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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Traumatic events and meaning in life
— exploring variations in three age cohorts | | Author(s) | Neal Krause |
| Journal title | Ageing and Society, vol 25, part 4, July 2005 |
| Pages | pp 501-524 |
| Source | http://journals.cambridge.org/ |
| Keywords | Stress ; Life span ; Age groups [elderly] ; Attitude ; Personal relationships ; Social surveys ; United States of America. |
| Annotation | This study examines the relationship between traumatic events that arise across the lifecourse and a sense of meaning in later life. In the process, three important issues are evaluated. First, analyses are performed to see if traumatic events at six different points in the lifecourse are associated with a sense of meaning in life. Second, an effort is made to see if current emotional support helps reduce the deleterious effects of trauma on meaning, and whether current levels of negative inter-personal contacts exacerbate the effects of trauma on meaning in life. Third, the relationship between trauma and meaning is assessed in three age cohorts: the young-old (65-74), the old-old (75-84), and oldest-old (85+). Findings from a nationwide United States survey reveal that trauma arising between the ages of 18 and 30 is associated with a diminished sense of meaning in life, and that current emotional support reduces the effects of trauma on meaning, whereas negative inter-personal contacts tend to intensify the pernicious effects of trauma on meaning in life. Further analyses suggest that the relationships between trauma, emotional support and negative inter-personal contacts emerge primarily in the oldest-old cohort. (KJ/RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-050719202 A |
| Classmark | QNH: BG6: BB: DP: DS: 3F: 7T |
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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