ABSTRACT

Very old adults have experienced many events in their lives, some many years ago, some more recently. This chapter highlights events perceived as the most important ones in the lives of centenarians. Domain-specific events are also considered in this chapter, including health events, family events, and work events. Finally, the impact of life events on the overall well-being of the oldest-old adults is considered. The evidence suggests that positive cumulative (“lifetime”) events reduce levels of negative affect, whereas cumulative (“lifetime”) negative events promote negative affect. When proximal events (i.e., those experienced in the past 20 years) and distal events (i.e., those experienced more than 20 years ago) are considered, proximal events are more likely to reduce levels of positive affect and enhance levels of negative affect. Distal events, on the other hand, are more likely to enhance overall feelings of positive affect.

INTRODUCTION

Individuals who have lived for a long time can look back on a life filled with many experiences. Formative life events can go back as far as early childhood, spread over the adolescent and adult years, and continue to occur very late in life. The effect of these events on physical and mental health, as well as on ways of coping and adaptation has been demonstrated in many studies. For example, a meta-analysis of 25 studies (Kraaij, Arensman, & Spinhoven, 2002) suggested that older adults in general may be at greater risk of depression because they have experienced an accumulation of many stressful events and daily hassles.