Continuity in the lives of elder catholic women religious.

Data from life review interviews with thirty-nine elder Catholic women religious (68-98) show these women's lives do not conform to a sequential pattern of late life developmental stages. Their lives can best be understood in terms of continuous themes throughout individual lives. The majority of the women reach ego integrity in young old age and continue to reestablish this by adhering to themes in their life stories. Themes serve as a framework of the self. The main themes of the participants are: faith, family, education, friends, community, caring for others, and prayer. Communal aspects of religious life support the women in their continuous development of identity. Generativity is evidenced in their lives as an ongoing component of self-identity. These data show the continuous process of establishing ego integrity throughout late life. The life review data can best be explained using the continuity theory of identity development.