Edward Prager

Exploring personal meaning in an age-differentiated Australian sample: Another look at the Sources Of Meaning Profile (SOMP)

Abstract This exploratory study looks at what 461 Australians, aged 18–91, consider to be the most and least important sources of meaning in their lives. Based upon, and compared to an earlier Canadian study for which the Sources of Meaning Profile (SOMP) instrument was developed and examined, the major conclusions from the Australian study were fundamentally consistent with continuity theory. While some age-related differences in meaning orientations were found, there was nevertheless considerable consistency in the ratings given to the sources of meaning across the Australian age cohorts, with only 5 of the 16 sources of meaning employed in the Australian study significantly differing on the basis of age. Across cultures, there was similar consistency between the Canadian and Australian respondents, whose youngest and oldest respondent groups agreed that the most important sources of personal meaning are in participation in personal relationships, personal growth, meeting basic needs, participation in leisure activities, and in the preservation of values and ideals. Theoretical implications and practical applications are briefly discussed.

Sources of meaning in life for young and old Israeli Jews and Arabs

Abstract This paper presents preliminary findings generated by the Sources of Life Meaning (SLM), a special instrument compiled to measure the sources of meaning in life for two different ethnic and age groups in Israel. Respondents were 362 younger and older Arab and Jewish women and men. The results reveal the impact of ethnicity and age on most of the 10 sources of meaning, despite similarities in breadth of meaning manifested in the overall amount of meaning in life in all groups. The differences tend to vary according to age group, as more differences are apparent among the older respondents than among the younger ones. Gender impacted on only three sources of meaning, suggesting that culture and age may overshadow gender differences.

Perceptions of world benevolence, meaningfulness, and self-worth among elderly israeli holocaust survivors and non-survivors

It has been hypothesized that traumatic events may challenge and even disrupt basic individual assumptions about the world, including the perception of the world as a benevolent place, the meaningfulness of the world, and the self-worth of the individual. The present study compared the cognitive schemata of 61 Israeli Holocaust survivors and 131 controls. Multivariate analysis of variance indicated a significant overall Holocaust effect on World Assumptions. Univariate F tests implicated two of the three schemata investigated: world benevolence and world meaning. Exposure to the Holocaust accounted for almost all the explained variance in the world benevolence scheme, while sociodemographic variables contributed almost all of the explained variance to world meaning and self-worth. The theoretical implication of the results are discussed.

Meaning in Later Life: An Organizing Theme for Gerontological Curriculum Design.

A view of the older person as a meaning making individual is a phenomenological and existential orientation to education and practice in the field of gerontology that provides maximum opportunity for older persons to contribute their life experiences, their individual reality of aging to the theoretical and practical aspects of basic as well as advanced courses in gerontological social work. This article reviews some of the theoretical and empirical formulations of personal meaning in later life, as well as a student experiential and empirical study into the personal meaning dimensions of 198 Israeli younger and older men. The position expressed is that the most important component of gerontology education is the provision of opportunities—structural and contextual—for gaining a better understanding of reality through closer contact with older persons, including but also going beyond the field experience. The need for more humanistic, self‐constructive foundations for curriculum design in gerontology is b...

THE OLDER VOLUNTEER AS RESEARCH COLLEAGUE: TOWARD “GENERATIVE PARTICIPATION” FOR OLDER ADULTS

Although our experiences give us evidence of the vitality and potential of able older persons and demonstrate that they can learn new, complex skills, cultural stereotypes of the older person create in us a predisposition that sells short the competence and abilities of the very population to which our professional efforts are devoted. I describe several efforts devoted to the training and engagement of the older person in the area of social gerontological research, with emphasis on a Tel Aviv University‐based project in which 11 older volunteers, with an average age of 73, were trained in survey interviewing techniques to conduct a pilot study of frail elderly living in Tel Aviv. The positive results and their implications are briefly described. The question is raised as to why programs dedicated to the innovative and differential utilization of the growing pool of skilled and semi‐skilled retired aged are so few.

Caregiver burden and personal authority: Differentiation and connection in caring for an elderly parent

Abstract Personal authority in the family system (PAFS) is an intergenerational construct linking personal development and family interacton. Applied here to the notion of caregiver burden, PAFS was hypothesized to predict the degree of stress and strain experienced by adult sons and daughters giving care to their elderly disabled parents. Family variables related to the caregivers marriage were also assumed to play a role. Caregivers completed the Personal Authority in the Family System Questionnaire (PAFS-Q) and a measure of Caregiving Burden. Subscales of the PAFS-Q included intergenerational individuation, intergenerational intimacy, spousal individuation, spousal intimacy and intergenerational intimidation. Pearsons correlations showed that caregiving burden was significantly correlated to all intergenerational intimacy. Multiple regression analysis showed intergenerational individuation and intimidation to account for 21% of the variance in caregiver burden. Implications of these findings for theo...

Correlates of war-induced stress responses among late middle-aged and elderly Israelis.

Over a period of six weeks in the winter of 1991, Israel was exposed to hostile enemy actions unlike any others in its history. In the Gulf War, civilians were front-line targets for Scud missiles which fell in the heart of the countrys most heavily populated areas. One hundred and sixty-four late middle-aged and elderly Israelis were interviewed with respect to their emotional and behavioral reactions. Subjective health, gender, and attribution of meaning were the most significant variables, explaining most of the variance in the two measures of response. Satisfaction with informal network effectiveness was a relatively strong predictor of change in the affective distress variable. Degree of religious commitment and chronological age were weak but significant predictors of affective distress and social interaction distress respectively. Location of residence in relation to the missile impact zone was of no significance in explaining variance in the dependent measures. The findings are discussed in light of the uniquely subjective, interpretive context of stress phenomena, and the need to identify those variables that explain individual differences among older adults in their responses to stress.

Cognitive Control as a Buffer of War-Induced Stress in a Middle-Aged and Older Israeli Sample

Three weeks after the outbreak of the Scud Missile crisis residents of Tel Aviv and the outlying regions, aged 50–91 participated in a study the focus of which was the relationship between personal (cognitive) control of the aversive environmental stimuli and (1) distress in areas of mood and affect, and (2) distress in interaction with the social environment. Personal control was measured along two dimensions: perceived control of the situation and attribution of meaning to events and their outcomes. Findings revealed no significant differences between age categories in levels of cognitive control or in levels of distress. Situation control emerged as the most significant variable in explaining variation in distress scores. Attribution of meaning, though significantly related to situation control, was only a moderately significant predictor of interaction distress. The findings support the thesis that the existence of a causal link between life events and psychological equilibrium makes theoretical sense only when the cognitive structure of such events for individuals is considered.

Organizational involvement as a correlate of relocation adjustment amongst elderly movers to Israel

Voluntary environmental relocation in the later years of life necessitates the reestablishment of a sense of self in relation to the new surroundings as a requisite to satisfactory adjustment and the maintenance of morale. A sample of 223 relocators to Israel were surveyed, the focus being upon the significance of organizational (formal) and intimate, non-obligatory (informal) activity involvements for relocation adjustment. Of the two activity clusters, only involvement in formal activities was found to be significantly correlated with an index of adjustment.

ADDING AN EXPERIENTIAL DIMENSION TO UNDERGRADUATE GERONTOLOGICAL EDUCATION: THE “VIDEO THESIS”

The authors outline an application of the video medium in helping social work students in aging see, hear, and feel a pertinent issue in social gerontology through the creative use of video technology. Through the process of involving small groups of students in a self‐directed experiential learning situation with an older person, and the videotaped documentation of those situations by the students, the learner and his or her aged subject together became teachers, communicating their understanding and perceptions of a gerontologically relevant issue to the viewing audience. The learner not only became totally engaged in the learning process, but, with the aid of the video medium, became creatively involved in an area of practice that unfortunately continues to conjure up images of stagnation and deterioration.