| Description |
Gerontological research has expanded as human life expectancy has increased. Constructs have been created to capture the aging process and appear in the research literature as pathological aging, normal aging, usual aging, successful aging, and positive aging. Pathological aging described aging as a disease or aging in the presence of disease. Normal aging contrasts with pathological aging by describing aging in the absence of disease. Usual aging reframed the concept of passive acceptance of decline as normal; although it may be usual, it does not have to be the normal trajectory of aging. Successful aging characterizes agers who are in excellent physical health, have full cognitive functioning, and are actively engaged in life. Successful agers engage in behavior that decreases the likelihood of disease and subthreshold symptoms of disease. Selective optimization with compensation (SOC) was introduced as a means to address inevitable decline. Positive aging built on SOC by identifying cognitive and affective characteristics that can be engaged to address decline. Positive aging is described as an ability to mobilize one's resources, to respond flexibly to the challenges of aging, to maintain a sense of optimism, and to make affirmative life choices. Positive aging theory argues that these characteristics are obtainable by any person regardless of physical and cognitive health or level of engagement with life. This research study undertook the development and validation of a positive aging measure. The Positive Aging Measure (PAM) was developed by sampling (n=162) older adults (M=68.7 years of age) on the PAM and data provided strong convergent and discriminant validity, internal consistency and test-retest reliability for the measure. |
