A preliminary empirical test of a culturally-relevant theoretical framework for the study of successful aging

This article aims to shed preliminary empirical light on the assumptions underpinning a culturally relevant theoretical framework for the study of successful aging. On the basis of the Kluckhohnian theory of cultural variation, this framework suggests that congruence exists between value orientations concerned with man-nature, time, activity, and relationships, and the manner in which the construct of successful aging is understood. Methodologically speaking, the research project upon which this article is based started out by adapting and further developing the vignette-based instrument that Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck designed to test the theory of cultural variation. Vignette-based interviews were then conducted with 30 Iranian immigrants to Sweden as a preliminary test of the hypothesis of congruence. The results presented in this article suggest that, as posed in the framework in question, there is a relationship between the value orientations that people prefer and the various understandings of successful aging that they uphold. The results suggest also that there is a variety of ways in which the construct of successful aging can be understood, and that variety encompasses other ways of thinking about successful aging besides the master nature, future, productivity, and individuality-oriented views that characterize the gerontological debate. Although further research is necessary, these preliminary results do infer that this framework might offer a theoretically interesting approach to the study of individual, generational, and cross-cultural understandings of successful aging.