Aging and Well-Being: Views, Experiences and Contexts.

Abstract

The growing aging of the population has brought to the fore the problem of how to age with greater quality of life and well-being. The goal of this work is to review and reflect on the research that we have been developing to improve our understanding about the factors associated with well-being and quality of life in aging. First, a set of studies aimed to understand the point of view of the elderly about specific contexts of their lives. Some studies focused the rights that the elderly perceive to have in the residential structures where they live. Other studies, with elderly people who live in their own home, intended to enlighten the role of spirituality/religiosity or the perceived contribution to well-being of attending a senior university. A second set of studies provided some contributions to understand how youth describe the positive functioning of middle-aged and elderly peo- ple, or how the perception of affection received from grandparents is associated with the well-being of youth. Questions for future research are also discussed.