Exploring the relationship between normative aging processes, communication patterns, and life satisfaction among educated, higher-income older adults

Positive adaptation across the life course requires awareness of the varied ways in which normative changes in physical abilities, economic levels, living arrangements, family structure, and social network affect communication patterns for older adults. The purpose of the current two-phase, sequential mixed methods study was to test life course theory as it associates normative aging processes with changing communication patterns and life satisfaction for adults (N =66) over age 60 living in community-based dwellings (n = 35) or a group-living facility (n = 31) located in a central Texas city.; Data were collected in a single observation during Phase 1 using the Quality of Life Inventory(TM) (Frisch, 1994b) and Demographic Questionnaire: Normative Aging and Communication administered via interview survey format. Those participants who owned computers constituted the population (N = 40) from which the Phase 2 sample (n = 14) was drawn for the semi-structured interview about changes in communication patterns regarding aging and computer-assisted communication over the past decade.; Quantitative data were analyzed using Pearson Product Moment correlations, independent samples t-tests, Chi square, and step-wise multiple regression procedures within the Statistical Packages for Social Studies (SPSS) computer software program. Qualitative data used constant comparison and open coding to generate themes that were positioned within a life course theoretical model and selectively coded to interconnect the themes into a story relating normative processes of aging to communication patterns among older adults.; Findings of this study suggested that ecological composition of family structure, social network/support systems, and the role of communication played a significant role in adjustment to normal changes during aging and quality of life among older adults. Computer-assisted communication and cell phones increased the ease and frequency with which participants could stay in contact with family members, thereby reducing apparent distance and solidifying those relationships. Internet usage also increased the total size of the social network and participants' ability to reinstate distant friendships from the past. This research forged a link in the chain of successful aging by associating normative aging, communication, and quality of life for older adults.