RESILIENCE AND LEVELS OF RESERVE CAPACITY IN LATER ADULTHOOD - PERSPECTIVES FROM LIFE-SPAN THEORY

The goal of this article is to explore the utility of integrating two lines of research on questions of modifiability or plasticity of human development. The first line, dealing with the notion of resilience, o riginated within the field of clinical developmental research. The sec ond line, concerned with developmental reserve capacity, evolved prima rily within the field of life-span developmental psychology. Resilienc e addresses questions of maintenance and recovery of adaptation in the face of stress. In addition, ideas about levels of reserve capacity, rooted in life-span developmental psychology, emphasize the potential for growth. A review of research in the areas of cognitive and self-re lated functioning provides evidence for resilience as well as developm ental reserve capacity in adulthood and old age. It is argued that acr oss the life span reserve capacity is increasingly allocated to resili ence-related processes (maintenance of functioning and recovery from d ysfunction) rather than growth. A model of successful aging is discuss ed which suggests that, by means of selective optimization with compen sation, old age nevertheless continues to hold the potential for selec tive growth.