Coping with health problems in old age. A longitudinal approach.

An analysis of medical, psychological, and social data of the Bonn Longitudinal Study on Aging, comparing a subgroup of the BOLSA sample, which developed different forms of chronic disease four to six years after the beginning of the study, and a healthy subsample, points to different patterns of coping in these two subgroups. The sequence of these response patterns provides some evidence for a special form of psychosocial competence of chronically ill aged persons, which developed in an 'accelerated' way in the ill group, and in a retarded way in the initially healthy group. The findings emphasize the need for continuing research into the psychosocial aspects of coping with chronic disease in old age.