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Generativity as a Traditional Way of Life: Successful aging among Unangan Elders in the Aleutian Pribilof Islands

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Abstract

Predominantly Western-based biomedical models of successful aging have been used to research, understand, and explain successful aging among diverse populations. With an increasingly heterogeneous older adult population nationwide, scholars have been exploring Indigenous understandings of successful aging. To add to the accumulation of knowledge of diverse Alaska Native populations, this study involved semi-structured qualitative interviews with 20 Unangan Elders from the Aleutian and Pribilof Islands. This community-based participatory research study explores the aging experiences and conceptualization of successful aging of these Elders from this remote and culturally distinct region of Alaska. Thematic analysis was employed to identify themes related to successful aging within this specific region, which supported our previous four themes, or characteristics, of Alaska Native successful aging: physical health, social support and emotional well-being, generativity as a traditional way of life, and community engagement and Inidgenous cultural generativity. Each of these themes or characteristics of Eldership is intertwined and together support successful aging within two remote communities in the Bering Sea. The findings of this study illuminate how Alaska Native Elders can live in geographically diverse regions of the State, yet the values and teachings they possess on successful aging possess the same cultural values and teachings. This study highlighted two new emerging constructs that influence Alaska Native Elders' successful aging based on geographical location. Findings contribute to the thematic saturation of the four main successful aging domains while outlining the importance of future research to conduct deeper investigations into the role of environment and history on Elders’ perceptions and understanding of aging.

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Data availability

The datasets generated by the survey research during and/or analyzed during the current study are available in the Arctic Data Center at https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.18739/A2ZS2KF0D (Jordan Lewis. 2021. Alaska Native Successful Aging, Northwest, Anchorage, Aleutian Pribilof Islands, 2016–2021. Arctic Data Center. https://doi.org/10.18739/A2ZS2KF0D).

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Funding

This study was funded by the National Science Foundation, Office of Polar Program, Arctic Social Sciences (grant number 1522744).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Memory Keepers Medical Discovery Team, University of Minnesota Medical School, Duluth Campus, Duluth, MN, USA

    Jordan P. Lewis & Zayla Asquith-Heinz

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Alaska Anchorage, Anchorage, AK, USA

    Steffi M. Kim

  3. Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association, Inc., Anchorage, AK, USA

    Ashley Withrow

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  1. Jordan P. Lewis
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  2. Steffi M. Kim
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  3. Zayla Asquith-Heinz
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Correspondence to Jordan P. Lewis.

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Lewis, J.P., Kim, S.M., Asquith-Heinz, Z. et al. Generativity as a Traditional Way of Life: Successful aging among Unangan Elders in the Aleutian Pribilof Islands. J Cross Cult Gerontol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10823-024-09501-0

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