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Early in life one must often work to achieve efficacy, control, and confidence. “I can accomplish; I can manage; I can do” are self-judgments that are earned only after many attempts, some of which are miserable failures.
Circumstances often compel elderly adults to ask themselves, “Can I still accomplish? Can I still manage? Can I still do?” Some older men and women seem to have an inexhaustible personal account to draw upon to maintain their confidence; others are more easily made to feel insecure when they encounter situations where their efficacy and control seems unequal to the task.
Anybody might have a particular experience in which “the old touch” doesn’t seem to work. It is when one starts to doubt his or her general ability to influence the world and exercise a reasonable amount of control that the danger of catastrophic anxiety arises.
The efficacy/control/confidence issue has its interpersonal and objective as well as its subjective side. One’s success in continuing to live a confident and competent life may depend much on how others cooperate.
A supportive “convoy” of friends and relations can provide just enough help to make up for possible age-related decrements in efficacy and control. The loss of significant others and the indifference of strangers can lead to a series of disappointments and frustrations that contribute to a loss of self-confidence.
The objective side is now the subject of intensified study of lifespan developmentalists and gerontologists. Studies conducted in field situations (e.g., nursing homes), as well as the laboratory, are exploring the limits and potentialities for maintaining control over one’s own life in the later adult years.
It would be premature to draw conclusions either about the nature and extent of age-related decrements in control or the possibility of compensating for deficits. For now it may be enough to note that objective control and the sense of control both are gaining recognition as major factors in adjustment to the challenges of aging.
Anxiety disorders should be less common, intense, and enduring among those elderly men and women who can continue to feel confidence in their ability to influence the world around them.
