Gerotranscendence and active aging: the lived experience

Self‐transcendence and life stories of humanistic growth among late‐midlife adults

“…Previous research has shown that people who score high on self‐reported ST enjoy numerous psychological and social benefits. But few prior studies have examined the phenomenology of self‐transcendence—that is, what it feels like to be a self‐transcendent person moving through time (see though Garcia‐Romeu, Himelstein, & Kaminker, 2015; Raeesi Dehkordi, Eslami, Zamani Alavijeh, & Matlabi, 2020; Tornstam, 1997; Williams, 2012; Yaden, Haidt, Hood, Vago, & Newberg, 2017). Employing a life‐narrative approach (McAdams & McLean, 2013), the two studies reported here show that people high in self‐reported ST tend to construct humanistic stories of growth to make sense of their lived experience.…”

“…Previous research has shown that people who score high on self-reported ST enjoy numerous psychological and social benefits. But few prior studies have examined the phenomenology of self-transcendence-that is, what it feels like to be a self-transcendent person moving through time (see though Garcia-Romeu, Himelstein, & Kaminker, 2015;Raeesi Dehkordi, Eslami, Zamani Alavijeh, & Matlabi, 2020;Tornstam, 1997;Williams, 2012;Yaden, Haidt, Hood, Vago, & Newberg, 2017). Employing a life-narrative approach (McAdams & McLean, 2013), the two studies reported here show that people high in self-reported ST tend to construct humanistic stories of growth to make sense of their lived T A B L E 3 Correlational and multiple regression results for relations between narrative themes and self-reported self-transcendence Self-reported ST Note: For each narrative theme, the first number is the Pearson correlation between the narrative theme and self-reported ST, and the second number is the standardized beta for the narrative theme included in a multiple regression equation along with race to predict self-reported ST. Self-reported ST is a composite of the Adult Self-Transcendence Inventory (Levenson et al, 2005) and the Northwestern Ego Integrity Scale (Janis et al, 2011 experience.…”

How to Promote Gerotranscendence in Older Adults? A Scoping Review of Interventions

“…The relation between existential reflections and gerotranscendence (van Rhyn et al, 2022), the multiple pathways to achieving it (Tornstam, 2005), and older adults' natural identification with the theory (Heinz et al, 2017) suggest interventions can help develop and/or enhance gerotranscendence (Sánchez Cabaco and Fernández Mateos, 2019). Such interventions may also improve older adults' mental health, as higher levels of gerotranscendence has been associated with a greater degree of well-being, purpose in life, and life satisfaction and with lower levels of depression, anxiety, and fear of death (Braam et al, 2006(Braam et al, , 2016George & Dixon, 2018;Raeesi Dehkordi et al, 2020;Wang, 2011;Wang et al, 2015). Tornstam (2005) identified some exercises that may promote higher levels of gerotranscendence, while additional authors (e.g., Rajani and Jawaid, 2015a) proposed other relevant interventions.…”

“…However, the literature lacks a structured review of the existing evidence on gerotranscendence interventions and, thus, remains unclear on the characteristics of effective interventions, such as the way they are executed, the way gerotranscendence is addressed, and the associated outcomes. Systematizing these details can provide a greater understanding of whether and, if so, how gerotranscendence links to the benefits outlined in previous exploratory studies in practical terms and would add to existing evidence on interventions to support older adults’ mental health, well-being, and life satisfaction ( Sánchez Cabaco and Fernández Mateos, 2019 ; Raeesi Dehkordi et al, 2020 ).…”