Many images of aging arise from long-term patterns of
falsely attributing pathologic conditions and undesirable
characteristics to normal aging. Unfortunately, these misperceptions
have been reinforced by terms, such as senility,
that equate aging with impaired functioning. In reality, studies
confirm that most older adults function independently
and report high levels of satisfaction with their health and
quality of life, even with their high prevalence of chronic
conditions. For example, 78% of a large cohort of 85-year
olds rated their health as good to excellent despite the presence
of significant levels of disease and 20% of the subjects
were completely independent in their daily functioning
(Collerton et al., 2009). Studies of nonagenarians indicate
that loss of independence declines only slightly between the
ages of 92 and 100 years (Christensen, Doblhammer, Rau,
& Vaupel, 2009). It is widely recognized that adults at any
age aspire to live a long, healthy, satisfying, and highfunctioning
life.