Adjustment and Mental Efficiency in the Aging Population

Aging is a journey etched in time’s embrace. It is life’s tapestry woven in wisdom’s hue. Old age is the closing period of life. It is the period when people move away from desirable periods or the time of usefulness. It is associated with deterioration of all physical and psychological factors, isolation from social economic and other activities. A study on elderly was conducted to examine adjustment and mental efficiency and to suggest the suitable measures for enhancing mental efficiency, which can help them to adjust to the change life patterns. Interviews were conducted to collect the data from the respondents. The study was carried out with 36 elderly living in old age homes in Jagadhri town of district Yamunanagar, Haryana and 40 elderly living with the families selected purposively. The findings of the study revealed that the majority of respondents (75.4%) had moderate levels of depression and mental efficiency. Elderly living with the families scored better than elderly living in old age homes in health, home, social, mental, emotional and financial areas of adjustment. 98.3% of respondents living in old age homes were poorly adjusted with regard to health, social, mental, emotional and financial areas. The psychological components of aging are interconnected with both biological and social processes, making it challenging to separate them distinctly.