Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T03:45:30.825Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Everyday Competence in Old and Very Old Age: An Inter-disciplinary Perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 November 2008

Margret M. Baltes ,
Ulrich Mayr ,
Markus Borchelt ,
Ineke Maas  and
Hans-Ulrich Wilms
Margret M. Baltes
Affiliation:
Department of Gerontopsychiatry, Free University of Berlin, Ulmenallee 32, 14050, Berlin.
Ulrich Mayr
Affiliation:
Max Planck Institute for Human Development and Education, Berlin.
Markus Borchelt
Affiliation:
Academy of Science and Technology, Berlin.
Ineke Maas
Affiliation:
Max Planck Institute for Human Development and Education, Berlin.
Hans-Ulrich Wilms
Affiliation:
Department of Gerontopsychiatry, Free University of Berlin, Ulmenallee 32, 14050, Berlin.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In the present paper the focus is on structural aspects of everyday competence and its relationship with various personal resources, such as health, social status, self concept and cognition. The findings support the hypothesis that two distinct, albeit intercorrelated, components of everyday competence are differentially related to the various resources examined in this paper. The two components are a basic level of competence (BaCo) which is defined mainly by self-care related activities, and an expanded level of competence (ExCo) associated mostly with leisure and social activities and advanced instrumental activities of daily living. In general, BaCo is more strongly related to health-related resources, and ExCo is more strongly associated with behavioural, psychological and social resources. 90.6% of the reliable variance in ExCo and 82.4% in BaCo are explained by these selected resources. Furthermore, all of the age-related variance in everyday competence is accounted for by these health-related and socio-behavioural resources.

Type
Research Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 13 , Issue 4 , December 1993 , pp. 657 - 680
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Baltes, M. M., Wahl, H.-W. and Schmid-Furstoss, U. 1990. The daily life of elderly Germans: activity patterns, personal control, and functional health. Journal of Gerontology, 45, 173–179.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baltes, M. M. and Wilms, H. U. 1992. Der Einfluß von Demenz auf das Alltagsverhalten [The influence of dementia on everyday activities]. Paper presented at the German Association for Psychiatry and Neurology, Cologne.Google Scholar
Baltes, P. B. and Baltes, M. M. 1990. Psychological perspectives on successful aging: The model of selective optimization with compensation. In Baltes, P. B. and Baltes, M. M. (eds), Successful Aging: Perspectives from the Behavioral Sciences. Cambridge University Press, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baltes, P. B., Cornelius, S. W., Spiro, A. and Nesselroade, J. R. 1980. Integration vs. differentiation of fluid/crystallized intelligence in old age. Developmental Psychology, 14, 625–635.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baltes, P. B., Reese, H. W. and Nesselroade, J. R. 1977. Life-span Developmental Psychology: Introduction to Research Methods. Brooks/Cole, Monterey, California.Google Scholar
Bandura, A. 1977. Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review, 84, 191–215.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bandura, A. 1989. Human agency in social cognitive theory. American Psychologist, 44, 1175–1184.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bentler, P. M. 1989. EQS: Structural Equation Program Manual. BMP Statistical Software, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Birren, J. E. 1959. Principles of research on aging. In Birren, J. E. (ed.), Handbook of Aging and the Individual. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Branch, L. G., Horowitz, A. and Carr, C. 1989. The implications for everyday life of incident self-reported visual decline among people over age 65 living in the community. Gerontologist, 29, 359–365.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Costa, P. T. Jr., and McCrae, R. R. 1985. NEO: Five-Factor Personality Inventory. Psychological Assessment Resources Inc., Talahassee, Florida.Google Scholar
Csikszentmihalyi, M. and Csikszentmihalyi, I. 1988. Optimal Experience. Psychological Studies of Flow in Consciousness. Cambridge University Press, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cutler, S. J. and Hendricks, J. 1990. Leisure and time use across the life course. In Binstock, R. H. and George, L. (eds), Handbook of Aging and the Social Sciences, third edition. Academic Press, San Diego, California.Google Scholar
Degkwitz, R., Helmchen, H., Kockott, G. and Mombour, W. (eds). 1988. Diagnosenschlüssel und Glossar psychiatrischer Krankheiten. Deutsche Ausgabe der Internationalen Klassifikation der WHO (ICD), 9. Revision (German version of ICD). Kohlhammer, Cologne.Google Scholar
Duffy, M. E. and MacDonald, E. 1990. Determinants of functional health of older persons. Gerontologist, 30, 503–509.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ekstrom, R. B., French, J. W., Harman, M. M. and Derman, D. 1976. Manual for the Fit of Factor-referenced Cognitive Tests. Educational Testing Service, Princeton, New Jersey.Google Scholar
Engel, R. R. and Satzger, W. 1990. Kompendium alterssensitiver Leistungstests (Compendium of ageing-sensitive cognitive tests). Munich University Psychiatric Clinic, Munich.Google Scholar
Ferster, C. B. 1974. Behavioral approaches to depression. In Friedman, R. J. and Katz, M. M. (eds), The Psychology of Depression: Contemporary Theory and Research. Winston, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Fillenbaum, C. G. 1985. Screening the elderly: A brief instrumental activities of daily living measure. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 33, 698–706.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ford, M. E. 1985. The concept of competence. Themes and variations. In Marlowe, J. H. A. and Weinberg, R. B. (eds), Competence Development. Theory and Practice in Special Populations. Charles C. Thomas, Springfield, Illinois.Google Scholar
Galanos, A., Fillenbaum, G. G., Cohen, H. J. and Burchett, B. 1991. Limitations of functional health status in the comprehensive assessment of community-dwelling elderly. Unpublished manuscript, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina.Google Scholar
Gordon, C., Gaitz, C. M. and Scott, J. 1976. Leisure and lives: Personal expressivity across the life span. In Binstock, R. H. and Shanas, E. (eds), Handbook of Aging and the Social Sciences. Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York.Google Scholar
Hamilton, M. 1960. A rating scale for depression. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, 23, 56–62.Google ScholarPubMed
Hamilton, M. 1967. Development of a rating scale for primary depressive illness. British Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 6, 278–296.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Harter, S. 1982. The perceived competence scale for children. Child Development, 53, 87–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hauser, R. and Semrau, P. 1989. Trends in Poverty and Low Income in the Federal Republic of Germany. Sfb-3 Working Paper No. 306, Universität Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main.Google Scholar
Hauser, R. and Stubig, H.-J. 1985. Strukturen der personellen Verteilung von Nettoeinkommen und Wohlfahrtspositionen (Structures of the distribution of net income and social welfare). In Hauser, R. and Engel, B. (eds), Soziale Sicherung und Einkommensverteilung. Empirische Analysen für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Campus, Frankfurt am Main.Google Scholar
Heller, K., Gaedicke, A.-K. and Weinlander, M. 1976. Kognitiver Fähigkeits-Test (Cognitive ability test). Beltz, Weinheim.Google Scholar
Helmchen, H. and Linden, M. 1980. Depressive Erkrankungen. In Bock, H. E., Gerok, W. and Hartmann, F. (eds), Klinik der Gegenwart, Vol. 11. Urban und Schwarzenberg, Munich.Google Scholar
Helmchen, H. and Linden, M. 1993. The differentiation between depression and dementia in the very old. Ageing and Society, this issue.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heyman, D. and Jeffers, F. C. 1970. The influence of race and socioeconomic status upon the activities and attitudes of the aged. In Palmore, E. (ed.), Normal Aging. Reports from the Duke Longitudinal Study, 1955–1969. Duke University Press, Durham, North Carolina.Google Scholar
Lawton, M. P. 1982. Competence, environmental press, and the adaptation of older people. In Lawton, M. P., Windley, P. G. and Byerts, T. O. (eds), Aging and the Environment: Theoretical Approaches. Springer, New York.Google Scholar
Lawton, M. P. 1983. Environment and other determinants of well-being in older people. Gerontologist, 23, 349–357.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lawton, M. P. 1987. Environment and the need satisfaction of the aging. In Carstensen, L. and Edelstein, B. A. (eds), Handbook of Clinical Gerontology. Pergamon Press, New York.Google Scholar
Lawton, M. P. and Brody, E. M. 1969. Assessment of older people: Self-maintaining and instrumental activities of daily living. Gerontologist, 9, 179–185.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lawton, M. P., Moss, M., Fulcomer, M. and Kleban, M. H. 1982. A research and service-oriented Multilevel Assessment Instrument. Journal of Gerontology, 37, 91–99.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lawton, M. P., Moss, M. and Fulcomer, M. 1986–1987. Objective and subjective uses of time by older people. International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 24, 171–188.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lazarus, R. S. and Folkman, S. 1984. Stress, Appraisal, and Coping. Springer, New York.Google Scholar
Lewinsohn, P. M. 1974. A behavioral approach to depression. In Friedman, R. J. and Katz, M. M. (eds), The Psychology of Depression: Contemporary Theory and Research, Winston, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Lindenberger, U., Mayr, U. and Kliegl, R. In press. Speed and intelligence in old age. Psychology and Aging.Google Scholar
Maas, I. and Clausen, G. 1991. Social participation of the very old: The importance of social and health factors. Paper presented at the 44th Annual Scientific Meetings of the Gerontological Society of America, San Francisco, California.Google Scholar
Mahoney, F. I. and Barthel, D. W. 1965. Functional evaluation: The Barthel Index. Maryland State Medical Journal, 14, 61–65.Google ScholarPubMed
Mayer, K. U. and Wagner, M. 1993. Socio-economic resources and differential ageing. Ageing and Society, this issue.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moss, M. and Lawton, M. P. 1982. Time budgets of older people: A window on four lifestyles. Journal of Gerontology, 37, 576–582.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Radloff, L. S. 1977. The CES-D scale. A self-report depression scale for research in the general population. Applied Psychological Measurement, 1, 385–401.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Staudinger, U., Smith, J. and Freund, A. 1992. The goal system: A facet of the resilient self in old age? Paper presented at the 25th International Congress of Psychology, Brussels.Google Scholar
Steinhagen-Thiessen, E. and Borchelt, M. 1993. Health differences in advanced old age. Ageing and Society, this issue.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tinetti, M. E. 1986. A performance-oriented assessment of mobility problems in elderly patients. Journal of the American Geriatric Society, 34, 119–126.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wechsler, D. 1955. Der Hamburg Wechsler Intelligenztest für Erwachsene (HAWIE) (The Hamburg Wechsler intelligence test for adults). Huber, Berne.Google Scholar
Wegener, B. 1988. Kritik des Prestiges, Westdeutscher Verlag, Opladen, Germany.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, R. W. 1959. Motivation reconsidered: The concept of competence. Psychological Review, 66, 297–333.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Willis, S. L. 1987. Cognitive interventions in the elderly. In Schaie, W. K. (ed.), Annual Review of Gerontology and Geriatrics. Springer, New York.Google Scholar
Willis, S. L., Jay, G., Marsiske, M. and Diehl, M. 1991. Longitudinal change and everyday task performance in the elderly. Unpublished manuscript. Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania.Google Scholar
Willis, S. L. and Marsiske, M. 1991. Life span perspective on practical intelligence. In Tupper, D. E. and Cicerone, K. D. (eds), The Neuropsychology of Everyday Life: Issues on Development and Rehabilitation. Kluwer, Boston, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Willis, S. L. and Schaie, K. W. 1986. Practical intelligence in later adulthood. In Sternberg, R. and Wagner, R. (eds), Practical Intelligence. Cambridge University Press, New York.Google Scholar