Finding Harmony in Aging

The effectiveness of the individual’s effort to meet his needs and adapt to his environment is called adjustment. It is a process by which individual tries to bring harmony, stable and satisfying relationship with his environment.

Aging is a natural phenomenon that refers to changes, which occur during the life span and results in differences in structure and function between the youth and the elderly.

Old age is the stage of life, when problems increase manifold. Present study is an attempt to analyze the problems of retired people. The study was conducted on 100 migrated retired people from villages and presently residing in district Srinagar .

The sample was contacted on purposive sampling basis. It was ensured that the sample were males belonging to the nuclear setup and having average socio-economic status.

To study adjustment the tool employed was Shamshad Jasbir Old age Adjustment Inventory (SJOAI) by Hussain and Kaur,it was found that retired people have problems in the home ,social, emotional ,martial and financial areas of adjustment which need to be addressed for developing positive mental health of the retired people .

The study further revealed that People between 60-70 years are better adjusted than those between 71 & above.

Table showing the response of the senior citizens towards various areas of Adjustment.

From this study we conclude there are significant number of senior citizens who struggle with their adjustment in day to day life. The need of the hour is to address the adjustment problems of our senior citizens so that they feel emotionally well connected.

Dr Zubair Saleem is a Senior Geriatric Consultant and a Gerontologist and Dr Showkat Rashid Wani is a Senior Coordinator, Distance Education, University of Kashmir.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are the personal opinions of the author.

The facts, analysis, assumptions and perspective appearing in the article do not reflect the views of GK