Temporal Experience in the Aged: Body Integrity and the Social Milieu

Abstract

Variation in temporal experience among the aged has been found to be a function of a number of variables. The sociological and phenomenological literature suggest two as being of crucial importance: work and retirement and health and illness. These were investigated in the present study making use of a structured interview format with seventy male retirees. Differences in affect and temporal experience were examined using a 2 × 2 × 2 factorial design comparing groups in terms of Health, Willingness to Retire, and Time Since Retirement. In general, it was found that early in retirement those individuals who were healthy but had not wanted to retire resembled the chronically ill in terms of negative affect and temporal structure (that is, loss of a sense of future, constricted present, and “disconnected” past). Over time, however, these individuals restructured their world, reflecting a positive affect and a “full” temporal experience. This restructuration was in contrast to that which occurred in the chronically ill, who, irrespective of whether they wanted to retire or not, and irrespective of time since retirement, remained uniform in terms of negative affect and loss of temporal structure.