ABSTRACT
There can be observed in social gerontology a growing trend to study problems of stress and coping with stress in the context of discussions about the problem of the social competence of the elderly. Many of our colleagues feel that it would be more meaningful to observe the ways in which the aged are coping with life stress or “daily hassles” (Lazarus et al., 1978) instead of measuring their intelligence with tests developed in child psychology (Bischof., 1976). From this point of view stress is not studied primarily as a possible cause of illness and/or maladjustment. It is regarded as a challenge eliciting a broad range of responses from the aged person. Social competence is indicated by situation-specific selection of responses to stress.
