Purpose in life among very old men

Pia Hedberg, Yngve Gustafson, Christine Brulin, Lena Aléx

Department of Community Medicine and Rehabilitation, Geriatric Medicine, Ume? University, Ume?, Sweden.
Department of Nursing, Ume? University, Ume?, Sweden.

DOI: 10.4236/aar.2013.23014                

Abstract

This paper provides very old men’s experiences of and reflections on purpose in life. The answers from an interview question about purpose in life from 23 men were analyzed by using qualitative content analysis. The results revealed three content areas: talking of purpose of life in general, talking of own purpose in life and reflections on purpose in life. Our findings showed that very old men experienced purpose in life most strongly when remembering the past and describing their earlier work. The old men reflected on purpose in life not just from their own individual perspectives, but also from a more reflective and analytic perspective.

Keywords

Aging; Men; Narrative Analysis; Qualitative Content Analysis; Purpose in Life

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1]	von Heideken Wagert, P. (2006) Health, physical ability, falls and morale in very old people: The Umea 85+ study. Umea University Medical Dissertations, New Series No. 1038-ISSN 0346-6612-ISBN 91-7264-130-4, Umea University, Umea.
[2]	Nygren, B. (2006) Inner strength among the oldest old; a good aging. Umea University Medical Dissertations, New Series No. 1065-ISBN 91-7264-201-7, Umea University, Umea.
[3]	Bergdahl, E. (2007) Depression among the very old. Umea University Medical Dissertations, New Series No. 1132ISSN 0346-6612-ISBN 978-7264-423-6, Umea University, Umea.
[4]	Aléx, L. (2007) Old people’s narratives about growing and being old from gender and ethnicity perspectives. Umea University Medical Dissertations, New Series No. 1081-ISSN 0346-6612-ISBN 978-7264-248-5, Umea University, Umea.
[5]	Hedberg, P. (2010) Purpose in life among very old people. Umea University Medical Dissertations, New Series No 1384. ISSN 0346-6612, ISBN 978-91-7459-106-4, Umea University, Umea.
[6]	Hirdman, Y. and Andreasen, Y. (1991) The gender system. In: Andreasen, T., Borchorst, A., Dahlerup, D., Lous, L. and Nielsen, R., Eds., Moving On, Aarhus University Press, Aarhus, 187-207.
[7]	Hirdman, Y. (1994) Women—From possibility to problem? Arbetslivscentrum, Stockholm.
[8]	Courtenay, W.H. (2000) Constructions of masculinity and their influence on men’s well-being: A theory of gender and health. Social Science and Medicine, 50, 1385-1402. doi:10.1016/S0277-9536(99)00390-1
[9]	Courtenay, W.H. (2000) Behavioral factors associated with disease, injury and death among men. Evidence and implications for prevention. The Journal of Men’s Studies, 9, 81-142. doi:10.3149/jms.0901.81
[10]	Connell, R.W. and Messerschmidt, J.W. (2005) Hegemonic masculinity. Rethinking the concept. Gender & Society, 19, 829-859. doi:10.1177/0891243205278639
[11]	Aléx, L., Hammarstrom, A., Norberg, A. and Lundman, B. (2008) Construction of masculinities among men aged 85 and older in the north of Sweden. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 17, 451-459. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2702.2007.01961.x
[12]	Knodel, J. and Ofstedal, M.B. (2003) Gender and aging in the developing world: Where are the men? Population and Development Review, 29, 677-698. doi:10.1111/j.1728-4457.2003.00677.x
[13]	Calasanti, T. and King, N. (2005) Firming the floppy penis: Age, class, and gender relations in the lives of old men. Men and Masculinities, 8, 23. doi:10.1177/1097184X04268799
[14]	Swedish Statistics Bureau (SCB) (2009) Population of Sweden in a cohort 2007-2050. Statistics Sweden, Stockholm.
[15]	Pinquart, M. (2002) Creating and maintaining purpose in life in old age: A meta-analysis. Ageing International, 27, 90-114. doi:10.1007/s12126-002-1004-2
[16]	Encel, S., Kay, M. and Zidekowski, G. (1996) Keeping in touch: Older people living alone. New South Wales Consultative Committee on Ageing, Sydney.
[17]	Davidson, K., Daly, T. and Arber, S. (2003) Older men, social integration and organizational activities. Social Policy & Society, 2, 81-89. doi:10.1017/S1474746403001118
[18]	Frankl, V. (1958) The will to meaning. Journal of Pastoral Care, 12, 82-88.
[19]	Frankl, V. (1955) The doctor and the soul. Alfred A Knopf, New York.
[20]	Bechtel, G. (1994) Purpose in life among gay men with HIV disease. Nurse Connections, 7, 5-11.
[21]	Lewis, M.P., Erlen, J.A., Dabbs, A.D., Breneman, K. and Cook, C. (2006) The utility of the purpose-in-life test in persons with AIDS. Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care, 17, 51-59. doi:10.1016/j.jana.2005.11.005
[22]	Smith, B.W. and Zautra, A.J. (2004) The role of purpose in life in recovery from knee surgery. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 11, 197-202. doi:10.1207/s15327558ijbm1104_2
[23]	Kruse, A. and Schmitt, E. (2006) A multidimensional scale for the measurement of agreement with age stereotypes and the salience of age in social interaction. Ageing and Society, 26, 393-411. doi:10.1017/S0144686X06004703
[24]	Hedberg, P., Gustafson, Y. and Brulin, C. (2010) Purpose in life among men and women aged 85 years and older. International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 70, 213-229. doi:10.2190/AG.70.3.c
[25]	Crumbaugh, J. and Maholick, L.T. (1964) An experimental study in existentialism: The psychometric approach to Frankl’s concept of noogenic neurosis. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 20, 200-207. doi:10.1002/1097-4679(196404)20:2<200::AID-JCLP2270200203>3.0.CO;2-U
[26]	Downe-Wamboldt, B. (1992) Content analysis: Method, applications, and issues. Health Care for Women International, 13, 313-321. doi:10.1080/07399339209516006
[27]	Graneheim, U.H. and Lundman, B. (2004) Qualitative content analysis in nursing research: Concepts, procedures and measures to achieve trustworthiness. Nurse Education Today, 24, 105-112. doi:10.1016/j.nedt.2003.10.001
[28]	Kripendorff, K. (2004) Content analysis: An introduction to its methodology. Sage, Thousand Oaks.
[29]	Connell, R.W. (1995) Masculinities. University of California Press, Berkley.
[30]	Russell, C. (2007) What do older women and men want? Gender differences in the lived experience of ageing. Current Sociology, 55, 173-192. doi:10.1177/0011392107073300
[31]	Baltes, P.B. and Baltes, M.M. (1990) Psychological perspectives on successful aging: The model of selective optimization with compensation. In: Baltes, P.B. and Baltes, M.M., Eds., Successful Aging: Perspectives from the Behavioral Sciences, Cambridge University Press, New York, 1-34. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511665684.003
[32]	Freund, A.M. and Baltes, P.B. (1998) Selection, optimization, and compensation as strategies of life management: Correlation with subjective indicators of successful aging. Psychology and Aging, 13, 531-543. doi:10.1037/0882-7974.13.4.531
[33]	Ferrucci, L., Guralnik, J.M., Studentski, S., Fried, L.P., Cutler Jr., G.B. and Walston, J.D. (2004) Designing randomized controlled trials aimed at preventing or delaying functional decline and disability in frail older persons: A consensus report. Journal of American Geriatric Society, 52, 625-634. doi:10.1111/j.1532-5415.2004.52174.x
[34]	Green, B.S. (1993) Gerontology and the construction of old age: A study in discourse analysis. Aldine de Gruyter, Hawthorne.
[35]	Peel, N., Bartlett, H. and McClure, R. (2004) Healthy ageing: How is it defined and measured? Australasian Journal on Ageing, 23, 115-119. doi:10.1111/j.1741-6612.2004.00035.x
[36]	Rowe, J.W. and Khan, R.I. (1994) Successful aging. The Gerontologist, 37, 433-440. doi:10.1093/geront/37.4.433
[37]	Ryff, C.D., Singer, B.H. and Dienberg, L.G. (2004) Positive health: Connecting well-being with biology. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B, Biological Sciences, 359, 1383-1394. doi:10.1098/rstb.2004.1521
[38]	Hedberg, P., Brulin, C. and Aléx, L. (2009) Experiences of purpose in life when becoming and being a very old woman. Journal of Women & Aging, 21, 125-137. doi:10.1080/08952840902837145