Successful Aging: De-Bunking the Myths and Viewing Aging From a Developmental Perspective

The life expectancy of older Americans has increased dramatically in recent decades – increasing at birth from forty-seven years in 1900 to approximately 76 years today (See Appendix 1). The first phase of this improvement in life expectancy resulted from a reduction in infant mortality and childhood death rates. The second phase of increasing life expectancy has occurred more recently, and involves a decline in death rates among middle-aged and older individuals. These most recent advances are due to two factors: people are taking better care of themselves, and science and medicine are taking better care of people (Rowe & Kahn, 1998, pp. 3-5). Currently, over 70% of Americans live beyond retirement age of sixty-five, and many of these people will live well into their eighties and beyond. In fact, some geriatricians have argued that the potential human lifespan could be as long as 120 years in the absence of accident or disease.