9 - The Bonn Longitudinal Study of Aging: Coping, life adjustment, and life satisfaction

Summary

The Bonn Longitudinal Study of Aging

The Bonn Longitudinal Study of Aging (BOLSA) was started in 1965 with a sample of 222 women and men born between 1890 and 1895 and between 1900 and 1905. The majority of the subjects (97%) lived in their own households in different parts of West Germany. Average length of education was 11.2 years, slightly above the average education of the German population, lower-middle-class status prevailing. In agreement with the planners of the Berkeley, Baltimore (Shock, 1984), and Duke longitudinal studies (Busse & Maddox, 1986), our design did not focus on testing specific hypotheses. Rather, we tried to assess the psychological, social, and physical situation of our subjects at each measurement point as comprehensively as possible. Each measurement session lasted 5 days; during this period, three semistructured interviews were conducted, each of which focused on different aspects of our subjects' lives. At the first interview, the current situation in all of its social, psychological, and physical aspects was emphasized, whereas the second and third interviews were directed toward the past and the future. Furthermore, subjects underwent a series of cognitive, psychomotor, and personality tests and were examined by a specialist for internal medicine. Data were collected between 1965 and 1984 in eight steps: first measurement in 1965/66, second in 1966/67, third in 1967/68, fourth in 1969/70, fifth in 1972/73, sixth in 1976/77, seventh in 1980/81, and eighth in 1983/84.