Older Adults’ Perception of Successful Aging

Uspješno starenje je pomalo kontroverzan konstrukt kojeg nije lako operacionalizirati. Različiti teorijski pristupi koriste različite kriterije ili definicije uspješnog starenja iz kojih proizlaze različiti pokušaji operacionalizacije ovoga konstrukta. U ovom istraživanju polazi se od subjektivnih ili laičkih koncepcija uspješnog starenja, odnosno od toga kako same starije osobe shvaćaju uspješno starenje. Na prigodnom uzorku od 235 osoba starijih od 60 godina provedeno je istraživanje s ciljem ispitivanja njihove percepcije uspješnog starenja. U istraživanju je korišten hrvatski prijevod (Ambrosi-Randić i Plavšić, 2008) liste od dvadeset obilježja uspješnog starenja za koja su Phelan i sur. (2004) utvrdili da su se najčešće pojavljivala u ranijoj literaturi o ovom konstruktu. Rezultati su pokazali da je od 20 ispitanih obilježja njih 12 preko 70% ispitanih starijih osoba procijenilo važnima za uspješno starenje. Najveći postotak sudionika je važnim za uspješno starenje procijenio dobro zdravlje, sposobnost pojedinca da se brine o sebi i da se osjeća dobro sa samim sobom. Najmanje važnima za uspješno starenje pokazali su se dugovječnost, radni angažman nakon umirovljenja te učenje novih stvari i u starijoj dobi. Utvrđene su i razlike u procjeni važnosti nekih obilježja uspješnog starenja s obzirom na neka sociodemografska obilježja sudionika. Tako se pokazalo da je značajno više žena negoli muškaraca važnim za uspješno starenje procijenilo podršku obitelji i prijatelja, dok su osobe višeg u odnosu na one nižeg stupnja obrazovanja kontinuirano učenje novih stvari procjenjivale važnijim za uspješno starenje. Pokušaji objašnjenja konstrukta uspješnog starenja svakako bi trebali uzeti u obzir i kako same starije osobe vide uspješno starenje.Successful aging is in a way controversial concept which is not easy to measure. Different theoretical approaches use different criteria or definitions of successful aging on which different ways of operationalization of this construct are based upon. This study uses subjective or laypersons’ conceptions of successful aging or the way that older people themselves understand successful aging. The study with the aim of exploring the older adults’ perception of successful aging was conducted on a sample of 235 community-dwelling subjects older than 60. The Croatian translation (Ambrosi-Randić and Plavšić, 2008) of the list of 20 attributes of successful aging, which Phelan et al. (2004) identified in published literature on successful aging, was used in the study. Results showed that 12 out of 20 attributes were rated as important to successful aging by more than 70% of respondents. Good health, being able to take care of oneself and feeling good about oneself were rated as important by the greatest number of respondents. Living a very long time, being able to work after usual retirement age and continuing to learn new things were rated as the least important to successful aging. Additionally, differences in ratings of importance of some attributes of successful aging regarding some sociodemographic characteristics were found. Precisely, significantly more women than men considered support from family and friends as important for successful aging, while participants with higher, compared to those with lower educational background, continuing to learn new things rated as more important to successful aging. Efforts to define successful aging should undoubtedly consider older adults’ beliefs about successful aging as well.