Centre for Policy on Ageing



"Looking back, what period of your life brought you the most satisfaction"
Author(s)	Dorothy Field
Journal title	International Journal of Aging and Human Development, vol 45, no 3, 1997
Pages	pp 169-194
Keywords	Memory and Reminiscence ; Age groups [elderly] ; Quality of life ; Longitudinal surveys ; United States of America.
Annotation	Common myths hold that older persons are fixated on childhood memories, that they believe that youth is the best part of life, and that old age contains few satisfactions. Members of the Berkeley Older Generation Study, a longitudinal study, when asked on two occasions during older age to name the periods of their lives that brought them the most and the least satisfaction, dispelled these myths. The thirties and forties were popular choices for periods of great satisfaction, but childhood and adolescence were quite unpopular for these older individuals. "Right now" was named more often than any other life period as most satisfactory. Men and women did not differ in the reasons given for their choices. Each period provided its own pattern of satisfactions and disappointments, and strong individual differences were apparent. (AKM).
Accession Number	CPA-980827240 A
Classmark	DB: BB: F:59: 3J: 7T
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...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.