Lives Through the Years

Styles of Life and Successful Aging

Claudine G. Wirths, Richard A. Williams

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• eBook ISBN: 9781351508445
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Gerontology
• Index: Social Sciences

Growing old - what is it like? What are the main problems of the aging? Lack of fulfillment in their work and life? Loneliness? Anxiety about sickness and disability? Fear of death? This well-documented, theoretically systematic, and vivid account of the process of aging provides highly enlightening answers and dispels once and for all many of the myths surrounding the close to 20 million Americans who are over sixty-five. Building upon the results of extensive interviews, the authors have established the existence of six styles and have concluded that a successful transition to old age can be achieved through any of them. They have also developed a definition of success, which has practical implications, since it deals with the extent to which an individual contributes or is a burden to the lives of those around him. The combined analysis of style and success results in a better understanding of individual differences in aging. The reader comes to know and understand the subjects as if he had worked with them in person. The wealth of detail the case histories contain permits scholars and students to judge for themselves the validity of the authors' findings. Derived from this unusually rich body of material, the authors' conclusions and recommendations are invaluable to all concerned with the study, the treatment, and the counseling of the aged. "Lives Through the Years" is a pioneering volume of social inquiry and interpretation, which marks a major scientific advance in its field, opens up new horizons for fruitful research, and offers a stimulating and authoritative portrayal of one of the most important problems of our society.

Appendix TWO

Rank Order of Successful Aging by Style

World of Work

Autonomous-Persistent (Top)

1. School Is My Life—Female, Age 62.^* This woman was distinguished by her devotion to her chosen profession of teaching. Her teaching was her life. Even her widowed mother, with whom she lived, came secondary. She took physical ills in stride and yielded to them only when necessary. Her only friends were other, equally devoted, teachers. At sixty-two she had not yet had to face the reality of retirement and perhaps she would not seem so stable when she did. But at the conclusion of the study her style was clearly World of Work 1. She was autonomous-persistent, at the top, and except for a 2 in alienation, based on her preoccupation with her work, she had a 1 in all other ratings.

2. From Retirement to a New Career—Male, Age 64. During the study this man retired from a semiskilled job he had held for many years, and became a minister. He was classified autonomous-precarious then, although it was noted that he was especially difficult to classify on the persistent-precarious continuum. It appeared his ministerial activities were wearing him out, and that he would have to retire a second time soon and would not have much to sustain him. However, when his social system was seen through the eyes of his significant others, and he himself was seen in round seven about a year and one-half later, it was clear he was now really a minister, and a successful one. In fact, from this material alone one would scarcely suspect that he had ever been anything else. His relations with his wife looked far better, and he had inner resources to sustain him. He was then classified autonomous-persistent, at the top. His style of life, as well as other characteristic uses of action energy, was rated 1.

3. I Fell Into the Business—Male, Age 61. This respondent owned and operated a small shop which he had inherited from his father. He was living with his second wife. He had one stepson, who moved in with them during the course of the study. He had a few relatives and friends who did not seem to be especially important in his life.

At the beginning of the study he expressed a lot of interest in going out at night, usually alone. He would come home from work, sleep until about nine o’clock and then go out. This pattern faded away during the course of the study. At about the middle of the study he made the following comment, “I am a drunkard but not a good one. I thought I was the champion worst husband, but my wife has found some in our neighborhood that are worse, so I am not even best at that.”

During the first six rounds of interviewing, it appeared that he did not have much interest in his shop. His father had let it run down, and he had had a good deal of difficulty in building it up. On the basis of this evidence alone, he would have been given a rating of 3 on degree of clarity of style. One got a rather different picture the seventh round, five years after the start of the study. The respondent was full of life, said that he enjoyed people, and his one big complaint was that his wife was not companionable and was a perpetual corn-plainer. He expressed a great deal of interest in his work and said he was getting very interesting jobs to do in the shop, all of which he enjoyed. He had slowed down ten years before but had not slowed down a bit since. Thus, through most of the study, he appeared as a man dominated by the World of Work, but a playboy and traveler at heart. In the last interview he was very enthusiastic about work and expressed many sentiments about moderation. He could not imagine himself retired, except as somewhat more time off for travel. His level of involvement in his social network was low, but he put more into it than he took out, and he would be able to go on this way indefinitely. He would probably be able to retire gradually, and perhaps never completely. He was rated 1 on alienation and coping, but 2 on style, anomie, and isolation.

4. The Contented Salesman—Male, Age 65.

5. A Dreary Life—Female, Age 65.

6. Beyond the World of Work—Male, Age 85.

Autonomous-Persistent (Middle)

7. The Meticulously Functionally Specific—Male, Age 55. At the beginning of the study this man, a responsible businessman, had recently separated from his wife. He had a son in whom he was rather disappointed.

This respondent liked to discuss things in abstract and general terms and seemed unable to reveal anything of his personal life. For his childhood period, his mother was mentioned as the most admired person because she was a good homemaker, but this, too, was said as something of an abstraction. His father was “all right,” but should “have been more ambitious.” As a young man he “supposed” his mother was still the most admired, but mentioned his admiration for doctors and lawyers as a group. It is clear that his college days were very important, and he frequently returned for reunions. He knew some “intellectuals” then, and had wistfully tried to reach beyond his ego boundaries ever since. He did not marry until the age of forty, and his only child was born when he was forty-one. Three years later he was divorced; he said he had “hated to do it.” This first wife, when seen accidentally at the time of the first interview, had complained that he was very meticulous and hypercritical of her and of their son. From various clues he appeared more ashamed than sorry about the divorce. A year later he had remarried, to a woman of secretarial background.

This man was clearly oriented to the World of Work in a highly functionally specific way. He showed no signs of alienation, anomie, or personal disintegration, and was not greatly isolated. He had not started to disengage. He was autonomous-persistent now, in the middle group. He put little into his social system, but he took very little from it to keep him going. One might well wonder what would happen when the supports for this life style disappeared—esteem, prestige, and success associated with work. He might have done fairly well as an organization man in church or other secondary groups, or he might have become an “angry old man.” He was in the World of Work and rated 1 on style. He was rated 1 on all action energy expressions except for a 2 on isolation.

8. Unremitting Labor—Male, Age 57. One interviewer succinctly summed up this case. “If indeed man expiates original sin through unremitting labor, then Mr: X is my candidate for the right hand of God.” There is little that needs to be added to round out the picture of this foreign-born man. He was raised in extreme poverty and taught by observation and example that hard work was the only means to a successful life. According to his own life story, he had been a compulsive worker since he was thirteen and he still valued work over education—one of the few respondents to do so.

He was a very meticulous man, and in his contacts with the interviewers he gave lengthy anwers to all questions. Specific neutral behavior characterized most of his social situations. He was not cold or unfriendly, but all human intercourse, to be legitimate with him, had to have a productive purpose.

He, together with his wife and son, operated the family business, but on his wife’s death he retired. Nevertheless, he continued to expend great amounts of action energy and maintained his life style to the last contact.

Obviously, his style was rated 1, and he was listed as autonomous-persistent in the middle. Other ratings were 1 for anomie and coping, and 2 for alienation and isolation.

9. Slightly Overworked—Male, Age 60. This man lived in a household with his wife. He had one stepson who lived with him for a while at the beginning of the interview period, but left, returned, and then left again to get married. The respondent was engaged in maintenance and repair work, the nature of which was so exacting that he worked six days a week (seven in the summer) with occasional days off and a brief paid vacation each year. He had a few friends and some relatives, including a father, in the area, with whom he interacted as much as time permitted. He faced mandatory retirement at the age of sixty-five. He was placed in the middle of the autonomous-persistent group. He was rated 1 in everything but isolation, which was a 2.

10. Deaths in the Family—Male, Age 80. This partially retired salesman had found it necessary to adjust throughout his life to an incredible series of deaths which included, by the end of the study, ten of his twelve children, his wife, son-in-law, parents, two sisters, and three brothers. He worked away at survival in spite of all this and, despite his age, he was considering remarriage to a woman he had met at the weekly dances he felt vigorous enough to attend. He was in the middle of the success category, and rated 1 in all characteristic uses of action energy.

Autonomous-Persistent (Bottom)

11. I Was Saved and Life Became Earnest—Male, Age 65. This busy man who lived with his wife was sixty-five at the end of the study. As a professional man in the field of religion, his work was the central theme of his life. Because his work involved living fully, he was involved in many lives deeply, but his own action system was built around work itself. He was quite anxious about himself, and his aging and gradual disengagement troubled him greatly. He paid much more attention to himself and his health than he had in younger years.

Because of his work-centered life, his style was World of Work 1. He was autonomous-persistent, at the bottom, but rated 1 on all the other ratings.

12. Let’s Make Money—Male, Age 62.

13. From the World of Music: An Old Refrainer—Male, Age 74. This music teacher enjoyed looking back over his past as a boy in Europe and his manhood as an immigrant. Music had been his life and, although he now held a respected position in the community, had a lovely daughter who was quite dear to him, and had countless acquaintances, nothing was as important to him as his music. He was aware that age was creeping up but he did not let it bother him at all. He was at the bottom of the autonomous-persistent category and was rated 1 in anomie, alienation, and coping. His isolation and style were rated 2.

14. No Ambition—Just Worked—Female, Age 73. This shy woman, whose style of World of Work persisted into her aging years, had always been aware of a pull to the style of Living Alone. Orphaned at an early age, she was unable to form any really close, warm, affective bonds with anyone. She reported the happiest time of her life to have been her marriage, which lasted only six years and had concluded forty years ago with her husband’s death. She had worked ever since until her forced retirement at age sixty-five. At sixty-eight, when first interviewed by the study, her sole employment was the care of an invalid neighbor. She worked hard at this and provided well for the neighbor, but there was no indication of her doing this as a way of maintaining a style of Familism. On the other hand, it was clearly just one more job. She missed working regularly, and she intended to keep on doing “one thing and another” as long as she could. She withdrew increasingly into her own resources and, except for this one neighbor, saw almost no one. She was at the bottom of the autonomous-persistent group; her use of action energy gave her a 1 on style and coping, for she managed to work on in her style despite enormous disengagement, but she also rated a 2 on anomie and alienation and 3 on isolation.

15. Not Enough Responsibility—Male, Age 78.

Autonomous-Precarious (Top)

16. Mr. Almost Average—Male, Age 62, This insurance salesman lived with his somewhat younger wife. He had one son, whom he saw on Sundays. He did not have to retire and planned to stay at work as long as he was able. Things went along about the same way over the five-year period. He was put in the precarious category because his life and his emotional poise were so thoroughly involved in work and not much else. He was rated 2 on alienation, anomie, and coping, with a 1 on isolation and style.

17. The Protestant Ethic—Male, Age 75. This long-time businessman inadvertently retired himself by selling his business, as he was unable to find other employment, and so gradually moved into a rather anomie kind of life. His life space suddenly became much more constricted. He was beginning to disengage and in the process became more dependent on his wife without giving her much in return. He was at the top of the autonomous-precarious group, and his style was 1. He was given 2 on all other ratings.

Autonomous-Precarious (Middle)

18. Out on an Intellectual Limb—Male, Age 64. This music teacher was a tall, aesthetic-looking man, the stereotype of the “arty” person, and his strange behavior, his remoteness from his children by his previous marriage, and his detachment from society did not fit the pattern of the typical person in the upper middle class to which he belonged.

He and his ill wife and ten-year-old daughter lived in a large rundown home surrounded by an unkempt yard. His day was divided into the time he taught and the time he spent at home—which was all the rest of the day, except for attending various musical functions. He did all his work at home and did not especially enjoy or dislike any part of it. He claimed to do some of all the tasks around the house except for cleaning clothes and the heavy housework, which was provided for commercially. Because of the illness of his wife he had to operate the home in large part. He attended church on weekends, but solely because he conducted the choir; religion meant little to him. His daughter made it clear that she did not go to the same church as her father; she wanted to go to hers. All other organizations in which he participated were associated with music.

The psychologist found him to be a man who so intellectualized all his emotional behavior that he was very difficult to get to know, much less to analyze.

He was definitely alienated—by his own choice, because there were many in the community who liked his music and would have been most willing to be friends. He was, in fact, as much a social isolate as he dared to be.

From early childhood, nothing, with the exception of his mother, meant much to him but his music, so he was judged to be in the World of Work. Further judgment made him autonomous-precarious. The autonomous aspect of his life was quite clear, but he was judged precarious because of the extremely intellectualized handling of his emotions which led to speculation of possible collapse under pressure. He was rated 2 in anomie, 3 in alienation, and 2 in isolation. He was rated 1 in style and coping.

19. Work, Work, Work—Male, Age 57. This hard-drinking, unskilled laborer and his wife had no children. They both worked. He and his wife seemed to provide each other with the minimal emotional satisfaction they required. This man’s value system was one of accepting the inevitability of work. He never had any great ambition to get ahead. There were elements of precariousness in his life. Should anything happen to his wife or sister, who were his sole sources of stability, he would be thrown out of emotional balance quite readily. Consequently, he was placed in the middle of the autonomous-precarious group and rated 1 on style and anomie and 2 on everything else.

20. No Hobby Except My Work—Female, Age 73.

Autonomous-Precarious (Bottom)

21. Brink of Disaster—Male, Age 55. Had this man not held a style of World of Work, it is doubtful he would have been able to avoid a complete mental breakdown.

He was the owner of a small business. During the time of the study, his wife committed suicide and he had to try to re-establish the family stability for his two teen-age children. He was tremendously upset by the event and was unable to do much more for the children than provide them food and shelter. They were left to their own resources and little action energy was exchanged between father and children.

To avoid facing social contact, he retreated into theoretical mathematics as a hobby and absorbed himself in his work by day.

He exhibited a great emotional disturbance throughout the study and was not greatly improved at the end. Consequently, he was rated as autonomous-precarious at the bottom. His style was clear and, therefore, rated 1. Anomie and alienation were profound and were rated 3, while isolation and coping were rated 2.

22. Grounded—Male, Age 61

23. Never Underestimate the Power of a Woman—Male, Age 61. This man had had two previous divorces and, until he met his present wife, had been caught up in wild living and aimless job drifting. This wife helped him become a trusted city employee, a role he valued greatly, and an active worker in the church. He was quite dependent on his wife emotionally, even though he played an active role in their marriage. Therefore, if his wife’s health became very bad, his situation would become precarious. In the bottom group of autonomous-precarious, he was rated 2 on style, with a strong underlying style of Couplehood. He was also rated 2 on coping and isolation but 1 on alienation and anomie.

There were no World of Work cases ranked dependent-persistent, nor were there any...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Foreword by TALCOTT PARSONS
• Acknowledgments
• One BACKGROUND AND NATURE OF THE STUDY
• Two WORLD OF WORK
• Three FAMILISM
• Four LIVING ALONE
• Five COUPLEHOOD
• Six EASING THROUGH LIFE WITH MINIMAL INVOLVEMENT
• Seven LIVING FULLY
• Eight SUCCESS AND STYLE
• Nine SOME RELATED OBSERVATIONS
• Ten STATISTICAL ANALYSIS AND CONCLUSIONS
• Appendix One GENERAL PERSPECTIVES OF THE KANSAS CITY STUDY OF ADULT LIFE
• Appendix Two RANK ORDER OF SUCCESSFUL AGING BY STYLE
• Index
• Index of Case Histories