SynthesisThe Gerontologist2015
Successful aging and its discontents: a systematic review of the social gerontology literature.
Synthesis in The Gerontologist, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 118 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
118 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 493 citations in OpenAlex.
- What Does "Successful Aging" Mean to you? - Systematic Review and Cross-Cultural Comparison of Lay Perspectives of Older Adults in 13 Countries, 2010-2020.Journal of cross-cultural gerontology · 2020Pooled it
- Understanding and Measuring the Wellbeing of Carers of People With Dementia.The Gerontologist · 2019Pooled it
- Sleep and Healthy Aging: A Systematic Review and Path Forward.Clinical gerontologistPooled it
- Trial
- Population Priorities for Successful Aging: A Randomized Vignette Experiment.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2020Trial
- The Mediating Role of Overweight and Obesity in the Prospective Association between Overall Dietary Quality and Healthy Aging.Nutrients · 2018Trial
- Adapting to a Shrunken World: A Grounded Theory of Resident Adaptation to Life in Residential Aged Care.Journal of advanced nursing · 2026Article
- Healthy Ageing without Health Equity? Capability, Justice, and Ageing Governance in the UN Decade.Journal of bioethical inquiry · 2026Article
- Intensive care admissions in older adults: are we moving from ageism to ableism?European geriatric medicine · 2026Article
- Digital Asceticism and Transcendent Aging: Reframing late Life through Monastic Wisdom and Humanistic Psychology.Journal of religion and health · 2026Article
- Association of adverse childhood experiences patterns with successful aging trajectories: a prospective cohort study.BMC geriatrics · 2026Article
- Association between residential physical environmental exposures and multidimensional successful ageing in the UK biobank.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Path analysis of subjective health status, healthy lifestyle habits, and successful aging in Korean older adults: path differences by age.BMC geriatrics · 2026Article
- Heterogeneity in healthy aging among U.S. Latinos: a dual functionality perspective.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2026Article
- The interplay of life satisfaction and cognitive reserve: implications for cognitive changes in old age.BMC geriatrics · 2026Article
- The Association Between MIND Diet Adherence, Nutritional Status, and Psychosomatic Health in Adults Aged 60+: A Pilot Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Subjective model of successful aging and its determinants-analysis of a cross-sectional study.BMC geriatrics · 2026Article
- Connections, negotiations, and tensions: Talking tech with older adults.Mobile media & communication · 2026Article
- Self-worth systems in aging societies: a narrative review and conceptual framework from self-esteem to healthy longevity.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Review
- Article
58 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purpose of the studyThe purpose of this study was to analyze the range of critiques of successful aging models and the suggestions for improvement as expressed in the social gerontology literature. DESIGN AND
methodsWe conducted a systematic literature review using the following criteria: journal articles retrieved in the Abstracts in Social Gerontology, published 1987-2013, successful aging/ageing in the title or text (n = 453), a critique of successful aging models as a key component of the article. Sixty-seven articles met the criteria. Qualitative methods were used to identify key themes and inductively configure meanings across the range of critiques.
resultsThe critiques and remedies fell into 4 categories. The Add and Stir group suggested a multidimensional expansion of successful aging criteria and offered an array of additions. The Missing Voices group advocated for adding older adults' subjective meanings of successful aging to established objective measures. The Hard Hitting Critiques group called for more just and inclusive frameworks that embrace diversity, avoid stigma and discrimination, and intervene at structural contexts of aging. The New Frames and Names group presented alternative ideal models often grounded in Eastern philosophies. IMPLICATIONS: The vast array of criteria that gerontologists collectively offered to expand Rowe and Kahn's original successful model is symptomatic of the problem that a normative model is by definition exclusionary. Greater reflexivity about gerontology's use of "successful aging" and other normative models is needed.
Indexed as
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.