OBJECTIVE The authors investigated the associations of medical and lifestyle factors with the mental health of men in their 80s. METHODS This was a prospective study of a community-representative cohort of older men. Successful mental health aging was defined as reaching age 80 years with Mini-Mental State Examination score (MMSE) of 24 or more and Geriatric Depression Scale-15 items (GDS-15)...

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY This article investigates lay perspectives of the concept of successful aging in young, middle-aged, and older adults from 2 cultures, the United States and Germany, to potentially guide the development of scientific theories of successful aging. The empirical findings are embedded in a comprehensive overview of theories of successful aging and life-span development and off...

OBJECTIVES Previous research revealed that successful aging includes both objective and subjective dimensions. This longitudinal analysis examines how early life influences and midlife characteristics predict stability and change in successful aging over a 4-year period. METHOD Data from 3,379 people living in New Jersey who completed baseline telephone interviews between 2006 and 2008 and fo...

THE MacArthur model of successful aging encompasses three principal components: low risk of disease and disease-related disability; maintenance of high mental and physical function; and continued engagement with life, which includes relations with others and productive activity, either paid or volunteered. In the 27 years since we first articulated the core principles of the model, it has recei...