[Coming to terms with death - a determinant of successful aging?]

Besides the process of individuation some physical, psychical, and social experiences were demonstrated which can be regarded as stimuli for a confrontation with one's own finitude at the beginning of the second half of life. The meaning of overcoming the prospect of death and dying within the second half of life was shown with reference to the concepts of "developmental task" and "crisis". Religiosity, future time perspective, life satisfaction, self-esteem and social integration were introduced as the most important variables which provide hypotheses concerning the process of working up death related experiences.