In this interview I interviewed a male participant of 62 years of age, who I have renamed

“Robert” for the purposes of this interview, in order to maintain his anonymity. Robert is self-
identified as a man and African American. He's married and he's married for 34 years. He has
two grown sons, a daughter at 31 and a son at 28 and three grandchildren. His native language
is English.

Robert grew up and was born in Detroit, Michigan in a working class family. His father was
employed by an auto factory; his mother was a school cafeteria worker. Robert earned his
business administration degree and has held a majority of positions in operations management
at a manufacturing firm. He retired at the age of 60, but now works part-time as a consultant
and volunteers for a local community organization.

The interview was conducted in Robert's home in a peaceful setting of his living room. The
environment was comfortable and private, with minimal distractions. The interview was done
individually and took about 40 minutes. Robert was encouraged to answer the questions openly
and give illustrations from various stages of his life.

A notebook was used to record important points and brief follow up questions for the interview.
The interview questions came from the list of interview questions provided and had been
reduced to 10 questions for the interview.

The following 10 questions were used to guide the interview, from a list of the questions:

2. Tell about some of your favorite memories from childhood. Why were they fun?

3. What is a goal you would like to achieve in the next 5 years, and why?

3. Tell about a person who has been a role model for you.

4. Explain and expand on a piece of wisdom you have for someone younger than you.

How have your physical traits changed since you were in your 30s? What have you done about
these changes?

6. In which ways have you noticed a change in how you think?

7. Discuss how your view of death and dying has changed as you have gotten older.

9. What is the most important event or time period in history that you have experienced? What
impact did it have on you?
What have been your top 5 years of your life and why?

10. What are your plans for the future?

It's one specific challenge I had when I asked Robert about his perspective on death and dying.
Initially he provided a very succinct answer and appeared slightly awkward when he talked
about the subject. I didn't want to make him feel uncomfortable or put under pressure, so I gave
him some time and then I asked a soft question: "Has your personal experience changed your
thoughts on death? This left him feeling more settled and he finally relayed how his mother's
death had affected his thinking. I heard him and waited for him to finish his reply – I didn't
interrupt him often. This brought the discussion back to the questions of the interview and
made it a more substantive discussion.

The following sections provide more detailed summary and interpretation of three of the
questions. All of the responses are explained with the help of Erik Erikson's theory of
psychosocial development and the stages of generativity versus stagnation, and the last stage of
ego integrity versus despair.

Prompt: Write about a goal you would like to reach in the next 5 years, why is that goal
important to you?

Robert's summary of his response: His early life goals were centered around furthering his
career, promotion, and financial security to support his family. He's now in a different phase of
his life, put his health first, spend more time with his wife and grandchildren, and help others so
they don't have to go through what he did before.

This is understood within Erikson's stage of generativity versus stagnation which sees middle
and later years as a time of giving back and passing on to the next generation.

In a clear expression of generativity, Robert has said he wants to pass some of his own hardships
and failures down the line to younger people in hopes they won't fall into the same traps. He
seems to have overcome this developmental hurdle, giving up on career and toward family and
mentorship, and is now shifting his energies into contribution and away from stagnation or self-
focus.

The question: “As you've grown older, what have you learned about death and dying?”

Robert's summary of the answer: When he was young, death didn't seem real to him but he got
older and more funerals and more people who had died close to him and closer, especially his
mother made it more real. He explained that he now had a positive outlook on death and not a
negative, and that he now wanted to focus on the positive things in his life rather than the
negative issues.

This reaction is explained using Erikson's stages of ego integrity versus despair, that is, the way
folks in later adulthood consider death and assess the significance of their lives.

When Robert moves from the concept of death being distant to acceptance rather than fear, he
has progressed toward seeing death as a part of [Link] Robert moves from perception of
death as distant to acceptance, instead of fear, he has progressed toward death as a part of life,
toward ego integrity. Instead of feeling sad about death, he expressed that this was a reminder
to focus on relationships and family, which is congruent with a person's move towards
acceptance and coherence with life — a move away from regret.

Prompt: What have been your best years of life? Why?

Robert's response: He explained that there was no single best year because each of his different
ages was special in its own way: his late twenties for work progress, his thirties for marriage and
family, his forties for confidence in his career, and his early sixties for the freedom and
enjoyment of retirement. He has found something good in each phase of his life.

This response is also read through Erikson's stage of ego integrity versus despair, which is a
review and assessment of one's life as a meaningful and cohesive whole.
Robert's attitude towards the years in his life as good or bad is a part of a strong sense of his
ego integrity, in that he found value in all of them, not just some. He didn't say that he regretted
his youth or missed opportunities, but rather, he spoke of a “living on-going narrative” — a trait
of those who have made their life experiences a positive whole.