“To love, to create, to express, to live”- a typology of aging poems by older men

IF 1.9 3区社会学 Q2 GERONTOLOGY

Journal of Aging Studies Pub Date : 2025-09-01 DOI:10.1016/j.jaging.2025.101343

Dovrat Harel , Liat Ayalon

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Abstract

Poetry writing can serve as a means for personal expression of feelings, thoughts, and attitudes toward various subjects, as well as for a deeper understanding of lived experiences and identity. The present study examined the aging experiences of men over the age of 70 (N = 15), living in a continuing care retirement community in Israel, as reflected in the poems they wrote. The poems were analyzed using latent content analysis, resulting in a typology of three types of poems: a) Preparation for end-of-life poems, b) Positive aging poems, and c) Nostalgic poems. This typology can be understood in the context of gerontological theories, suggesting that the poems express emotional processes in old age: awareness of limited time, striving for ‘ego integrity’, and processes of assimilation and accommodation to achieve a sense of inner consistency throughout the life span. The study highlights the contribution of bibliotherapy, which allows older men to express a variety of identities and provides them with opportunities for negotiation, (re-)creation of identities, and agency.

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“去爱，去创造，去表达，去生活”——这是老年人诗歌的一种类型学

诗歌写作可以作为个人表达对各种主题的感情、思想和态度的手段，也可以作为对生活经历和身份的更深入理解的手段。目前的研究调查了70岁以上的男性（N = 15）的衰老经历，他们住在以色列的一个持续护理退休社区，他们写的诗反映了这一点。利用潜在内容分析法对诗歌进行分析，将诗歌分为三类：a)临终准备诗歌，b)积极衰老诗歌，c)怀旧诗歌。这种类型可以在老年学理论的背景下理解，表明诗歌表达了老年的情感过程：意识到有限的时间，争取“自我完整”，以及在整个生命周期中实现内在一致性的同化和适应过程。这项研究强调了阅读疗法的贡献，它允许老年人表达各种身份，并为他们提供协商、（重新）创造身份和代理的机会。

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来源期刊

Journal of Aging Studies GERONTOLOGY-

CiteScore

3.20

自引率

17.40%

发文量

审稿时长

50 days

期刊介绍： The Journal of Aging Studies features scholarly papers offering new interpretations that challenge existing theory and empirical work. Articles need not deal with the field of aging as a whole, but with any defensibly relevant topic pertinent to the aging experience and related to the broad concerns and subject matter of the social and behavioral sciences and the humanities. The journal emphasizes innovations and critique - new directions in general - regardless of theoretical or methodological orientation or academic discipline. Critical, empirical, or theoretical contributions are welcome.