Styles of Reminiscence and Ego Development of Older Women Residing in Long-Term Care Settings

Abstract

Styles of reminiscence used in life stories, rather than being outcomes of life review undertaken in old age, may be the characteristic ways in which individuals at particular levels of ego development, think about, relate to, and recount the stories of their lives. To investigate the contention that differences in the styles of reminiscence [1] of older persons could be explained by their levels of ego development [2], seventy-five women residing in long term care facilities responded to the Washington University Sentence Completion Test and told the stories of their lives. A trend from higher to lower levels of ego development was associated with styles of reminiscence in the direction predicted. Women with Affirming styles had higher levels of ego development than women with the Negating and Despairing styles. Resilience seemed the most likely explanation for cases that did not fit predictions. Life stories are suggested for routine data gathering in long term care because they allow the essence of another person to be grasped and foster a different level of engagement than do conventional data gathering techniques.