Abstract
In this chapter, we analyzed qualitative interviews with seven older adults (age range: 75–86 years) who talked about their economic deprivation experiences during the Great Depression almost 50 years earlier. Four of the older adults were rated highly on a wisdom measure, consisting of cognitive, reflective, and compassionate dimensions, whereas the remaining three adults were rated relatively low on wisdom, based on qualitative interviews conducted 8 years earlier. All respondents, regardless of wisdom ratings, reported that they managed the uncertainty and uncontrollability of the Great Depression by making the best of things and taking control of the situation and that they engaged in some altruistic behavior. Yet only high wisdom respondents described compassionate and empathic feelings that prompted their altruistic behavior. In addition, high wisdom respondents expressed gratitude and recounted profound life lessons they learned from adversity and a clear sense of communal mutual support during hard times. By contrast, relatively low wisdom respondents appeared to have learned only minimal life lessons, did not mention gratitude when talking about Depression hardship, and described social support that was either limited or one-sided. The findings illustrate the differential psychological impact of historical events.
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Notes
- 1.
All names are pseudonyms. Some demographic details were changed to protect the identity of the respondents.
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Many thanks to Glen H. Elder, Jr., PhD, for sharing the Berkeley Guidance data and the qualitative interviews with us.
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Ardelt, M., Kingsbury, J. (2022). Wise Coping During the Great Depression Years. In: Munroe, M., Ferrari, M. (eds) Post-Traumatic Growth to Psychological Well-Being . Lifelong Learning Book Series, vol 30. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-15290-0_16
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