Some elderly people run marathons and lead nations; others no longer walk or talk. Social scientists theorize about this diversity, yet everyone respects her.

Certain theories of late adulthood can be called self theories; they focus on individuals, especially the self-concept and challenges to identity. Self-awareness begins, as you remember, before age 2, and it builds throughout childhood and adolescence. In those early decades, self-image is greatly affected by physical appearance and by other people’s perceptions (Harter, 2012). Appearance and external opinions become less crucial with age.

THE SELF AND AGING Perhaps people become more truly themselves with age. That is what Anna Quindlen found:

It’s odd when I think of the arc of my life, from child to young woman to aging adult. First I was who I was. Then I didn’t know who I was. Then I invented someone and became her. Then I began to like what I’d invented. And finally I was what I was again. It turned out I wasn’t alone in that particular progression.

[Quindlen, 2012, p. ix]

Older adults maintain their self-concept despite senescence, which alters appearance and social status in ways that might undercut self-esteem. In late adulthood, the “creation and maintenance of identity” is “a key aspect of healthy living” (Allen et al., 2011, p. 10). Even the oldest-old and those who suffer from neurocognitive disorders preserve their sense of self, although memory, ability, and health fade (Klein, 2012).

A central idea of self theory is that each person ultimately depends on himself or herself. As one woman explained:

I actually think I value my sense of self more importantly than my family or relationships or health or wealth or wisdom. I do see myself as on my own, ultimately . . . Statistics certainly show that older women are likely to end up being alone, so I really do value my own self when it comes right down to things in the end.

[quoted in Kroger, 2007, p. 203]

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Self theory is one explanation for an interesting phenomenon: Compared to younger adults, older people rely more on their personal experiences than on objective statistics, or, in dual-processing terms, more on intuition than on analysis.

For example, one research team asked, “What does one do when rational deliberation suggests calling it off with Julie to commit to Jane, but a powerful gut feeling suggests just the opposite?” (Mikels et al., 2012, p. 1). In an experiment, blindfolded participants (aged, on average, 21 or 75) were challenged to pick a red jelly bean from one of two dishes, each with more white beans than red. The odds of success for each dish were clearly labeled. There were 12 trials, each with another pair of dishes and set of odds.

The elders did not always make the logical choice. Thirty-six percent of their choices were against the odds, as were 21 percent of the choices of the younger participants (Mikels et al., 2012). By analogy, the elders sometimes chose Julie, not Jane. The researchers noted, perhaps surprisingly, that the older adults, who sometimes followed their emotions rather than logic, tended to be happier with themselves.

INTEGRITY The most comprehensive self theory came from Erik Erikson. His eighth and final stage of development, integrity versus despair, requires adults to integrate their unique experiences with their community concerns (Erikson et al., 1986/1994). The word integrity is often used to mean honesty, but it also means a feeling of being whole, not scattered, and comfortable with oneself. The virtue of old age, according to Erikson, is wisdom, which implies a broad perspective.

As an example of integrity, many older people are proud of their personal history. They glorify their past, even boasting about bad experiences such as skipping school, taking drugs, escaping arrest, or being physically abused. Psychologists sometimes call this the “sucker to saint” phenomenon, when people interpret their experiences as signs of their nobility (saintly), not their stupidity (Jordan & Monin, 2008).

As Erikson explained it, such self-glorifying distortions are far better than despair because “time is now short, too short for the attempt to start another life” (Erikson, 1993, p. 269). For every stage, the tension between the two opposing aspects (here integrity versus despair) propels growth. In this final stage,

life brings many, quite realistic reasons for experiencing despair: aspects of a past we fervently wish had been different; aspects of the present that cause unremitting pain; aspects of a future that are uncertain and frightening. And, of course, there remains inescapable death, that one aspect of the future which is both wholly certain and wholly unknowable. Thus, some despair must be acknowledged and integrated as a component of old age.

[Erikson et al., 1986/1994, p. 72]

Integration of death and the self is the crucial accomplishment of this stage. The life review (explained in Chapter 14) and the acceptance of death (explained in the Epilogue) are crucial aspects of the integrity envisioned by Erikson (Zimmerman, 2012).

Self theory may explain why many of the elderly strive to maintain childhood cultural and religious practices. For instance, grandparents may painstakingly teach a grandchild a language that is rarely used, or they may encourage the child to repeat traditional rituals and prayers. In cultures such as the United States that emphasize newness, elders worry that their traditional values will be lost and thus that they themselves will disappear.

As Erikson wrote, the older person

knows that an individual life is the accidental coincidence of but one life cycle with but one segment of history; and that for him all human integrity stands or falls with the one style of integrity of which he partakes. . . . In such a final consolation, death loses its sting.

[Erikson, 1968/1994, p. 104]

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HOLDING ON TO THE SELF Most older people consider their personalities and attitudes quite stable over their life span, even as they acknowledge physical changes of their bodies and gaps in their memory (Klein, 2012). One 103-year-old woman, wrinkled, shrunken, and severely crippled by arthritis, displayed a photo of herself as a beautiful young woman. She said, “My core has stayed the same. Everything else has changed” (quoted in Troll & Skaff, 1997, p. 166).

Many older people refuse to move from drafty and dangerous dwellings into smaller, safer apartments because leaving familiar places means abandoning personal history. That is irrational, but it is explained by self theory. Likewise, an older person may avoid surgery or refuse medicine because they fear anything that might distort their thinking or emotions: Their priority is self-protection, even if it shortens life (S. Miller, 2011–2012).

The insistence on protecting the self may explain compulsive hoarding, saving reams of old papers, books, mementos . . . anything that might someday be useful. The fifth edition of the DSM recognizes hoarding as a psychological disorder (American Psychiatric Association, 2013, pp. 247–251).

Earlier DSM editions did not consider hoarding a disorder. Why not? Many elderly hoarders grew up in the Great Depression and World War II, when saving scraps and reusing products meant survival and patriotism. That habit is contrary to the current ethos: Expiration dates are now stamped on food and drugs; electronics, from computers to televisions, are quickly obsolete.

A prime motive for elderly hoarders is avoiding waste. Hoarding brings them emotional satisfaction (Frost et al., 2015), which a younger person might get from the opposite action, replacing something old. (My youngest daughter enjoys throwing out everything in my refrigerator that has an expiration date that has passed.)

A contemporary problem is that fewer dwellings have attics and basements, so hoarding occurs within living areas. In cramped apartments, hoarding takes over, becoming not only irrational but sometimes dangerous. Self theory helps explain what social workers and younger relatives do not understand: Possessions are part of self-expression. The elderly seek to protect childhood values, lifelong habits, and past history.

My friend Doris (opening anecdote) hoards old newspaper articles, records, and other things that are precious to her. She lives alone, with her possessions and two cats. She has an answering machine and a fax, but she proudly resists the Internet. She likes it that way.

SOCIO-EMOTIONAL SELECTIVITY THEORY Another self theory is socio-emotional selectivity theory (Carstensen, 1993). The idea is that older people select familiar social contacts who reinforce their generativity, pride, and joy. As socio-emotional theory would predict, when people believe that their future time is limited, they think about the meaning of life and then decide that they should be more appreciative of family and friends, thus furthering their happiness (Hicks et al., 2012).

Socio-emotional selectivity could be a specific version of selective optimization with compensation, which you read about in Chapters 12 and 14. As senescence changes appearance and status, older adults select the key aspects of their social world to optimize.

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Selectivity is central to self theories. Individuals set personal goals, assess their abilities, and figure out how to accomplish their goals despite limitations. When older people are resilient, they maintain their identity despite wrinkles, slowdowns, and losses, and their emotional health is preserved (Resnick et al., 2011).

An outgrowth of both socio-emotional selectivity and selective optimization is known as the positivity effect. A meta-analysis of more than 115 comparisons between younger and older adults found that the elderly perceive, prefer, and remember positive images and experiences more than negative ones (Reed et al., 2014). Unpleasant experiences are ignored, forgotten, or reinterpreted.

For that reason, stressful events (economic loss, serious illness, death of friends or relatives) become less central to identity with age. Because elders think of themselves more positively, they protect their emotional health (Boals et al., 2012), becoming more optimistic about themselves and happier because of it. A strong sense of self-efficacy (the idea that a person has the power to control and change a situation) correlates with a happier and longer life (Gerstorf et al., 2014).

The positivity effect may explain why, in every nation and religion, older people tend to be more patriotic and devout than younger ones. They see their national history and religious beliefs in positive terms, and they are proud to be themselves—Canadian, Czech, Chinese, or whatever. Of course, this same trait can keep them mired in their earlier prejudices—racist, sexist, or homophobic, for instance.

Anna Quindlen was quoted as glad she “was what I was again.” Does this mean that she, and most older people, do not see current world problems? Consider my daughter, my mother, and me.

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A second set of theories, called stratification theories, emphasizes social forces that position each person in a social stratum or level. That positioning creates disadvantages for some and advantages for others.

Stratification begins in the womb, as “individuals are born into a society that is already stratified—that is differentiated—along key dimensions, including sex, race, and SES” (Lynch & Brown, 2011, p. 107). Indeed, stratification affects the prenatal environment, so some newborns already suffer from being born to a disadvantaged mother.

Every form of stereotyping makes it more difficult for people to break free from social institutions that assign them to a particular path. The results are cumulative, over the entire life span (Brandt et al., 2012).

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For instance, as described in many of the preceding chapters, children who are both African American and poor are more likely to be underweight at birth; less likely to talk at age 1 or read before age 6; more likely to drop out of school and use drugs; less likely to obtain a college degree, find a job, or marry; and finally, more likely to die before age 70 of cancer, diabetes, heart disease, or other serious health problems. Each of these outcomes is more likely because of the pre`ious one.

As you have also read, at each step some individuals break away from the usual path, but stratification theory contends that overcoming the liabilities of the past is increasingly difficult as life unfolds. By old age, people who have experienced poverty and prejudice all their lives almost never overcome their past, becoming healthy and wealthy (see Figure 15.3).

Stratification theory suggests that to help the aged, intervention can begin before birth. The fact that health problems result from a lifetime of stratification “suggests multiple intervention points at which disparities can be reduced” (Haas et al., 2012, p. 238).

Each stereotype adds to stratification and thus adds to the risk of problems, perhaps putting those who are female, non-European American, and poor in triple jeopardy. However, as explained at the end of this section, not everyone agrees with that conclusion (Rosenfield, 2012).

GENDER STRATIFICATION Irrational, gender-based fear may limit female independence, even in old age. For example, adult children are more likely to insist that their widowed mothers live with them than their widowed fathers. In fact, however, men living alone are more likely than women to have a sudden health crisis. For example, although heart disease kills elders of both sexes, men are more likely to have a fatal heart attack and women are more likely to have gradual heart failure, eventually killing them.

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In another example, the United States Bureau of Justice Statistics reported in 2013 that even though more old women live alone than old men, fewer old women are victims of every major type of crime. (Generally, rates of criminal victimization for both sexes fall with age, with less than half a percent of crime victims being over age 65.)

In another example of gender stratification, young women typically marry men a few years older and then outlive them. Especially in former years, many married women relied on their husbands to manage money. Thus, past gender stratification produced many old widows who were lonely, poor, and dependent for decades.

Longevity itself may result from lifelong gender stratification. Boys are taught to be stoic, repressing emotions and avoiding medical attention, which makes old men avoid doctors. In 2012 in the United States, twice as many men as women never saw a doctor (21 percent versus 11 percent) (National Center for Health Statistics, 2014). Thus, gender stratification may make men die too soon and women lonely for too long.

ETHNIC STRATIFICATION Remember that ethnic differences are sometimes codified as racial differences, with racial attitudes and experiences over a lifetime affecting many elders. As you remember from Chapter 12, racism causes weathering in African Americans, increasing allostatic load, shortening healthy life (Thrasher et al., 2012).

Past ethnic discrimination results in poverty for many minority families, itself a result of the quality of education, the health of neighborhoods, the salary of jobs.

Consider one detailed example, home ownership, which is a source of financial security for many seniors. Fifty years ago, stratification prevented most African Americans from buying homes. Laws then reduced housing discrimination, which meant that many African Americans finally bought homes. However, they often had new, and expensive, mortgages, so they suffered more than other groups in the foreclosure crisis that began in 2007. Is this a new example of an old story: stratification causing poverty (Saegert et al., 2011)?

A particular form of ethnic stratification affects immigrant elders. Most immigrants to North America come from non-Western cultures, where younger generations are expected to care for the elderly. However, U.S. homes are designed for nuclear families, and pensions and Social Security are earned by employees who worked for decades “on the books” within established companies, not to older immigrants who came to help their younger family members.

Thus, U.S. practices leave many older immigrants poor, lonely, and dependent on their children, who live in homes and apartments not designed for extended families. That may lead to two harmful family dynamics: unwelcome closeness in crowded, multigenerational homes, or distressing distance between elders and their descendants.

INCOME STRATIFICATION Finally, the most harmful effect of stratification may be financial, directly from poverty and then magnified by gender and ethnicity. As one reviewer explains, “[W]omen . . . are much more likely to live in households that fall below the federal poverty line. Black and Hispanic women are particularly vulnerable” (J. Jackson et al., 2011, p. 93).

Many of the poorest elderly never held jobs that paid into Social Security. Thus, an important source of income is absent. When ethnic discrimination affects employment opportunity, poverty in old age is particularly likely. Further, when money is scarce, that itself undercuts the ability to plan for the future (Haushofer & Fehr, 2014).

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Income stratification is more apparent than either gender or ethnic stratification among the very old. Low-SES European American men have less education, worse health, and spottier work history (more unemployment, fewer benefits, no pensions) than men of higher SES. The recent economic crisis in many nations results in less social governmental support for the poor of any age (Phillipson, 2013).

AGE STRATIFICATION Ageism and age segregation affects life in many ways, including income and health. For example, seniority builds in the workplace, increasing income up to a certain point, and then employment stops, perhaps with a pension but never with as much income as before. People who are unskilled or temporary workers are particularly likely to be hurt by current old-age pension structures (Phillipson, 2013).

The most controversial version of age stratification is disengagement theory (Cumming & Henry, 1961), which holds that as people age, four significant changes occur: Traditional roles become unavailable; the social circle shrinks; coworkers stop relying on them; and adult children turn away to focus on their own children. Meanwhile, older people become less mobile and less able to engage in social interaction.

According to this theory, disengagement is a mutual process, chosen by both adult generations. Thus, younger adult workers and parents disengage from the old, who themselves disengage, withdrawing from life’s action.

This theory provoked a storm of protest. Many gerontologists insisted that older people need and want new involvements. An opposing theory, activity theory, holds that the elderly seek to remain active with relatives, friends, and community groups. Activity theorists contended that if the elderly disengage, they do so unwillingly and suffer because of it (Kelly, 1993; Rosow, 1985).

Extensive research supports activity theory. Being active correlates with happiness, intelligence, and health. This is true at younger ages as well, but the correlation between activity and well-being is particularly strong at older ages (Potočnik & Sonnentag, 2013; Bielak et al., 2012).

Disengagement is more likely among those low in SES, which suggests it is another harmful outcome of past economic stratification (Clarke et al., 2011). Literally being active—bustling around the house, climbing stairs, walking to work—-lengthens life and increases satisfaction.

Both disengagement and activity theories need to be applied with caution, however. The positivity effect may mean that an older person disengages from emotional events that cause anger, regret, and sadness while actively enjoying other experiences. Current theories and research emphasize the variations in the lives of the aged, with neither disengagement nor activity theory always accurate (Johnson & Mutchler, 2014).

CRITIQUE OF STRATIFICATION THEORIES Contrary to all the preceding examples, might women, ethnic minorities, and low-income people develop habits and attitudes by old age that protect them from the worst effects of stratification (Rosenfield, 2012)? Evidence is spotty, and low SES and ill health are harmful at every age, but perhaps gender, ethnicity, or SES are less damaging for the very old than they are earlier in life.

Both age-related stratification theories—that all the elderly want to withdraw and that they all should stay active—may arise from cultural stereotypes, not reality. If that is true, an older person could choose to be both active and inactive, whichever is best for them at the moment, instead of sticking to the cultural script.

Contrary to gender stratification, older women live longer and are happier than older men. They usually have closer relationships with friends and families, and grown children pay more attention to their aged mothers than their aged fathers. All this suggests that they might be less disadvantaged in late adulthood than they were as young women.

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Similarly, cautionary data come from comparing the aged of various ethnic groups. Although in childhood and adulthood African Americans have poorer health and higher death rates than European Americans, that inequality disappears at about age 80 and then reverses. The average African American centenarian lives seven months longer than does the average European American one. Other minority ethnic groups do even better: Older Asian Americans have a several-year advantage.

One scholar suggests that older African American women in the United States have the best mental health of all the race, age, and gender groups. He does not think “stratification systems such as gender, race and class” result in high risk for older adults. Instead “multiple minority statuses affect mental health in paradoxical ways . . . that refute triple jeopardy approaches” (Rosenfield, 2012, p. 1791).

One explanation for the race crossover in longevity is called selective survival—the idea that only extremely healthy non–European Americans reach old age. But perhaps there are social advantages of being a minority. Perhaps past stratification teaches coping strategies such as humor and social connections that become protective in late adulthood.