[On the stability and modifiability of the sense of coherence in active seniors]. / Zur Stabilität und Modifizierbarkeit des Kohärenzgefühls aktiver älterer Menschen.

According to Antonovsky, the sense of coherence (SOC) determines health and wellbeing. This life orientation is shaped up to the age of 30 and is supposed to remain constant up to senior age. In a field study, in which the SOC, psycho-social resources and subjective health were assessed at three points in time, it could be shown for the first time that the SOC in old age can be malleable and expanding. The master sample (time t(1)) consisted of N = 58 active and "healthy" seniors at the mean age of 66.3 years (65.5% female), who decided to take part in a 14-week program focusing on physical activity and/or self-reflection (endurance training, strength training, yoga, or meditation), respectively. One year before, 90% of them had participated in the Greifswald Aging Study (t0). The intervention study was attended regularly by n = 42 persons (t1 and t2). The SOC and associated health appraisals remained constant over a period of one year (t0-t1); re-test reliabilities varied from satisfactory to very good. Overall, the current SOC (t1) was more important than the past SOC (t0) in accounting for current well-being (t1). The intervention (t1-t2) revealed that the elderly's SOC was significantly strengthened-independently of the program they took part in. Correspondingly, participants' wellbeing, subjective health and psycho-social resources were enhanced. Taking part in a systematic, age-based and group-oriented program that encourages an active and productive every-day life brings about coherence-promoting and health-promoting life experiences in old age.

[Salutogenesis in old age]. / Salutogenese im Alter.

In this contribution, the significance of the salutogenic model (Antonovsky) and its core concept-the sense of coherence-for research into "successful aging" is explicated on the background of a gerodynamic perspective (Schroots). Common to both approaches is the idea that the basic principle of life is based on imbalance, disease, and suffering (heterostasis). According to this pessimistic view, aging is considered as the individual time dimension on which these inevitable impairments in biological, behavioral, and social respects take place. The continuous increase in entropy (disorder) will finally result in the death of the organism. In the face of gerontological research showing variability and individual plasticity in aging processes-especially for the third age-, the salutogenic question is why some people generally become (very) old and stay healthy. According to the salutogenic model, the sense of coherence determines the (re-)production of order over the life span and mediates the relationship between resources/stressors and health outcome. Considering activity/disengagement theory and the selective optimization with compensation model as an example, the integrative potential of the salutogenic model is shown. Finally, the value of the salutogenic model for the fourth age is discussed. Healthy aging is one chance of human existence, but in no way a collective duty that should be imposed on the individual.