Gerotranscendence: A Critical Review

The theory of gerotranscendence, a developmental theory of positive aging was proposed by Lars Tornstam in 1989. It was based on the empirical researches done by him in late 1970s and early 1980s [4] and work of other theorists [5,6]. Tornstam began to explore aging with a phenomenological qualitative approach. 50 participants aged between 52 to 97 years were interviewed after a lecture by Lars Tornstam on the early concepts related to gerotranscendence [4]. The theory of gerotranscendence was also elucidated by quantitative studies including a retrospective study in which 912 Danish participants aged 74-100 were asked about gerotranscendence related developments in life [7]. This study was complemented by another cross-sectional research with participants aged between 20 to 85 years to describe the level of gerotranscendence at different ages [8]. The theory of gerotranscendence was also based on the former theories by Jung and Erikson [9-11].