Guest Editor's Introduction

Kenneth J. Branco
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Abstract

The articles in this issue of the journal were presented as a symposium on Spirituality, Religion, and Mental Health at the 52nd Annual Scientific Meeting of the Gerontological Society of America. They all explore some aspect of the question: Is emotional well-being improved, damaged, or unaffected by religious and spiritual belief and experience? Linda Foley looks for some of the correlates of spiritual well-being among older women. In samples including young, middle-aged and older people, prior research suggests that increased age is associated with increased spirituality. Foley finds that this is not the case within a sample of women ranging in age from their early sixties to over one hundred. Apparently, several decades spent within old age may not produce the same spiritual growth as decades from youth to middle age or from middle to old age. Is there a spiritual ceiling? Why not spiritual change within old age? Isn’t change and diversity one of the hallmarks of gerontological research in mental health? Are not at least some people able to continue to grow spiritually and to find meaning and life satisfaction even as they continue to age through life’s last chapters? She finds that there are surely spiritual differences among these women. A college education, better health and being married are all associated with higher levels of spirituality. Perhaps the key to spiritual and mental health is an ability to transcend the inevitable losses that accompany late life. Fereshteh Ahmadi Lewin and L. Eugene Thomas take us to other cultures to explore the relationship between gerotranscendence and life satisfaction. Their findings among Turkish Moslems and Iranian Sufis suggest that gerotranscendence is a quite valuable, but not the only, way to contentment and appreciation of life in the later years. They also find gerotranscendence and religion to be related in both groups, but in different ways. They argue that Turkish Moslems find their way to gerotranscendence through acceptance of suffering. Iranian Sufis follow a more
特邀编辑简介
这期杂志的文章在第52届美国老年学学会年度科学会议上作为“精神、宗教和心理健康”专题讨论会发表。他们都探讨了这个问题的某些方面:宗教和精神信仰和经历是否会改善、损害或不影响情感健康?Linda Foley在老年妇女中寻找一些精神健康的相关因素。在包括年轻人、中年人和老年人在内的样本中,先前的研究表明,年龄的增长与灵性的增强有关。Foley发现,在从60岁出头到100多岁的女性样本中,情况并非如此。显然,在老年度过的几十年可能不会像从青年到中年或从中年到老年那样产生同样的精神成长。精神上有天花板吗?为什么不能在老年时改变精神面貌呢?变化和多样性难道不是心理健康老年学研究的标志之一吗?难道不是至少有些人能够在精神上继续成长,找到生活的意义和满足感,即使他们在生命的最后篇章中继续衰老吗?她发现这些女人之间确实存在着精神上的差异。大学教育、健康状况和婚姻都与较高的精神水平有关。也许精神和心理健康的关键是能够超越伴随晚年而来的不可避免的损失。Fereshteh Ahmadi Lewin和L. Eugene Thomas带我们去其他文化中探索年龄超越和生活满意度之间的关系。他们对土耳其穆斯林和伊朗苏菲派的研究结果表明,超越年龄是一个相当有价值的,但不是唯一的,在晚年满足和欣赏生活的方式。他们还发现,在这两个群体中,超越性和宗教是相关的,但方式不同。他们认为,土耳其的穆斯林通过接受苦难找到了通往超越的道路。伊朗的苏菲派紧随其后
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