Attachment versus Disengagement: A Life-Span Conceptualization

Abstract

The potential usefulness of the concept of attachment in providing a conceptual schema for understanding relationships and involvements of older persons is described. It is suggested that the concept of disengagement be eliminated and that gerontologists as well as life-span developmental psychologists, focus instead on attachments of the elderly in order to gain a new understanding for the continuities and discontinuities in attachments across the life span, particularly in old age.