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Successful Aging and Activity Theory

🤝 Social Welfare By CampusDown Wiki Editorial Team Last updated
Quick answer: Activity theory holds that older adults who stay active or replace lost roles are more satisfied; Rowe and Kahn define successful aging as low disease risk, high physical and cognitive function, and active engagement with life.
Contents
  1. 1. Social theories of aging
  2. 2. Rowe and Kahn
  3. 3. SOC model
  4. 4. Critiques
  5. 5. References

Social theories of aging

  • Activity theory (Havighurst): replacing lost roles with new activities maintains life satisfaction; it underpins senior centre programmes and volunteering.
  • Disengagement theory (Cumming and Henry): mutual withdrawal of elders and society is natural and functional—criticised for ignoring diversity.
  • Continuity theory (Atchley): people adapt by preserving earlier patterns, personality and relationships.

Rowe and Kahn

Distinguishing usual from successful aging, they defined the latter as low probability of disease and disability, high cognitive and physical function, and active engagement with life.

SOC model

Baltes and Baltes proposed selection of key goals, optimisation of remaining resources and compensation for losses, illustrated by the pianist Arthur Rubinstein.

Critiques

The Rowe-Kahn model labels most older adults with chronic conditions as unsuccessful and individualises structural inequality, so subjective well-being, productive aging and WHO's active ageing framework are used alongside it.

References

  1. Havighurst, R. J. (1961). Successful aging. The Gerontologist, 1(1), 8-13.
  2. Cumming, E., & Henry, W. E. (1961). Growing Old: The Process of Disengagement. Basic Books.
  3. Atchley, R. C. (1989). A continuity theory of normal aging. The Gerontologist, 29(2), 183-190.
  4. Rowe, J. W., & Kahn, R. L. (1997). Successful aging. The Gerontologist, 37(4), 433-440.
  5. Baltes, P. B., & Baltes, M. M. (1990). Psychological perspectives on successful aging: The model of selective optimization with compensation. In Successful Aging (pp. 1-34). Cambridge University Press.

Reports and materials that use this theory (Korean)

There are no materials dedicated to this theory yet, but you can search related reports in the CampusDown library (Korean).

Find more reports · Search '성공적 노화와 활동이론' on CampusDown →
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This article was last updated on October 15, 2026. It is based on widely recognized original works and textbooks; when citing it in a paper, please check the original sources listed in the references.