DETERMINANTS OF ADAPTATION OF OLDEST-OLD BLACK-AMERICANS

Despite noticeable disadvantages over their life course and current co mplaints about their health and socio-economic status, the 122 blacks 85 years and older studied here expressed a high level of contentment with their lives. Using a biographical approach, three factors were fo und to be associated with this positive outcome. First, their social i ntegration is high with most respondents being well integrated into th eir family, the black church, and the black community. Second, their c ulture offers coherent values about their special status as survivors. Third, reference points to evaluate their status and their expectatio ns are redefined by turning to their past as a standard for making pos itive evaluations of their present.