ReviewThe Gerontologist2015
Examining Rowe and Kahn's Concept of Successful Aging: Importance of Taking a Life Course Perspective.
Review in The Gerontologist, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 62 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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
62 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Examining Opportunities, Challenges and Quality of Life in International Retirement Migration.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Pooled it
- Population Priorities for Successful Aging: A Randomized Vignette Experiment.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2020Trial
- Can grip strength capture what chair standing does? methodological considerations on functional measures and successful aging in three international cohorts.Aging clinical and experimental research · 2026Article
- Association of adverse childhood experiences patterns with successful aging trajectories: a prospective cohort study.BMC geriatrics · 2026Article
- The effect of spiritual transcendence and kinesiophobia on successful aging in older adults.Aging clinical and experimental research · 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 relationship between socioeconomic factors, social participation, behaviours, and healthy ageing: an analysis of longitudinal data.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Pathway analysis of cognitive resilience factors and cognitive function in the Long Life Family Study (LLFS).Neuropsychology · 2026Observational
- Is the process of successful sexual aging different in older partnered and non-partnered adults?PloS one · 2026Article
- But Is Ageing Really All Bad? Conceptualising Positive Ageing.Geriatrics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Low Social Engagement and Risk of Death in Older Adults.Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · 2025Article
- Successful sexual aging: conceptualization and Bi-Country (Croatia and Germany) measure validation.BMC geriatrics · 2025Article
- Longitudinal impact of different categories of adverse childhood experiences on social participation and informal social support among middle-aged and older adults in China.BMC public health · 2025Article
- The Complex Interplay Between Sleep and Healthy Aging: A Scoping Review.Nature and science of sleep · 2025Review
- Integration and completion: life wisdom and happiness of Chinese older adults from a life course perspective.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Activity of Daily Living and Depressive Symptoms in Chinese Older Adults: A Latent Profile and Mediation Analysis.International journal of public health · 2025Article
- Successful Aging and Subjective Aging: Toward a Framework to Research a Neglected Connection.The Gerontologist · 2024Review
- How Does Successful Aging Apply to Black Women? A Latent Class Analysis.The Gerontologist · 2024Article
2 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.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purpose of the studyThis article critiques Rowe and Kahn's conceptualization of successful aging using tenets of the life course perspective. DESIGN AND
methodsA review and synthesis of the literature on successful aging and studies that use a life course perspective.
resultsWe draw on life course principles that view development as a dynamic lifelong process, embedded in historical time and place, and influenced by the web of relationships individuals are linked to, as well as more distal social structural factors. This discussion questions the relatively static nature of Rowe and Kahn's successful aging model, its emphasis on personal control over one's later-life outcomes, and neglect of historical and cultural context, social relationships, and structural forces in influencing later-life functioning. IMPLICATIONS: Caution in using the model in its current formulation is needed, and we promote thinking about how successful aging can better align with micro- and macrolevel issues through utilization of a life course perspective.
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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.