Awareness of Death and Self-Engagement in Later Life: The Engagement Continuum

Abstract

This paper discusses three ideas: 1) The Engagement continuum—the range of activity patterns which succeed and supplement social disengagement in later life. 2) The relation between Awareness of Death and Self-Engagement, as the initial cause and final outcome of disengagement. 3) The practical implications in terms of effecting psycho-social transitions conducive to maximum self fulfillment in later life. The thoughts garnered in this paper are based on theoretical perspectives and empirical observations made in two cities in Canada and U.S.A., related to the theme.