ABSTRACT
As part of the formidable task of conceptualizing adult development, Rowe and Kahn (1997, 1998) defined “successful aging” in terms of three main components. The first two are quite predictable. Successful aging entails: (1) a low probability of disease and disease-related disability; and (2) high cognitive and physical functional capacity. The third component, engagement with life, may have surprised some readers. Engagement with life, they argue, contains interpersonal relations and productive activities. The former includes contacts and transactions with others, exchanges of information, emotional support, and direct assistance; and the latter includes all activities, paid and unpaid that create goods and services of economic value (Rowe & Kahn, 1997). These authors noted it has long been recognized that isolation and lack of connectedness to others are predictors of morbidity and mortality. More recently, they cite a series of MacArthur Foundation supported studies that suggest that social support has positive consequences for both physical and emotional health.
