Making Sense of Extreme Longevity: Explorations Into the Spiritual Lives of Centenarians

Abstract

As the population grows older and more individuals live into advanced age the oldest-old segment will continue to increase in size. This qualitative study analyzes data gathered using in-depth interviewing and explores the spiritual saliency for sixteen centenarians. Results illustrate the importance spirituality has for older adults over the lifecourse, particularly those in advanced age. Our findings indicate that spirituality is key factor of support, an important resource in late life, and maintains continuity over the lifecourse for the centenarians. Additionally, spirituality serves as critical component in the everyday lives of the participants and provide a framework for helping older adults make sense of having lived a very long life. The findings reported here support the need for researchers and practitioners to consider the importance of spirituality in late life, particularly for those in their last decades.

‘Just another day’: the lived experience of being a hundred years old for ten New Zealanders

“…In respect to case-to-case transfer (transferability), our study confirms other qualitative studies on centenarians that have specifically investigated the narrated experiences of centenarians (Pascucci and Loving, 1997; Archer et al ., 2005; Power et al ., 2006; Darviri et al ., 2009; Hutnik et al ., 2012; Manning et al ., 2012; Freeman et al ., 2013; Wong et al ., 2014; Holston and Callen, 2017; Scelzo et al ., 2018). Attaining extended longevity was seen as ‘just another day’, expressed in a number of different ways in most of the above studies, and was linked to specific lifestyles and life satisfaction.…”

The Experience of Living to an Extreme Age: A Meta-Ethnography

“…going to that church when I was 25 years oldthat's 75 years I've been a part of that church! (Manning, Leek, & Radina, 2012) I am beholden to no one. In contrast to connection, people described the need for personal autonomy, individuality, and self-determination.…”

“…going to that church when I was 25 years old—that’s 75 years I’ve been a part of that church! (Manning, Leek, & Radina, 2012)…”

The effects of social support, social networks, and functional ability on life satisfaction among oldest old adults

“…Turning to age differences, octogenarians had significantly larger social networks, more social support, higher levels of nurturance, and better functional health compared to centenarians. This is to be expected, as centenarians may outlive their loved ones closest to them (Hensley et al, 2012;Manning, Leek, & Radina, 2012;Smith, 1997), yet may have greater functional impairments in their advanced ages (Poon et al, 2007). However, it is important to keep in mind the variation in functional health among centenarians (Ailshire, Beltrán-Sánchez, Crimmins, & Kritchevsky, 2015).…”

“…For the current sample, about 72% of participants were widowed, which may affect responses to questions asking about a time when they were younger (and possibly before widowhood). Oldest old adults may outlive loved ones (Hensley et al, 2012;Manning et al, 2012) or need an increase in care for their ADL needs (Berlau et al, 2009) requiring a move into a care facility, any of which could influence their responses to questions comparing their satisfaction with life compared to a younger age. Future studies could examine the measures of life satisfaction among oldest old adults and identify the mechanisms for which there may be lower reliability and/or lack of significant associations with ADL, contrary to previous literature for older adults 65 and older.…”