INT’L. J. AGING AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT, Vol. 34(2), 135-143,1992
IF YOU HAD YOUR LIFE TO LIVE OVER AGAIN: WHAT WOULD YOU DO DIFFERENTLY?
MARY KAY DEGENOVA Purdue University
ABSTRACT
’be goal of this study was to identify what elderly people would do differently if they had their lives to live over again. A random sample of 122 retired persons completed a questionnaire assessing life revision in the areas of friends, family, work, education, religion, leisure, and health. The results of this study indicate that education is the area with the greatest amount of desired change. Over any other area in life, men would spend more time pursuing their education, and women would spend more time developing their mind or intellect. While controlling for health, social activity, and income, educational level was found .to be the most significant predictor of life revision. This suggests that education is highly valued when looking back on life.
The study examines what elderly people would spend more or less time doing if they had their lives to relive. This idea assumes elderly people reflect back on their lives in an evaluative sense. This theory is supported by Butler’s presumption that the life review of one’s past is a natural process occurring in later life [l].It is characterized by the progressive return to consciousness of past experiences and the resurgence of unresolved conflicts. Butler posited that negative perceptions of the past are relevant in daily life in later life, and that reflections of the past, unresolved conflicts, and regrets affect life satisfaction [11. Butler and Lewis pointed out some of the positive results of life review as being a righting of old wrongs, making up with enemies, coming to an acceptance of mortal life, developing a sense of serenity, feeling pride in accomplishment, and gaining a feeling of having done one’s best [2].They argue the experience of reminiscence must be surveyed and reintegrated for old age to be met in an adaptive manner. 135
8 1992, Baywood Publishing Co., Inc.
doi: 10.2190/KTFT-59PA-C5K1-WTLJ http://baywood.com
136 I DEGENOVA
Coleman refers to Butler’s idea of life review as closely linked to Erikson’s last as it suggests a process whereby acceptance of one’s one and only life stage, cycle is or is not achieved” [3, p. 461. The idea of life review is similar to Erikson’s theory of later life being a time when personal adjustment involves the ability to sort through the memories of one’s life and pull them together into a meaningful whole [4]. Erikson indicates something of the hunger for a meaningful view in the last part of life, and the lack of more substantial and comprehensible alternatives [4]. Unfortunately, since his account was fiist written, the characteristics of ‘integrity’ that he describes: acceptance of one’s past life without regrets, a harmonious view of past, present and future, and a loss of fear of death, are rarely achieved [5]. Do older people frequently think about the past? The literature on life review and reminiscence is inconclusive on whether older people participate more in this process than any other age group. Although Cameron [6] and Giambra [7] did not find older people to be more involved in reminiscence about the past than younger people, they found that older people do think about the past. They also found that age was not a factor in frequency of reminiscence. Costa and Kastenbaum studied centenarians and found there is more engrossment in memories of the remote past than recent past [8]. Lieberman and Falk [9] and Revere and Tobin [lo] found older people reminisce more than middle age people. Some studies report that two-thirds of elderly people interviewed stated they do reminisce about the past [ll,121. Older people may or may not think more about the past than younger people, but from existing research one can assume that many do indeed think about the past. It is possible that everyone thinks about the past and the elderly are no different. It is certain, however, that whether they choose to think about the past or not, the better part of their lives can be viewed in retrospect at the age of sixty-five.
“. . .
METHODS
For the purpose of this study, life revision is defined as a desire or wish to change certain past thoughts, feelings, actions, or accomplishments relative to some object, person, activity, or situation, if it was possible to relive one’s past life. One of the biggest problems in conducting this research was the lack of previous research on life revision in later life. Since there was no existing measure, an instrument was designed by the author. The Life Revision Index consists of thirty-five questions dealing with what people would do differently if they could live their lives over again (Table 1). For example, “If you had your life to live over again, how much time would you spend with good friends?” The thirty-five questions are divided equally into seven subgroups: family, work, friendships, health, education, leisure, and religion. The participants were asked to indicate if they would do an activity
YOUR LIFE TO LIVE OVER AGAIN / 137
much more, more, about the same, less, or much less. To the right of each question, participants circled a number i dicating the desired response based on a five-point scale.
‘t
A total life revision score was calculated by adding the points from each question. The responses were recorded as follows: A great deal more = 10; more = 5; about the same = 0; less = -5; and a great deal less = -10. The absolute values were added together for scoring. Original values were added together to address the direction of the life revision, whether more or less activity was desired. Frequency distributions and multivariate statistics were used to analyze the data. Each subject received an overall life revision score. The mean life revision score was 92 (range 0 to 290), out of a possible range of zero to 350. The higher the score on life revision, the more change desired. It is difficult to measure the construct validity of this instrument since no instrument has attempted to measure life revision. Content validity was measured by gathering the opinions of elderly people and people in the field regarding the reasonableness of the measure. Items were reviewed according to the opinions of others. A group of twenty-five elderly persons, ten professors, and ten graduate students were involved in pretesting the instrument, and revisions were made accordingly. Reliability for the Life Revision Index was measured using the coefficient alpha. The internal consistency reliability (alpha) of the sample for life revision was .84.
Sample Procedure A random sample of 200 retired persons was drawn using the 1987 Lafayette, Indiana City Directory as the sampling frame. The directory lists occupations of everyone in the household, and retirement is a classification. The selection process consisted of randomly selecting 200 pages from the City Directory. Every fifth name in these pages was recorded until 400 names of retired people were selected. A random list of 400 names, addresses and phone numbers of retired people was compiled. The Lafayette phone book was used to acquire a phone number and recent address for each name. One hundred-twenty four of the 400 people listed were not found in the phone book and were removed from the list. Finally, 200 people randomly selected from the revised list were mailed a questionnaire to be filled out and returned in a postage-paid envelope. The response was 61 percent.
Participants The sample consisted of 122 participants, eighty-one females and forty-one males. The ages of the participants ranged from fifty-four to ninety-one years of age, with a mean age of 72.1. The range for educational level was from three to seventeen plus years, with the mean being 12.5 years. In general, the respondents
138 / DEGENOVA
Table 1. Life Revision Index DesiredTime
If you had your life to live over again, how much time would you spend
. ..
1. With good friends 2. Keeping up with good friends (letter wriiing, phone calls, visits) 3. In social activiiies 4. Developing friendships 5. Getting to know more people 6. In family activities 7. Keeping up with family members (letter writing, phone calls, visits) 8. At home with your family 9. Developing close relations with your children 10. Developing close relations with your siblings 11. Keeping up with the demands of work 12. In work activities 13. Worrying about your job 14. Financiallypreparing for the future 15. Developing your career 16. Keeping current on topics that interest you 17. In learning activities 18. Studying 19. Developing your mind or intellect 20. Pursuing your education 21. Traveling 22. Making sure you fit in leisure time or time for fun 23. Doing things you enjoy 24. Relaxing 25. Developing hobbies 26. In devotion to a religion 27. In charitable activities 28. Developing your spirituality 29. In prayer 30. Studying a religion 31. Developing good eating habits 32. Exercising 33. Taking good physical care of your body 34. On personal appearance 35. Visiting the doctor
Much more (percent)
Much More Same Less less (percent) (percent) (percent) (percent)
9.8
29.5
59.0
1.6
0
4.9 1.6 6.6 8.2 16.4
45.1 24.6 40.2 32.0 39.3
48.4 67.2 50.8 57.4 43.4
1.6 5.7 2.5 2.5 .8
0
9.0 9.0
40.2 21.3
50.0 68.9
.8 .8
0 0
8.2
33.6
58.2
0
0
6.6
23.0
67.2
3.3
0
.8 .8 0
9.8 4.1 0
72.1 78.7 40.2
16.4 16.4 50.0
13.9 11.5
31.1 31.1
52.5 55.7
1.6 1.6
4.9 3.3 7.4
32.8 36.9 34.4
61.5 57.4 56.6
1.6 1.6
13.1 15.6 13.9
43.4 45.5 38.5
43.4 37.7 45.1
0 .8 1.6
0
5.7 9.8 4.9 5.7 9.0 1.6 9.0 15.6 8.2
45.1 49.2 35.2 33.6 35.2 26.6 32.8 33.6 34.4
47.5 39.3 54.1 55.7 54.1 66.4 53.3 50.0 52.5
1.6 1.6 5.7 4.1 1.6 5.7 4.1 .8 4.9
0 0
0 .8 0 0 .8 0 0
14.8 11.5
26.2 44.3
58.2 41.8
.8 1.6
0 .8
8.2 4.9 .O
45.9 26.2 4.1
45.9 68.0 84.4
0 .8 10.7
.8 0 .8
.8
.8 0 0 0
.8 0 9.8
.8 0 0 .8 0
0 .8
YOUR LIFE TO LIVE OVER AGAIN / 139
were either married or widowed. Sixty-eight percent were married, 28 percent were widowed, 2 percent were divorced or separated and 2 percent were never married. The income level varied from under $lO,OOO to over $50,000, with the majority of participants falling between the $lO,OOO to $30,000 range. Three people failed to report their income and this was treated as missing data. Only 9 percent of the respondents reported being in poor or very poor health. Twenty-five percent reported their health as sometimes good/sometimes not, 46 percent reported good health, and 21 percent very good health. Most of the respondents did not rate high in social activity; only 8 percent reported being very active. Thirty-five percent responded as being active, 32 percent responded as being sometimes active/sometimesnot, and 25 percent reported being not very active. It should be noted that Lafayette, Indiana has a low ethnic population. Less than 3 percent of its population is either African-American,Hispanic, Asian, or Native American. This sample only allows for generalization to white, mostly middle class America. RESULTS
DescriptiveAnalysis
The direction of life revision (whether more or less change was desired) was examined for each of the items. The particular areas that over 50 percent of participants have spent more or much more time in were: family activities; financially preparing for the future; developing a career; developing one’s mind or intellect; pursuing one’s education; traveling; doing things one enjoys; exercising; and taking good physical care of one’s body. The only area that over 50 percent of the participants would have spent less or much less time in was worrying about one’s job (see Table 1). Although there was no significant difference in the amount of life revision experienced by men and women, there were some differences between men and women in what they would do differently if they had the chance. Men said they would spend more time pursuing their education. This was followed by, in order of importance: spending more time in family activities; financially preparing for the future; praying; developing a career; keeping up with family members; and developing friendships. Women would spend more time developing their minds or intellect. This was followed by spending more time: doing things they enjoyed; pursuing their education; in family activities; traveling; exercising; and praying. ExploratoryAnalysis
Since education was the area with the highest desired changes, it was hypothesized that education would be an important predictor of life revision.
140 / DEGENOVA
Standard multiple regression analysis was conducted looking at the effects of education on life revision. Since health, social activity, and income are important predictors of life satisfaction in later life [13], they were .entered into the equation as control variables. All the variables were entered together as one block. Outlying cases were removed from the analysis using a 2.5, z score criterion. The results revealed that R for regression was significantly different from zero, R2 = .44, F(4,117) = 23.7, p < .oooO (see Table 2). The best predictor of life revision was education with an F value of 8 2 . 3 ,
IF YOU HAD YOUR LIFE TO LIVE OVER AGAIN: WHAT WOULD YOU DO DIFFERENTLY?
MARY KAY DEGENOVA Purdue University
ABSTRACT
’be goal of this study was to identify what elderly people would do differently if they had their lives to live over again. A random sample of 122 retired persons completed a questionnaire assessing life revision in the areas of friends, family, work, education, religion, leisure, and health. The results of this study indicate that education is the area with the greatest amount of desired change. Over any other area in life, men would spend more time pursuing their education, and women would spend more time developing their mind or intellect. While controlling for health, social activity, and income, educational level was found .to be the most significant predictor of life revision. This suggests that education is highly valued when looking back on life.
The study examines what elderly people would spend more or less time doing if they had their lives to relive. This idea assumes elderly people reflect back on their lives in an evaluative sense. This theory is supported by Butler’s presumption that the life review of one’s past is a natural process occurring in later life [l].It is characterized by the progressive return to consciousness of past experiences and the resurgence of unresolved conflicts. Butler posited that negative perceptions of the past are relevant in daily life in later life, and that reflections of the past, unresolved conflicts, and regrets affect life satisfaction [11. Butler and Lewis pointed out some of the positive results of life review as being a righting of old wrongs, making up with enemies, coming to an acceptance of mortal life, developing a sense of serenity, feeling pride in accomplishment, and gaining a feeling of having done one’s best [2].They argue the experience of reminiscence must be surveyed and reintegrated for old age to be met in an adaptive manner. 135
8 1992, Baywood Publishing Co., Inc.
doi: 10.2190/KTFT-59PA-C5K1-WTLJ http://baywood.com
136 I DEGENOVA
Coleman refers to Butler’s idea of life review as closely linked to Erikson’s last as it suggests a process whereby acceptance of one’s one and only life stage, cycle is or is not achieved” [3, p. 461. The idea of life review is similar to Erikson’s theory of later life being a time when personal adjustment involves the ability to sort through the memories of one’s life and pull them together into a meaningful whole [4]. Erikson indicates something of the hunger for a meaningful view in the last part of life, and the lack of more substantial and comprehensible alternatives [4]. Unfortunately, since his account was fiist written, the characteristics of ‘integrity’ that he describes: acceptance of one’s past life without regrets, a harmonious view of past, present and future, and a loss of fear of death, are rarely achieved [5]. Do older people frequently think about the past? The literature on life review and reminiscence is inconclusive on whether older people participate more in this process than any other age group. Although Cameron [6] and Giambra [7] did not find older people to be more involved in reminiscence about the past than younger people, they found that older people do think about the past. They also found that age was not a factor in frequency of reminiscence. Costa and Kastenbaum studied centenarians and found there is more engrossment in memories of the remote past than recent past [8]. Lieberman and Falk [9] and Revere and Tobin [lo] found older people reminisce more than middle age people. Some studies report that two-thirds of elderly people interviewed stated they do reminisce about the past [ll,121. Older people may or may not think more about the past than younger people, but from existing research one can assume that many do indeed think about the past. It is possible that everyone thinks about the past and the elderly are no different. It is certain, however, that whether they choose to think about the past or not, the better part of their lives can be viewed in retrospect at the age of sixty-five.
“. . .
METHODS
For the purpose of this study, life revision is defined as a desire or wish to change certain past thoughts, feelings, actions, or accomplishments relative to some object, person, activity, or situation, if it was possible to relive one’s past life. One of the biggest problems in conducting this research was the lack of previous research on life revision in later life. Since there was no existing measure, an instrument was designed by the author. The Life Revision Index consists of thirty-five questions dealing with what people would do differently if they could live their lives over again (Table 1). For example, “If you had your life to live over again, how much time would you spend with good friends?” The thirty-five questions are divided equally into seven subgroups: family, work, friendships, health, education, leisure, and religion. The participants were asked to indicate if they would do an activity
YOUR LIFE TO LIVE OVER AGAIN / 137
much more, more, about the same, less, or much less. To the right of each question, participants circled a number i dicating the desired response based on a five-point scale.
‘t
A total life revision score was calculated by adding the points from each question. The responses were recorded as follows: A great deal more = 10; more = 5; about the same = 0; less = -5; and a great deal less = -10. The absolute values were added together for scoring. Original values were added together to address the direction of the life revision, whether more or less activity was desired. Frequency distributions and multivariate statistics were used to analyze the data. Each subject received an overall life revision score. The mean life revision score was 92 (range 0 to 290), out of a possible range of zero to 350. The higher the score on life revision, the more change desired. It is difficult to measure the construct validity of this instrument since no instrument has attempted to measure life revision. Content validity was measured by gathering the opinions of elderly people and people in the field regarding the reasonableness of the measure. Items were reviewed according to the opinions of others. A group of twenty-five elderly persons, ten professors, and ten graduate students were involved in pretesting the instrument, and revisions were made accordingly. Reliability for the Life Revision Index was measured using the coefficient alpha. The internal consistency reliability (alpha) of the sample for life revision was .84.
Sample Procedure A random sample of 200 retired persons was drawn using the 1987 Lafayette, Indiana City Directory as the sampling frame. The directory lists occupations of everyone in the household, and retirement is a classification. The selection process consisted of randomly selecting 200 pages from the City Directory. Every fifth name in these pages was recorded until 400 names of retired people were selected. A random list of 400 names, addresses and phone numbers of retired people was compiled. The Lafayette phone book was used to acquire a phone number and recent address for each name. One hundred-twenty four of the 400 people listed were not found in the phone book and were removed from the list. Finally, 200 people randomly selected from the revised list were mailed a questionnaire to be filled out and returned in a postage-paid envelope. The response was 61 percent.
Participants The sample consisted of 122 participants, eighty-one females and forty-one males. The ages of the participants ranged from fifty-four to ninety-one years of age, with a mean age of 72.1. The range for educational level was from three to seventeen plus years, with the mean being 12.5 years. In general, the respondents
138 / DEGENOVA
Table 1. Life Revision Index DesiredTime
If you had your life to live over again, how much time would you spend
. ..
1. With good friends 2. Keeping up with good friends (letter wriiing, phone calls, visits) 3. In social activiiies 4. Developing friendships 5. Getting to know more people 6. In family activities 7. Keeping up with family members (letter writing, phone calls, visits) 8. At home with your family 9. Developing close relations with your children 10. Developing close relations with your siblings 11. Keeping up with the demands of work 12. In work activities 13. Worrying about your job 14. Financiallypreparing for the future 15. Developing your career 16. Keeping current on topics that interest you 17. In learning activities 18. Studying 19. Developing your mind or intellect 20. Pursuing your education 21. Traveling 22. Making sure you fit in leisure time or time for fun 23. Doing things you enjoy 24. Relaxing 25. Developing hobbies 26. In devotion to a religion 27. In charitable activities 28. Developing your spirituality 29. In prayer 30. Studying a religion 31. Developing good eating habits 32. Exercising 33. Taking good physical care of your body 34. On personal appearance 35. Visiting the doctor
Much more (percent)
Much More Same Less less (percent) (percent) (percent) (percent)
9.8
29.5
59.0
1.6
0
4.9 1.6 6.6 8.2 16.4
45.1 24.6 40.2 32.0 39.3
48.4 67.2 50.8 57.4 43.4
1.6 5.7 2.5 2.5 .8
0
9.0 9.0
40.2 21.3
50.0 68.9
.8 .8
0 0
8.2
33.6
58.2
0
0
6.6
23.0
67.2
3.3
0
.8 .8 0
9.8 4.1 0
72.1 78.7 40.2
16.4 16.4 50.0
13.9 11.5
31.1 31.1
52.5 55.7
1.6 1.6
4.9 3.3 7.4
32.8 36.9 34.4
61.5 57.4 56.6
1.6 1.6
13.1 15.6 13.9
43.4 45.5 38.5
43.4 37.7 45.1
0 .8 1.6
0
5.7 9.8 4.9 5.7 9.0 1.6 9.0 15.6 8.2
45.1 49.2 35.2 33.6 35.2 26.6 32.8 33.6 34.4
47.5 39.3 54.1 55.7 54.1 66.4 53.3 50.0 52.5
1.6 1.6 5.7 4.1 1.6 5.7 4.1 .8 4.9
0 0
0 .8 0 0 .8 0 0
14.8 11.5
26.2 44.3
58.2 41.8
.8 1.6
0 .8
8.2 4.9 .O
45.9 26.2 4.1
45.9 68.0 84.4
0 .8 10.7
.8 0 .8
.8
.8 0 0 0
.8 0 9.8
.8 0 0 .8 0
0 .8
YOUR LIFE TO LIVE OVER AGAIN / 139
were either married or widowed. Sixty-eight percent were married, 28 percent were widowed, 2 percent were divorced or separated and 2 percent were never married. The income level varied from under $lO,OOO to over $50,000, with the majority of participants falling between the $lO,OOO to $30,000 range. Three people failed to report their income and this was treated as missing data. Only 9 percent of the respondents reported being in poor or very poor health. Twenty-five percent reported their health as sometimes good/sometimes not, 46 percent reported good health, and 21 percent very good health. Most of the respondents did not rate high in social activity; only 8 percent reported being very active. Thirty-five percent responded as being active, 32 percent responded as being sometimes active/sometimesnot, and 25 percent reported being not very active. It should be noted that Lafayette, Indiana has a low ethnic population. Less than 3 percent of its population is either African-American,Hispanic, Asian, or Native American. This sample only allows for generalization to white, mostly middle class America. RESULTS
DescriptiveAnalysis
The direction of life revision (whether more or less change was desired) was examined for each of the items. The particular areas that over 50 percent of participants have spent more or much more time in were: family activities; financially preparing for the future; developing a career; developing one’s mind or intellect; pursuing one’s education; traveling; doing things one enjoys; exercising; and taking good physical care of one’s body. The only area that over 50 percent of the participants would have spent less or much less time in was worrying about one’s job (see Table 1). Although there was no significant difference in the amount of life revision experienced by men and women, there were some differences between men and women in what they would do differently if they had the chance. Men said they would spend more time pursuing their education. This was followed by, in order of importance: spending more time in family activities; financially preparing for the future; praying; developing a career; keeping up with family members; and developing friendships. Women would spend more time developing their minds or intellect. This was followed by spending more time: doing things they enjoyed; pursuing their education; in family activities; traveling; exercising; and praying. ExploratoryAnalysis
Since education was the area with the highest desired changes, it was hypothesized that education would be an important predictor of life revision.
140 / DEGENOVA
Standard multiple regression analysis was conducted looking at the effects of education on life revision. Since health, social activity, and income are important predictors of life satisfaction in later life [13], they were .entered into the equation as control variables. All the variables were entered together as one block. Outlying cases were removed from the analysis using a 2.5, z score criterion. The results revealed that R for regression was significantly different from zero, R2 = .44, F(4,117) = 23.7, p < .oooO (see Table 2). The best predictor of life revision was education with an F value of 8 2 . 3 ,
