title: Aging gracefully: a comparative study of Japanese and Malaysian women aged 65-75.
abstract: Longer lives and extended retirement have created a 'young old age' stage of life. How people spend their "young old age" has become increasingly important. This research aims to investigate the different ageing experiences of Japanese and Malaysian women and the activities they engaged in their "young old age". In-depth interviews were conducted to collect data and an adapted grounded theory approach was used for data analysis. Findings reveal many common characteristics for both groups of research participants. The emerging themes show that Japanese and Malaysian Chinese have different life missions evident in their daily activities, one passing on culture and the other passing on family values and life experience. They also differ in their choice of living arrangement (independent versus dependent/interdependent), attitudes to life (fighting versus accepting) and activities in which to engage (aesthetic pursuits versus family oriented activities).
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Counseling, Faculty of Arts and Social Science, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Jalan Universiti, Bandar Baru Barat, 31900 Kampar, Perak, Malaysia. Electronic address: kokjk@utar.edu.my.
authors.forename: Jin Kuan
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Kok
authors.affiliation: Centre for Foundation Studies, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Yuet Ngor
authors.initials: YN
authors.lastname: Yap
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000523:psychology; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology*; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003469:Culture; D004954:Esthetics / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008016:Life Change Events; D008017:Life Expectancy / Q000208:ethnology / Q000639:trends; D008296:Malaysia / Q000453:epidemiology; D036301:Qualitative Research; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology; D012945:Social Values / Q000208:ethnology
keywords: Aesthetic engagement; Ageing; Japanese women; Malaysian women