Suzanne Hamel

Valued Activities of Everyday Life Among the Very Old

Abstract Based on panel data from the Quebec Longitudinal Study on Aging, this article investigates the preferred types of activity of 80-85 year-olds, contrasting for gender and functional health condition. Both MANCOVA (p <.05) and ANCOVA (p <.01), with repeated measures, were used to assess the significance of a change in activity commitment. Results showed that respondents were more involved in emotional, spiritual, and social types of activity. Engagement in activities among older adults did not change significantly over a 1-year period. A reduced capacity in performing instrumental activities of daily living was found to have the most detrimental effect on valued activity. These results indicate that incapacity may have an adverse impact not only on physical activity, but on all other types of activity as well. The analyses suggest that the elderly manage to compensate for the loss in one type of activity by increasing their commitment in other types.

Stressful life events and psychological distress of the very old: does social support have a moderating effect?

The purpose of this paper was to examine whether social support has a moderating effect on the relationship between exposure to stressful life events and psychological distress. To test this, 224 men and women aged 81-86 were sampled from two municipal regional counties: Sherbrooke (and vicinity) and Trois-Rivières, in the Province of Quebec, Canada. The French version of the Geriatric Scale of Recent Life Events, the Psychiatric Symptom Index, and the Social Provision Scale were used. Multiple regression analyses revealed that social support did not cancel out the deleterious effect of life events on the outcome measure. The negative aspect of social interaction may explain why social support did not have a protective effect. Also, social isolation resulting from psychological distress could reduce the opportunity for instrumental help and emotional support.

PERSPECTIVE: A Psychological Outlook on the Concept of Transcendent Actualization

Transcendent actualization is viewed by Maslow, Assagioli, and Frankl as an optimal way to give spiritual meaning to ones existence and to live this meaning in everyday life. The purposes of this article are to present the concept of transcendent actualization; to discuss the prepersonal, personal, and transpersonal levels of growth; and to briefly describe the four components of transcendent actualization: In-Depth Perception and Holistic Perception, under Metacognition, and Presence of Being and Beyond Ego-Orientation, under Metamotivation.

TEMPORAL STABILITY OF THE TRANSCENDENT ACTUALIZATION INVENTORY

This paper describes a study of the temporal stability of a new inventory, the Transcendent Actualization Inventory, which aims to estimate actualization of psychospiritual potential. For 200 subjects, the test-retest reliability was .84 for Time 1 vs Time 2. Cronbach coefficient α was .81 at Times 1 and 2, as previously reported (N = 478).