Psychosocial Factors for Successful Ageing

This paper aims to present the major psychological factors for successful ageing and mental health in old age. In particular, ways of maintaining and enhancing high quality of life in late adulthood are discussed. The major factors are: (1) physical health; (2) personal income and financial stability; (3) family dynamics and cohesiveness; (4) social support networks; (5) meaning of life ‐ goal setting and subjective evaluation; (6) maintenance of optimal level of cognitive functioning; (7) personal control and prevention of depression; (8) diversity of stress‐coping strategies; (9) mastery of bereavement and widowhood; (10) self‐justification mechanism of negative life outcomes. In order to check generality andlor universality across various cultures, the cross‐cultural approach was adopted.