amplified by the growing diversity that results from increased stratification. The strength and salience of intergenerational ties become more prominent features in an aging society, and the traditional life course is being altered in part because of increased longevity. The transition to adulthood comes five or more years later than it used to, placing parents of young adults in the challenging position of helping support their parents or even their grandparents while launching their own children toward independence. 4 Families with resources can manage this balancing act relatively well, but a growing number of families will be overly burdened trying to contend with these competing demands without proven ways of managing the more complex, intergenerational family systems. Issues such as intrafamilial supports, housing, financial transfers, caregiving, and new familial roles will also inform critical policy decisions surrounding the changing face of U.S. families.

3) Productivity (work and retirement, functional status and disability, technology, roles of older individuals in society). The future roles of older individuals in society will have a dramatic impact on the likelihood that the United States will be productive, cohesive, and equitable. This set of issues can be conveniently divided between work and retirement matters and civic engagement matters, although they are closely interrelated. The likelihood of a retiree volunteering is very much influenced by whether that person volunteered while still in the workforce. 5 Thus, approaches to encouraging people to volunteer while still in the workforce – via modifications in time and place of work, provision of opportunities for engaging in what individuals consider meaningful activities, and development of paid volunteerism strategies – may have a substantial positive effect on post-retirement engagement. Such engagement is beneficial not only for retirees but also for the general population.

Technology bridges the worksite to areas of civic engagement and, depending on the type of technology and its fit with the abilities and needs of older individuals, can wind up either facilitating or inhibiting their participation. Substantial opportunity exists for policy changes and technological and other worksite modifications and educational interventions that will not only make retention of older workers more attractive to employers, but will also take advantage of the many strengths older workers offer. It is important for policy-makers to be aware of the “lump-of-labor” fallacy and the growing body of empirical evidence indicating that older individuals need not be moved out of the workforce to make room for younger workers. 6 In addition, policy should be informed by the most recent findings regarding trends in disability in populations of elders and near-elders. Much of the most recent work suggests that the severe disability rates (as measured by activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living scales) are now stable in older individuals, having halted their decades-long decline; and that, for unknown reasons, functional mobility impairments may be rising in individuals aged fifty to sixty-five. 7 It will be important for policy-makers to understand the likely influence of these trends on the adequacy of the future U.S. labor force, as well as on the future demand for personal care services.

4) Human capital development (such as lifelong education and skills training). Some of the same societal forces that led to longer lives have also shortened the half-life of knowledge in science and technology. How can human capital be expanded at different points along the life course? Can the misalignment between education and work that is aggravated by increasing longevity be improved through a closer relationship between educational institutions and the workplace?

Stakeholders need to understand and employ the most effective approaches to keep young individuals in school and to provide a coherent approach to lifelong learning that gives individuals the skills and attitudes they need to continue to productively evolve within overall societal and work environments. Although returning to school – now common among younger adults – is still relatively rare among individuals over forty, providing access to educational institutions for the near-old and old is no less critical than keeping younger people in school. Education must be redefined as a lifelong experience.

5) Health and health care. Although it might seem that the ongoing national debate about health care reform may have exhausted this topic, the Network believes that some important and often neglected areas of the discussion are directly related to the demographic transformation. These include the development of a more geriatrically sophisticated health care system in which most providers (physicians, nurses, dentists, social workers, psychologists, pharmacists, and others) are competent in diagnosing and treating medical diseases and syndromes that are common in old age, as well as a strong reliance on new interdisciplinary models of care that are more effective in managing the health care problems of frail older individuals with multiple impairments. In addition, a reorientation to a life-course preventive health model is needed to strengthen education about healthy lifestyles and intervention implementation in at-risk groups so that future older individuals will enter the Medicare program healthier and at higher levels of functioning than their predecessors. Finally, the United States needs sustainable and clearly articulated policies that deal humanely with care at the end of life.

6) Relevance to successful aging of individuals. Over the past fifteen years, successful aging has been a major theme of gerontological research. Much of the work in the field has been stimulated by the model of successful aging proposed by the MacArthur Network on Successful Aging, which is focused primarily at the level of the individual. 8 It is self-evident that the changes that occur at the societal level in response to the demographic transformation may have major positive or negative effects on the capacity of individuals to age successfully. While many of the issues and policy options discussed in this volume are relevant to individuals, our primary current focus is at the level of society. The interaction between societal change and the status of aging individuals represents fertile territory for future research.

These major themes and recommendations are explored in depth in the essays found in this issue of Dædalus . Among the essays are S. Jay Olshansky’s “The Demographic Transformation of America,” which looks toward the changing face of aging and life expectancy in America. Robert Hummer and Mark Hayward’s essay “Hispanic Older Adult Health & Longevity in the United States: Current Patterns & Concerns for the Future” explores the “Hispanic paradox” – that first-generation Hispanic immigrants have a greater life expectancy than both nonimmigrant Americans and residents of their native countries – in addition to troubling health and well-being warning signs for the future Hispanic population. Frank Furstenberg, Caroline Hartnett, Martin Kohli, and Julie Zissimopoulos have written “The Future of Intergenerational Relations in Aging Societies,” which examines the family’s capacity to respond to the growing challenges and demands for support of a rapidly aging America; while Lisa Berkman, Axel Boersch-Supan, and Mauricio Avendano point toward how adaptation of our expectations of the elderly can lead to a more productive and resilient society in “Labor-Force Participation, Policies & Practices in an Aging America: Adaptation Essential for a Healthy & Resilient Population.”

In our essay “Productivity & Engagement in an Aging America: The Role of Volunteerism,” Dawn Carr, Linda Fried, and I propose that the impact of volunteerism in an aging population be recognized and invested into, and that programs harness the social capital of older adults to improve the well-being of the elderly and address critical needs of society as a whole. And S. Jay Olshansky, Dana Goldman, and I contributed the essay “Resetting Social Security,” which considers the critical financial safety net of social security and what impact might result from further changes to its age of eligibility requirements.

In their essay “Global Population Aging: Facts, Challenges, Solutions & Perspectives,” David Bloom, David Canning, and Alyssa Lubet provide an overview of global population aging and its contributing factors; outline some of the major challenges associated with widespread population aging; and describe current and possible future responses to these challenges. Finally, Julie Zissimopoulos, Dana Goldman, S. Jay Olshansky, John Rother, and I conclude the issue with “Individual & Social Strategies to Mitigate the Risks & Expand Opportunities of an Aging America.” This essay discusses the major risks associated with aging at both the level of the individual and the level of society, and presents courses of action for policy-makers in education, work and retirement, financial security, health care, and social cohesion to promote the benefits and reduce the risks of longer life. Taken together, these policy options provide a broad blueprint for successful societal adaptation to the aging of America.

1 Pew Research Center, Attitudes about Aging: A Global Perspective (Washington, D.C.: Pew Research Center, 2014).

2 Matilda Riley and John Riley, “Structural Lag: Past and Future,” in Age and Structural Lag: Society’s Failure to Provide Meaningful Opportunities in Work, Family, and Leisure , ed. Matilda Riley, Robert L. Kahn, and Ann Foner (New York: Wiley-Interscience, 1994).

3 James Schulz and Robert Binstock, Aging Nation: The Economics and Politics of Growing Older in America (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008).

4 Gordon Berlin, Frank F. Furstenberg, Jr., and Mary Waters, “The Transition to Adulthood,” The Future of Children 20 (1) (Spring 2010): 1–18.

5 Barbara A. Butrica, Richard W. Johnson, and Sheila R. Zedlewski, “Volunteer Dynamics of Older Americans,” The Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences & Social Sciences 64 (5) (February 2009): 644–655.

6 Axel Boersch-Supan, Reduction of Working Time: Does it Decrease Unemployment? MEA Discussion Paper No. 2003 (Mannheim, Germany: University of Mannheim, Mannheim Research Institute for the Economics of Aging, 2002); and John Gruber and David Wise, eds., Social Security Programs and Retirement Programs Around the World: The Relationship to Youth Employment (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009).

7 National Research Council, “Health and Disability in the Working-Age and Elderly Populations,” in Aging and the Macroeconomy: Long-Term Implications of an Older Population (Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press, 2012).

8 John W. Rowe and Robert L. Kahn, “Human Aging: Usual and Successful,” Science 237 (4811) (1987): 143–149; John W. Rowe and Robert L. Kahn, “Successful Aging,” The Gerontologist 37 (4) (1997): 433–440; and John Wallis Rowe and Robert L. Kahn, Successful Aging (New York: Pantheon Books, 1998).

Successful and Unsuccessful Aging: My Grandmother’ Story Essay

Introduction.

The older adult who is described in this assignment is my grandmother. She had a significant impact on my life, both in childhood and as I grew up. Although she died from lung cancer some years ago, she is still an example for me in many life situations.

I believe that my grandmother can be considered a symbol of “successful aging” in many ways. First of all, her behavior did not change to worse, which is typical of many older adults. She was lucky not to develop any mental diseases and preserved a clear mind until it was damaged by metastases in the brain. She was a lady for as long as I remember her and maintained the lady’s habits till the end of her days. She was never rude or harsh with people and was an example of decent behavior.

Secondly, her attitudes to life are worth mentioning. My grandmother believed that happiness and success in life depended on attitudes and that being positive is the right choice. I adored the way she handled problems. In fact, she tried to present any problem as a small misunderstanding. For example, when she was diagnosed with cancer, she did not give up the way many people do. She did not look doomed and behaved as if her treatment was a challenge or a game.

Thirdly, her peer relationships can be an example to follow. My grandmother was a leader, and people could follow her. She was ahead of the community center after she retired because she could not stay at home doing anything. They had a big volunteer project at the community center and helped elderly and disabled community members or those experiencing difficult times. She had many friends and acquaintances and was constantly on the move.

However, the aspect I can assess best of all is her family relationships. Despite her active social life, she always had enough time for the family and was our keeper of traditions. She was not only a grandmother but a good friend for me because we were very close and could share many secrets. When the cancer was diagnosed, she was afraid of being helpless and becoming a burden on her family. Still, each of us was eager to visit her at the hospital or help at home not because of the feeling of duty, but due to a desire to be useful for a close person.

My grandmother’s health habits almost did not change during her lifetime. She preferred traditional evidence-based medicine, took care of herself, and had regular examinations. She was doing her daily morning exercises for as long as I can remember. At weekends, we sometimes took long walks to the park. She believed that activity and movement are a contribution to health.

Finally, as for the sources of meaning in her life, I would mention the following. The major source of meaning in life for my grandmother was her family. She was attentive and caring with all of us. She valued every moment spent with her family, both close and distant relatives. Also, I can say that another source of meaning for her was life itself. She loved life and considered it to be one of the most significant values.

Nevertheless, there was an aspect in my grandmother’s life, which does not symbolize “successful aging.” The only age-related problem she had was hypertension, which developed despite her attention to health and regular examinations. Immediately after it was diagnosed, hypertension interfered with her usual activities and had a negative impact on the quality of life as a whole because my grandmother could not do the usual things as quickly as she did before. Still, the effective treatment plan helped her return to habits and the disease did not influence her much in the following years,

The experiences with my grandmother have an impact on my work with older adult clients. First of all, my attitudes to older adult clients are positive due to my grandmother. I realize that aging is not an easy process for a person both physically and psychologically because my grandmother shared her feelings related to changes occurring with her. The major objective of my work is to provide the best possible help for everyone. This principle was also formed under the influence of my grandmother. She was always eager to help, and I grew up with the belief that helping and doing one’s best are normal behaviors. Finally, my expectations regarding working with older adults were formed under the influence of my grandmother and her friends. However, this impact is sometimes negative because I expect my patients to stay positive and active as my grandmother did, and many older adults are not positive about aging and age-related health changes. Still, these experiences provide me with many examples from my grandmother’s life, which I can share with my patients. I should say that this sharing frequently helps to shift people’s negative attitudes and stimulate the adequate perception of aging in older adults.

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1. IvyPanda . "Successful and Unsuccessful Aging: My Grandmother' Story." February 18, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/successful-and-unsuccessful-aging-my-grandmother-story/.

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IvyPanda . "Successful and Unsuccessful Aging: My Grandmother' Story." February 18, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/successful-and-unsuccessful-aging-my-grandmother-story/.

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George Takei Keeps Faith With Democracy

Interview by Guy Trebay

The Unstoppables is a series about people whose ambition is undimmed by time. Below, George Takei explains, in his own words, what continues to motivate him.

I was born April 20 of 1937. Pearl Harbor was bombed on Dec. 7, 1941. I had turned 5 by the time a morning arrived that I can never forget. Two months after Pearl Harbor, in February 1942, Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066 , decreeing that all Japanese Americans — 125,000 of us by the latest count — on the West Coast were to be imprisoned with no charge, no trial and no due process, only because of how we looked.

A few months after the order was issued, we saw two soldiers marching up our driveway in Los Angeles carrying rifles and shiny bayonets. They banged on our door with their fists and one said, “Get your family out of this house.”

At the time Henry was 4, I was 5 and my baby sister was not yet 1. My father had had the foresight to prepare a box of underwear tied with twine for each of us. He had two heavy suitcases ready. We followed him out and stood in the driveway while our mother came out escorted by another soldier, my baby sister in one arm, and carrying a duffel bag. That terrifying morning, burned into my memory, is what led to me becoming an activist.

Before we were interned, my father had a successful dry-cleaning business on Wilshire Boulevard, right by Bullocks Wilshire, the most fashionable department store in Los Angeles. By the time the war ended, we had nothing. Given a one-way ticket to anywhere in the United States and $25 to start over from scratch, we returned to Los Angeles, where my father’s first job was as a dishwasher in Chinatown. Only other Asians would hire us.

I wanted to be an actor — it was my passion. I enrolled at U.C.L.A., and while I was there, a casting director plucked me out and put me in my first feature film, “Ice Palace,” with Richard Burton and Robert Ryan. From there I did “Hawaiian Eye” and “My Three Sons,” and I became this unlikely success, an Asian American doing movies and TV. Then I was cast in “Star Trek,” which gave me a platform very few people are given. And I continue to use it. Last year began with a five-month stay in London, where we took a musical I’d begun developing about the internment years earlier.

• 1968 Mr. Takei played Lt. Hikaru Sulu on "Star Trek: The Original Series." CBS, via Getty Images
• 1968 Mr. Takei with John Wayne in "The Green Berets." Silver Screen Collection, via Getty Images
• 1994 Mr. Takei promoting his book "To the Stars." Bill Tompkins/Getty Images
• 2008 Mr. Takei married Brad Altman in Los Angeles. Stan Honda/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
• 2012 Mr. Takei, a former Boy Scout, in New York City's pride parade. Timothy A. Clary/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
• 2023 Curtain call during "George Takei's Allegiance" in London. David M. Benett and Alan Chapman/Getty Images

My father suffered terribly in the camps, yet he continued to believe deeply in democracy. He was an unusual Japanese American of his generation in that most of the interned parents were too pained by the experience to talk about it openly. My father continued to discuss it and loved quoting Lincoln’s lines from the Gettysburg Address about this being a government of the people, by the people and for the people.

That’s what inspires me. It’s the people that make a democracy work, and, sadly, most people are not equipped anymore to take on the responsibility of being American citizens.

Current and upcoming projects: Appeared in 103 performances of the British production of “George Takei’s Allegiance” at Charing Cross Theater; voiced the character of Seki in the Netflix animated series “Blue Eye Samurai.” A new picture book, “My Lost Freedom: A Japanese American World War II Story,” was released April 16, and he will appear as Koh the Face Stealer in the Netflix series “Avatar: The Last Airbender.”

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Guy Trebay is a reporter for the Style section of The Times, writing about the intersections of style, culture, art and fashion. More about Guy Trebay

A Guide to Aging Well

Looking to grow old gracefully we can help..

The “car key conversation,” when it’s time for an aging driver to hit the brakes, can be painful for families to navigate . Experts say there are ways to have it with empathy and care.

Calorie restriction and intermittent fasting both increase longevity in animals, aging experts say. Here’s what that means for you .

Researchers are investigating how our biology changes as we grow older — and whether there are ways to stop it .

You need more than strength to age well — you also need power. Here’s how to measure how much power you have  and here’s how to increase yours .

Ignore the hyperbaric chambers and infrared light: These are the evidence-backed secrets to aging well .

Your body’s need for fuel shifts as you get older. Your eating habits should shift , too.

People who think positively about getting older often live longer, healthier lives. These tips can help you reconsider your perspective .

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Out of the Centre

Savvino-storozhevsky monastery and museum.

Zvenigorod's most famous sight is the Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery, which was founded in 1398 by the monk Savva from the Troitse-Sergieva Lavra, at the invitation and with the support of Prince Yury Dmitrievich of Zvenigorod. Savva was later canonised as St Sabbas (Savva) of Storozhev. The monastery late flourished under the reign of Tsar Alexis, who chose the monastery as his family church and often went on pilgrimage there and made lots of donations to it. Most of the monastery’s buildings date from this time. The monastery is heavily fortified with thick walls and six towers, the most impressive of which is the Krasny Tower which also serves as the eastern entrance. The monastery was closed in 1918 and only reopened in 1995. In 1998 Patriarch Alexius II took part in a service to return the relics of St Sabbas to the monastery. Today the monastery has the status of a stauropegic monastery, which is second in status to a lavra. In addition to being a working monastery, it also holds the Zvenigorod Historical, Architectural and Art Museum.

Belfry and Neighbouring Churches

Located near the main entrance is the monastery's belfry which is perhaps the calling card of the monastery due to its uniqueness. It was built in the 1650s and the St Sergius of Radonezh’s Church was opened on the middle tier in the mid-17th century, although it was originally dedicated to the Trinity. The belfry's 35-tonne Great Bladgovestny Bell fell in 1941 and was only restored and returned in 2003. Attached to the belfry is a large refectory and the Transfiguration Church, both of which were built on the orders of Tsar Alexis in the 1650s.  

To the left of the belfry is another, smaller, refectory which is attached to the Trinity Gate-Church, which was also constructed in the 1650s on the orders of Tsar Alexis who made it his own family church. The church is elaborately decorated with colourful trims and underneath the archway is a beautiful 19th century fresco.

Nativity of Virgin Mary Cathedral

The Nativity of Virgin Mary Cathedral is the oldest building in the monastery and among the oldest buildings in the Moscow Region. It was built between 1404 and 1405 during the lifetime of St Sabbas and using the funds of Prince Yury of Zvenigorod. The white-stone cathedral is a standard four-pillar design with a single golden dome. After the death of St Sabbas he was interred in the cathedral and a new altar dedicated to him was added.

Under the reign of Tsar Alexis the cathedral was decorated with frescoes by Stepan Ryazanets, some of which remain today. Tsar Alexis also presented the cathedral with a five-tier iconostasis, the top row of icons have been preserved.

Tsaritsa's Chambers

The Nativity of Virgin Mary Cathedral is located between the Tsaritsa's Chambers of the left and the Palace of Tsar Alexis on the right. The Tsaritsa's Chambers were built in the mid-17th century for the wife of Tsar Alexey - Tsaritsa Maria Ilinichna Miloskavskaya. The design of the building is influenced by the ancient Russian architectural style. Is prettier than the Tsar's chambers opposite, being red in colour with elaborately decorated window frames and entrance.

At present the Tsaritsa's Chambers houses the Zvenigorod Historical, Architectural and Art Museum. Among its displays is an accurate recreation of the interior of a noble lady's chambers including furniture, decorations and a decorated tiled oven, and an exhibition on the history of Zvenigorod and the monastery.

Palace of Tsar Alexis

The Palace of Tsar Alexis was built in the 1650s and is now one of the best surviving examples of non-religious architecture of that era. It was built especially for Tsar Alexis who often visited the monastery on religious pilgrimages. Its most striking feature is its pretty row of nine chimney spouts which resemble towers.

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The Unique Burial of a Child of Early Scythian Time at the Cemetery of Saryg-Bulun (Tuva)

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Pages:  379-406

In 1988, the Tuvan Archaeological Expedition (led by M. E. Kilunovskaya and V. A. Semenov) discovered a unique burial of the early Iron Age at Saryg-Bulun in Central Tuva. There are two burial mounds of the Aldy-Bel culture dated by 7th century BC. Within the barrows, which adjoined one another, forming a figure-of-eight, there were discovered 7 burials, from which a representative collection of artifacts was recovered. Burial 5 was the most unique, it was found in a coffin made of a larch trunk, with a tightly closed lid. Due to the preservative properties of larch and lack of air access, the coffin contained a well-preserved mummy of a child with an accompanying set of grave goods. The interred individual retained the skin on his face and had a leather headdress painted with red pigment and a coat, sewn from jerboa fur. The coat was belted with a leather belt with bronze ornaments and buckles. Besides that, a leather quiver with arrows with the shafts decorated with painted ornaments, fully preserved battle pick and a bow were buried in the coffin. Unexpectedly, the full-genomic analysis, showed that the individual was female. This fact opens a new aspect in the study of the social history of the Scythian society and perhaps brings us back to the myth of the Amazons, discussed by Herodotus. Of course, this discovery is unique in its preservation for the Scythian culture of Tuva and requires careful study and conservation.

Keywords: Tuva, Early Iron Age, early Scythian period, Aldy-Bel culture, barrow, burial in the coffin, mummy, full genome sequencing, aDNA

Information about authors: Marina Kilunovskaya (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Dvortsovaya Emb., 18, Saint Petersburg, 191186, Russian Federation E-mail: [email protected] Vladimir Semenov (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Dvortsovaya Emb., 18, Saint Petersburg, 191186, Russian Federation E-mail: [email protected] Varvara Busova  (Moscow, Russian Federation).  (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation). Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences.  Dvortsovaya Emb., 18, Saint Petersburg, 191186, Russian Federation E-mail:  [email protected] Kharis Mustafin  (Moscow, Russian Federation). Candidate of Technical Sciences. Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.  Institutsky Lane, 9, Dolgoprudny, 141701, Moscow Oblast, Russian Federation E-mail:  [email protected] Irina Alborova  (Moscow, Russian Federation). Candidate of Biological Sciences. Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.  Institutsky Lane, 9, Dolgoprudny, 141701, Moscow Oblast, Russian Federation E-mail:  [email protected] Alina Matzvai  (Moscow, Russian Federation). Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.  Institutsky Lane, 9, Dolgoprudny, 141701, Moscow Oblast, Russian Federation E-mail:  [email protected]

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