With good health and well-being as one of the Philippines’ sustainable development goals, it is crucial to look into the well-being of the elderly, considered a marginalized sector of the population. This study investigates flourishing—a measure of well-being—among one hundred and sixty-five (165) elderly Cebuanos who were asked to participate in two field experiments embedded in a survey. The experiments examined contexts that may lead to self-categorization into social identities and their effects on flourishing. Experiment 1 looked at self-categorization into elderly (e.g., grandparent) vs. non-elderly (e.g., employee) social identity and Experiment 2 looked at self-categorization into positive (e.g., wise) vs. negative (e.g., weak) elderly social identity. Existing measures of flourishing—Flourishing Scale and Flourish Index—were utilized for this study. The experiments showed that no matter what the context presented, the participants had a positive elderly social identity. The Flourishing scores of the participants were also unaffected and were, in general, high scores. Thus, the study participants appeared to be flourishing. The survey data about relatively stable factors such as their current conditions, the stresses they weathered and their coping styles, the level of individual agency they have, and especially, how they perceive being old, help explain their high levels of flourishing. Positive views of aging appear to be essential as one transitions to old age and categorizes the self as an elderly. These positive views may allow one to take on a positive elderly social identity that appears to be a key to flourishing.

Authors:
Rowena Mende, University of the Philippines Cebu, Philippines

About the Presenter(s)
Dr Rowena Mende is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of the Philippines Cebu. She joined UP Cebu in 2001 as a member of the faculty and has sat in various administrative positions for several years, from 2011 to 2021.

See this presentation on the full schedule – Sunday Schedule

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