Reflections on Age and Identity
(Citation: Barusch,
A.S. (2009). Reflections on age and identity. Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 52(4), 333-335.)
My father
turns 85 this month and, when I ask how he is, the invariable response is “old.” This gives me pause. “How,”
I ask, “does it feel to be old these days?”
Bernice Neugarten called age
“an empty variable” (1977; 633) suggesting, along with Paul Baltes and others (1977) that chronological age has
little explanatory or predictive value apart from the biological, psychological and social events that go with it.
Culture seems to trump, defining the combination of markers that lead us to accept the “old” appellation
(see Kaufman, 1981). Of course, G.H. Mead would remind us that individuals are not passive recipients of
cultural dictums. Rather, we actively construct our identities, interpreting norms and events according to our inclinations,
habits, and proclivities.
So why now, after 85 years, has my father embraced this “old” identity? He
made it through retirement, cancer, loss of loved ones, and even his early 80s as a poster child for Dylan Thomas. He did
“rage, rage against the dying of the light.”
Some say continuity is key
to successful adaptation in late life (Neugarten, 1968; Maddox, 1968; Atchley, 1989). Grab it where you
can, despite life’s buffeting changes, and you will enjoy that sense of completeness to which so many aspire. Some people
see continuity wherever they look. Of the man who has lost his life partner they say, “He grieves as he lived, privately.”
Of the woman forced to move into a nursing home, “She is still a sweet little social butterfly.” All to persuade
us that despite cataclysmic change some central part of human identity remains safe from deterioration. And
when that something central yields to the “old” label? What then?
Realizing they are old, some
people turn their rage against ageism and injustice. Maggie Kuhn (1991) comes to mind, but there are countless
others -- feisty ones who battle on. In her 2003 book, Learning to be Old, Margaret Cruikshank prescribed
conscious struggle against stereotypes and the judicious application of “emancipatory hedonism” to free ourselves
from the limitations and demands our culture imposes on those identified as old. “Living well is the best revenge”
-- if you can.
Others turn their rage and indignation against themselves. The suicide rate
among older adults is a national tragedy. We hear a lot about youth suicide, but Americans over 65 are
considerably more likely to end their own lives (Bharucha, 2008) Social workers who practice with the elderly
are well aware of the high prevalence of depression in this population.
All of which is not to universalize
the experience. Some people refuse the “old” appellation. Some consider themselves old without missing a step.
Masters of generativity, integrity or wisdom, some become models of productive or successful aging. -- signposts of what we
would choose for our futures.
But no one would choose my father’s latest diagnosis. Alzheimer’s
strips away bits of his identity each day, leaving others in sharp relief. He may forget that he is a father, but at least
for now, he knows he is old.
References Used:
Atchley, R. (1989). A
continuity theory of normal aging, The Gerontologist, 29, 183-190.
Baltes, P.B. & S.L. Willis
(1977). Toward Psychological Theories of Aging and Develoment. In J.E. Birren & K.W.Schaie (Eds.) Handbook of
the Psychology of Aging. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold. 128-154.
Bjaricja, A.J. (2008). Late-Life
Suicide. in J.E. Ellison, H.Kyomen & S.K. Verma (Eds.) Mood Disorders in Later Life. Informa Health Care. 123-132.
Cruickshank, M. (2003). Learning to be Old. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
Kaurman,
S. (1981). cultural components of identity in old age: A case study. Ethos, 9(1), 51-87.
Kuhn, M.
(1991). No Stone Unturned: The life and times of Maggie Kuhn. New York: Ballantine.
Maddox, G. (1968). Persistence
of life style among the elderly: A longitudinal sutdy of patterns of social activity in relation to life satisfaction. In
B. Neugarten (Ed.) Middle Age and Aging. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 181-184.
Mead, G.H.
(1934). Mind, Self and Society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Neugarten, B. (1968).
(Ed.) Middle Age and Aging. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Neugarten, B. (1977). Personality
and Aging, in J.E. Birren and K.E. Schaie (Eds.) Handbook of the Psychology of Aging. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.
626-649.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________