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Psychological Theories of Successful Aging

Encyclopedia of Geropsychology

Synonyms

Active aging; Healthy aging; Positive aging; Productive aging

Definition

The construct of successful aging has found a number of definitional efforts. In the most established ones, high physical and mental functioning, low risk for disease and functional loss, high engagement with life, and high well-being are emphasized.

Successful Aging and Psychological Aging: Historical Context

The vision to develop successfully lies at the heart of lifespan developmental psychology and developmental science at large. Successful development in early life and across the first half of life, particularly early adulthood, has been a major target of theory construction and empirical research in developmental psychology. However, the issue of successful development entered psychological aging research rather late, although the concept of successful aging has been treated since the beginning of the 1960s by scholars such as Robert Havighurst (1961). Indeed, Havighurst argued that both the...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychological Aging Research, Institute of Psychology, Heidelberg University, Bergheimer Strasse 20, 69115, Heidelberg, Germany

    Hans-Werner Wahl, Jelena S. Siebert & Benjamin Tauber

Authors
  1. Hans-Werner Wahl
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  2. Jelena S. Siebert
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  3. Benjamin Tauber
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hans-Werner Wahl .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

    Nancy A. Pachana

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Wahl, HW., Siebert, J.S., Tauber, B. (2015). Psychological Theories of Successful Aging. In: Pachana, N. (eds) Encyclopedia of Geropsychology. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-080-3_108-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-080-3_108-1

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Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Psychological Theories of Successful Aging
    Published:
    14 November 2015

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-080-3_108-2

  2. Original

    Psychological Theories of Successful Aging
    Published:
    11 July 2015

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-080-3_108-1

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