Conceptualization of aging in a cross-national context

This paper presents a theoretical model of successful aging in a cross-national context. The major thesis is that objective congruence between individuals' age reference set and activity level leads to high meaningful existence. Although adult-age reference set is thought to be associated with lower meaningful existence, those with adult-age reference set and high activity are thought to have high meaningful existence. included in the paper are rationales of this thesis, specifically addressed to the content of American and Chinese cultures, hypotheses both within and between cultures as implied by the model, and policy implications.