| |
Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
 | |
|
After the fall of the Berlin Wall
— perceptions and consequences of stability and change among middle-aged and older East and West Germans | | Author(s) | Gerben J Westerhof, Corey L M Keyes |
| Journal title | Journals of Gerontology: Series B, Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, vol 61B, no 5, September 2006 |
| Pages | pp S240-S247 |
| Source | http://www.geron.org |
| Keywords | Social change ; Adjustment ; Well being ; Attitude ; Middle aged ; Age groups [elderly] ; Longitudinal surveys ; Germany. |
| Annotation | The self-system theory of subjective change is empirically tested in the light of rapid change after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The theory predicts that individuals have a tendency to perceive stability, and that perceived stability exerts a strong positive effect on subjective well-being. It would be expected that perceptions of decline and, to a lesser extent, perceptions of improvement to be related to lower levels of subjective well-being. Data were from respondents aged 40-85 who participated in the German Aging Survey. The authors used measures of well-being and temporal comparisons over the period 1986-1996. West Germans reported more stability than East Germans, in particular in the public domain and in older age groups. Compared with perceptions of stability, perceptions of decline were related to less life satisfaction and more negative affect, and perceptions of growth to more negative affect. These findings both confirm and reject the self-system theory of subjective change as it relates to the fall of the Berlin Wall. Studying temporal comparisons is important in understanding the effects of historical events and their timing within an individual life course. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-070504230 A |
| Classmark | TMH: DR: D:F:5HH: DP: SE: BB: 3J: 767 |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
|
| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
| |
|