Bernice Neugarten

Historical Antecedents & Influences

Historical Antecedents & Influences

• Increase in life expectancy resulting in a growing interest in the elderly and the process of aging. (Kinsella, 1992).

Historical Antecedents & Influences

• Granvill Stanley Hall (1844-1924)• Senescence, the Last Half of Life (Hall, 1922).

• Ernest Burgess (1886-1966)• Elderly & the effects of retirement (Achenbaum & Albert, 1995).

Historical Antecedents & Influences

• Robert Havighurst (1900-1991)• Six stages of human life

• Infancy & Early Childhood (0-6 yrs)• Middle Childhood (6-13 yrs)• Adolescence (13-18 yrs)• Early Adulthood (19-30 yrs)• Middle Age (31-60 yrs)• Later Maturity (60+ yrs)

• Developmental tasks (Achenbaum & Albert, 1995).

Experiments/Research/ Clinical

Data

• Bernice Levin

• 1916-2001 (85 years old)

• American Psychologist

• Specialized in adult development and psychology of aging

(Weiland, 2005)

Research• The measurement of Life satisfaction (Neugarten , Havighurst &

Tobin, 1996) • Life Satisfaction Ratings – Kansas City Study of Adult Life

• Clinical Psychologist - 4 Lengthy Interviews – 2.5 years • Participants over 65• Based on 5 criteria - rated each on a 5 pt. scale• Zest vs. Apathy - Pleasure in everyday activities• Resolution and Fortitude- Regards life as meaningful, accepts

responsibility for what life has been • Congruence between desired and achieved goals - Feels has

succeeded in achieving goals• Self-Concept - Positive image of self (physical, psychological, social) • Mood Tone - Maintains happy and optimistic

Research• All cases -Scored by two judges. Members of a Student faculty

Research Seminar

• A follow up system used where cases and judges varied

• In total, 14 judges rated 177 cases

• Correlation between was .64 (moderately successful)

(Neugarten , Havighurst & Tobin, 1996)

Research• Age Groups in American Society and The Rise of the Young-Old.

(1974)

• Growing population – traditional relationships between age groups are changing

• Economic hazards • Young- unemployment• Old- social security

• In history, equilibrium has existed• All age groups receive an appropriate share of goods and services

Research • Ageism – new antagonisms, conflicts between age groups• Increasing – nursing homes, “left behind”• Decreasing – lowering voting age• (Neugarten, 1974)

• Young-Old • 55-75 • Healthy• Affluent• Educated & Politically Active• Retirement(Neugarten, 1974)

• Old-Old • 75 & over (Neugarten, 1974)• Need supportive social services to function as fully as possible

Research• Age is less of a defining characteristic in distinguishing between

middle-age and older people. (Weiland, 2005)• Aging is a complex process, many ways to age “sucessfully”

• Age-Irrelevant Society – improves relationships between age groups

(Neugarten, 1974)

• Future Implications• Social Contributors• “Truly Human Condition”

• Freedom from work and freedom from want• Create attractive image of aging

Challenges/Obstacles & Influences

Zeitgeist

• Separate spheres• Expectations for marriage, family• Few women in professorial positions• Fewer women than men earning PhDs• Achievements unrecognized

• Schultz, D.P., & Schultz, S.E. (2012). A Historyof Modern Psychology (10th ed.). Belmont:Wadsworth.

• Minton, H.L. (2000). Psychology and gender at the turn of the century. American Psychologist, 55(6), 613=615.

Professional Obstacles

• Many “firsts”• PhD in Human Development• Classes on aging• Tenure in Human Development

• Time off• Family• Late professional achievements

• Rodkey, E. (2010). Bernice Neugarten. Psychology’s FeministVoices. Retrieved from www.feministvoices.com/bernice-neugarten/

Strengths and Weaknesses

• Social opportunities• “access to social opportunities and activity are not equally available to

all” (Theoretical).

• Fulfillment• “not everyone finds fulfillment in the presence of others or participation

in activities” (Theoretical).

• Better suggestions:• "Reformulations of this theory suggest that participation in informal

activities, such as hobbies, are what most effect later life satisfaction” (Theoretical)."

• Correlation

• Too simple• “activity theory [is criticized] as a [too] simple, linear model for

predicting life satisfaction,” and is found to be “too insufficient to capture the complexity of the interplay between people and their social situations” (Howe).

• “Activity theory alone was found to lack the substance to explain the richness and complexities of involvement in activities as well as the positive sense of well-being found as some people grow older” (Howe).

• “there is no single direction or pattern of social-psychological aging, but no single pattern of optimal aging” (Weiland)

• Distinguished between young-old and old-old• “the ‘young-old’… identify those in their late years still able to

function well, and the ‘old-old’ those who are frail and need support” (Weiland)

• Significance of Age• “Perhaps her most important contribution… was to demonstrate…

[chronological] age has declined in significance in distinguishing between middle-aged and older people” (Weiland)

• “Perhaps the most constructive ways of adapting to an aging society will emerge by focusing not on age at all but on the more relevant dimensions of human needs, human capacities, and human diversity.” –Bernice Neugarten

Influences• Very influential in dispelling myths regarding the

elderly• Not just bored, unfulfilled, inactive in old age

• Policies on elderly• Agenda for 1981 White House Conference on Aging• 1983 Social Security Reform Act

• Trained 150 PhD students…half were women

• Rodkey, E. (2010). Bernice Neugarten. Psychology’s FeministVoices. Retrieved from www.feministvoices.com/bernice-neugarten/

• Weiland, S. (2005). Bernice L. Neugarten: 1916-2001. In Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia. Retrieved from

jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/neugarten-bernice-l

ReferencesAchenbaum, A. W., & Albert, D. M., (1995). Profiles in Gerontology: A bibliographical dictionary. Westport: Greenwood Publishing Company.

Hall, G. Stanley, (1922). Senescence: The last half of life. New York: D. Appleton & Company.

Howe, C. Z. (1987). Selected Social Gerontology Theories and Older Adult Leisure Involvement: A Review of the Literature. Journal of Applied Gerontology, 6(4), 448-463. doi: 10.1177/073346488700600407

Kinsella, K. G., (1992). Changes in life expectancy 1900-1990. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 55, 1196-1202.

Minton, H.L. (2000). Psychology and gender at the turn of the century. American Psychologist, 55 (6), 613=615.

Neugarten, B. L. (1974). Age Groups in American Society and the Rise of the Young-Old. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 415(1), 187-198.

References continuedNeugarten , B. L. (n.d.). (1972). 209-216. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/1084395 .

Neugarten , B., Havighurst, R., & Tobin, S. (n.d.). The measurement of life satisfaction. (1996). The Meanings of Age: Selected Papers, 296-313. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=- ArLGCg64nMC&oi=fnd&pg=PA296&dq=bernice

neugarten&ots=4t9YR69h0C&sig=tnIrIpiDaSAd96iZVffAqjQ4iYM

Parry, M. (2006). G. Stanley Hall: psychologist and early gerontologist. American Journal of Public Health, 96(7), 1160-1162.

Rodkey, E. (2010). Bernice Neugarten. Psychology’s Feminist Voices. Retrieved from www.feministvoices.com/bernice-neugarten

Schultz, D.P., & Schultz, S.E. (2012). A History of Modern Psychology (10th ed.). Belmont:Wadsworth.

Theoretical Perspectives on Aging. (2012, May 18). Http://cnx.org/content/m42973/ latest/. Retrieved April 14, 2013.

Weiland, S. (2005). Bernice L. Neugarten: 1916-2001. In Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia. Retrieved from jwa.org/ encyclopedia/article/neugarten-bernice-l.