台灣高齡者由自我認同邁向統整之歷程：雙文化自我的觀點

From Self-identification to Integrating the Bicultural Self: Older People in Taiwan

迎接超高齡社會，需要更多的研究理解如何邁向正向老化及其歷程，以利高齡者活得健康、正向，也讓非高齡者預作準備。故，本研究旨在探討身處Erikson理論中第八階段的高齡者，立意取樣具備統整人生樣貌的參與者，探究其自青春期起的自我認同至邁向統整人生的歷程。研究參與者為8位經推薦之正向老化的高齡者，擁有不同的職業。經深度訪談，爬梳其從青春期自我認同到老年期統整人生的歷程。結果發現統整人生的高齡者具備：「愛己所擇，滿足基本需求」、「心態致勝，懂得放下執著」、「退而不休，持續社會參與」等要素。高齡者的統整人生也深具華人特色，混合了個人取向自我及社會取向自我，呈現了雙文化自我的統整之樣貌，分別有「個人取向為主，社會取向為輔」、「社會取向為主，個人取向為輔」，以及「個人取向，社會取向相輔相成」的自我統整。本文深究了從青春期自我認同到邁向統整的人生歷程，不僅補足過去文獻的缺口，也提供實務界協助大眾正向老化的參考。

With Taiwan soon becoming a super-aged society, more concerted research is needed to understand the process of positive aging. Positive aging can help older people achieve a healthy and positive state, as well as help inform the general public regarding planning and preparing in advance for a meaningful later life. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explore the process of self-integration throughout life among older people at the eighth stage of Erikson’s life-span development theory who have achieved some level of meaningful integration. A secondary purpose of this study is to reveal the role of the Chinese bicultural self in older people’s self-integration process. To provide an overarching theoretical framework for our exploratory study, we synthesize Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development with the psychological characteristics of self-actualizers in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory to examine the challenges of achieving an integrated life in Erikson’s last phase of human development. Our participants were eight older Chinese persons nominated by their family and friends who have achieved some level of positive aging. They have different degrees of educational attainment and diverse life experiences, working in various occupations before retirement such as university professors, civil servants, and farmers. Through analyzing in-depth interviews, we unravel the evolutionary process from adolescent self-identity to older age self-integration in each participant’s life course. Our analysis shows that older people who had successfully integrated their meaning in life have the following common features:“Loving one’s own choices and satisfying basic psychological needs,”“Having positive attitudes and knowing how to let go,”and“Retiring from work but continuing to participate in society.”First, the older people who claimed to love their own choices while satisfying basic psychological needs had a clear understanding of themselves and their basic needs; they had thus strived to be the best version of themselves in leading a meaningful life, fulfilling their wishes and desires, doing what they love, and achieving financial security while maintaining healthy and disciplined life routines. Second, the older people who claimed to have positive attitudes and know how to let go held positive outlooks in life; they enjoyed themselves by living in the moment and letting go of their children; they went through life with a grateful heart and tried to stay young, knowing how to let go and not forcing unattainable things as time went by. Third, the older people who claimed to retire from work but continue to participate in society were those who lived a comfortable, but nonetheless busy and fulfilling life after retirement; they enjoyed their retired life, while continuing to study, to cultivate their interests, to actively participate in and contribute to society through continuous engagement, continuous learning, maintaining cognitive abilities, and giving back to their community in a myriad of ways.
Another major finding of the present study is that the accomplished integration of older people in Taiwan is underpinned by the distinctive role of the Chinese bicultural self, that is, the coherent and effective mixing of the individual-oriented and social-oriented self, manifesting itself as a hybrid form of self-systems: bicultural self-integration. We unraveled the following types or forms of possible bicultural self-integration. The first type or form of bicultural self-integration is the individual-oriented self-dominating self, with the social-oriented self playing a supplementary role. These older people had already formed a clear personal goal and direction in the early stage of adolescent self-identification, with“being myself”at the core of their self-identity. Nonetheless, they still managed to maintain good collaborations with others throughout life, and were eventually able to move towards an integrated sense of life. The second type or form of bicultural self-integration is the social-oriented self-dominating self, with the individual-oriented self playing a supplementary role. These older people had identified with social norms and social role prescriptions very early in life and enjoyed social role-playing. They too could clearly identify the purpose and direction of their life, and eventually move towards an integrated sense of life. The last type or form of bicultural self-integration is the individual-oriented self and social-oriented self uniting and complementing each other. These older people had achieved a clear self-understanding and established a solid self-identity in the early stages of life; nonetheless, they could take into accounts of the needs of their family and the larger society. Striving to balance the needs and desires of both their personal orientation and social orientation, they eventually moved towards an integrated sense of life. In summary, the present study is one of the very first to explore the deeply personal journey from adolescent self-identification all the way through to self-integration in older age. The main contribution of our research is to close the gap between the psychological development and positive aging literature, adopting the distinctive perspective of the bicultural self. The thrust of our findings is to provide practical insights into positive aging.