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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| Functions of reminiscence in later life as viewed by young and old adults | | Author(s) | Philippe Cappeliez, Rosanne Lavallée, Norm O'Rourke |
| Journal title | Canadian Journal on Aging, vol 20, no 4, Winter 2001 |
| Pages | pp 577-589 |
| Keywords | Memory and Reminiscence ; Evaluation ; Age groups [elderly] ; Students ; Attitudes to the old of general public ; Canada. |
| Annotation | The Reminiscence Function Scale (RFS) measures eight functions: boredom reduction, death preparation, identity, problem-solving, conversation, intimacy maintenance, bitterness revival, and teach/inform. 76 Canadian undergraduate psychology students used the RFS to report on their use of reminiscences. Of these, 46 completed the second phase (on the functions of reminiscence for older people) on the same scale. 83 over 65s also completed the RFS regarding their own uses. Age-appropriate higher uses of the functions of boredom reduction, identity and problem solving characterised the young adults, whilst older adults most characteristically used reminiscence for teach/inform, i.e. for transmission of life experiences. Compared to themselves, young adults believed that older people reminisced for practically all functions. When these beliefs were checked against older people's reports, it became clear that young adults overestimated almost all uses, especially boredom reduction, death preparation, and teach/inform. These findings reflect the prevalence of ageist assumptions regarding older people's use of reminiscence. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-020220207 A |
| Classmark | DB: 4C: BB: XN: TOB: 7S |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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