The Aging Self: Stabilizing and Protective Processes

Abstract

The transition from middle to later adulthood involves a multitude of changes and losses on physical, psychological, and social levels that impose considerable strain on the individual′s construction of self and personal continuity. Widespread assumptions which relate psychological aging to reduced well-being, loss of control, and problems of self-esteem, however, have received astonishingly little empirical support. Recent evidence rather gives testimony to a considerable resourcefulness and adaptive flexibility of the aging self. The present article attempts to lend further substance to this emerging picture of psychological aging. It is argued that preservation and stabilization of a positive view of self and personal development in later life basically involve three functionally interdependent processes: (a) instrumental and compensatory activities that aim at preventing or alleviating losses in domains which are relevant to self-esteem and identity; (b) accommodative changes and readjustments of personal goals and aspirations, which dampen or neutralize negative self-evaluations; (c) immunizing mechanisms, which mitigate the impact of self-discrepant evidence