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27 - Grit and Successful Aging

from Part IV - Cognitive, Social, and Biological Factors across the Lifespan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 May 2020

By
Emma Rhodes  and
Tania Giovannetti
Edited by
Ayanna K. Thomas  and
Angela Gutchess
Ayanna K. Thomas
Affiliation:
Tufts University, Massachusetts
Angela Gutchess
Affiliation:
Brandeis University, Massachusetts
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Summary

Successful aging is a multidimensional construct that has been used by a variety of clinical and empirical disciplines to describe physical and psychological well-being among the elderly. While biomedical models of successful aging rely on fixed criteria related to health and disability status, psychological models emphasize dynamic processes that promote life satisfaction in the face of age-related declines. Psychological models have proposed individual traits that are associated with successful aging processes, including those related to coping with, adapting to, and compensating for age-related challenges (e.g., tenacious goal pursuit, flexibility, etc.). Grit is a noncognitive trait that may promote coping and compensation but has been relatively unexamined in relation to successful aging. The ability to adapt to age-related losses, such as physical disability and cognitive decline, may represent a previously unexplored facet of grit that is specific to older adults. Preserved cognitive functioning is an important component of successful aging that may be promoted by grit and the use of compensatory strategies. In the context of atypical cognitive decline, however, grit may fail to promote effective compensation and may instead result in the use of unsuccessful strategies or “costly perseverance.”

Keywords

coping processescompensatory strategiesflexible goal adjustmenttenacious goal pursuitgrit
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Cognitive Aging
A Life Course Perspective
 , pp. 499 - 513
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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