Expected Unchangeability of Life Stress in Old Age

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Abstract
Different approaches to cognitive theories of adjustment to aging were integrated into a model of adjustment to long-lasting stress in old age in which a series of cognitive appraisals of the situation and of transsituational beliefs is postulated. The role of beliefs in expected unchangeability of life stress (EU) was studied in a sample of aged persons with economic and/or health problems and a control group. EU was predicted to the greatest extent by life satisfaction which was introduced as a form or product of reappraisal of the situation. Aged persons scoring high in EU selected more problem behaviors as responses to stress. There was no behavioral pattern identical with the syndrome predicted by a theory of aging suggested by the construct of learned helplessness.

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