AGING WELL - THOUGHTS ABOUT A PROCESS-ORI ENTED METAMODEL OF SUCCESSFUL AGING

Much of gerontological work in the past was concerned with the problem s of aging and has taken little notice of the positive changes that oc curred over the last generations with regard to old age. The paper add resses some of the reasons for this neglect and focuses on the need to expand our definitions of what is successful aging to Include how suc cessful aging is accomplished, A metamodel Selective Optimization with Compensation, SOC is presented that takes into account the need for a wide realm of criteria and norms of success as well as both gains and losses with aging. Two theories - the self-efficacy theory and the so cial selectivity theory - are used to illustrate how the meta-model SO C can be applied.