Atlanta University Center DigitalCommons@Robert W. Woodruff Library, Atlanta University Center ETD Collection for AUC Robert W. Woodruff Library 8-1-1972 The personal and social adjustment among aged Negro Catholics of Holy Family Parish, Birmingham, Alabama Gloria Ella Welch Atlanta University Follow this and additional works at:http://digitalcommons.auctr.edu/dissertations Part of theSociology Commons Recommended Citation Welch, Gloria Ella, "The personal and social adjustment among aged Negro Catholics of Holy Family Parish, Birmingham, Alabama" (1972).ETD Collection for AUC Robert W. Woodruff Library.Paper 1225. This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@Robert W. Woodruff Library, Atlanta University Center. It has been accepted for inclusion in ETD Collection for AUC Robert W. Woodruff Library by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@Robert W. Woodruff Library, Atlanta University Center. For more information, please [email protected]. THE PERSONAL AND SOCIAL ADJUSTMENT AMONG AGED NEGRO CATHOLICS OF HOLY FAMILY PARISH, BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF ATLANTA UNIVERSITY IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS BY GLORIA ELLA WELCH DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY ATLANTA, GEORGIA AUGUST 1972 V Dedicated to MY MOTHER, Ruth Maggie Lee Tolliver Welch, MY FATHER, John Willie Welch, and MY FAMILY ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The writer wishes to express her appreciation to: Dr. Barbara Solomon, Associate Professor of Social Work, The University of Southern California, for reading the manuscript and making suggestions. Mrs. Josephine Yelder, doctoral candidate, The University of Southern California, for her suggestions and encouragement. The students attending the 1971 Summer Institute for Advanced Study in Gerontology, Gerontology Center, The University of Southern California for their sugges tions in the preparation of this paper. Dr. C. Terence Pihlblad, Emeritus Professor of the University of Missouri, who was kind enough to send the writer the Life Satisfaction Index A. Dr. Dennis Sims, thesis advisor, Atlanta Univer sity, for his comments and suggestions. Rev. Nathanael Kriscunas, C.P., pastor of Holy Family Church, for providing a list of older members. iv The older people from Holy Family Church, who participated in this study and for making it a reality. Rev. Nathanael Kriscunas, for his encouragement and friendship through almost twenty-three years of academic endeavor. Dr. David Rothman, physician, The Jewish Hospital of St. Louis, Missouri, for his encouragement and support during one of the most critical periods of my life. My parents and family, for motivating me in the academic field, contributing to making me all that I am, and giving me the emotional support to pursue graduate studies in Sociology. Gloria E. Welch TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS LIST OP TABLES Chapter I. INTRODUCTION Significance of the Problem The Theoretical Framework The Hypotheses Summary II. METHODOLOGY. . 55 The Sample Collection of Data Analysis of D&ta Summary III. SAMPLE CHARACTERISTICS 63 Sex and Marital Status Socio-economic Status Family Relationships Religion IV. SOCIO-PSYCHOLOGICAL VARIABLES AND ADJUSTMENT 74 Sex and Age and Life Satisfaction Self-Conception of Age and Life Satisfaction Health and Life Satisfaction Religion and Life Satisfaction Marital Status and Household Arrangements Education and Life Satisfaction vi vii Chapter Page V. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS. ......... APPENDIX A—Letter to Prospective Participants 112 APPENDIX B—Interview Schedule " 113 APPENDIX C---Life Satisfaction Index A. .* .' BIBLIOGRAPHY " * LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Percentage Distribution of U. S. Population over Age Sixty-five Compared with Study Group ,-, •••••••••• do 2. Sex and Marital Status of Study Group. ... 68 3. Educational Level Achieved 69 4. Employment Level Prior to Retirement .... 71 5. Number of Children 71 6. Subjects Classified by Age and Sex 75 7. Mean Adjustment Scores of Males and Females. 76 8. Mean Adjustment Scores Classified by Age and Sex. 77 9. Life Satisfaction Score and Age 78 10. Life Satisfaction Score and Sex 79 11. Self-Conception of Age and Life Satisfaction 80 12. Specific Diseases Reported 85 13. Self-Rating of Health 88 14. Life Satisfaction Score and Self-Rating of Health 88 15. Life Satisfaction Score and Religion .... 94 16. Life Satisfaction Score and Marital Status . 96 17. Life Satisfaction Score and Household Arrangements 98 18. Life Satisfaction Score and Education. . . . 106 viii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION The purpose of this research was to assess the personal and social adjustment of aged Negro Catholics of Holy Family Church, and to discover what factors seem to be associated with good personal and social adjustment within this group. This research sought to determine whether there was a relationship between a common index of personal and social adjustment—life satisfaction—and the behavior and attitudes of aging persons. More specifically, a sample of church-going recipients were interviewed in order to determine whether there were differences in the degree of life satisfaction experienced and whether these differences were associated with health, religion, marital status and household arrangements, income, education, and social par ticipation. The researcher wanted also to explore responses within this group to questions on health, means of liveli hood, education, living arrangements, involvement or partici pation in community affairs and in social institutions, and 2 how these are associated with personal and social adjust ment. The adjustment scale used was a modification of one designed by Cavan, Burgess, Havighurst and Goldhamer in preparation for the White House Conference on Aging in 1961;L The concept of adjustment was originally a biological one and was a cornerstone in Darwin's theory of evolution.2 In biology the term employed was adaptation. Darwin main tained that only those organisms most fitted to adapt to the hazards of the physical world survive. Biologists have continued to be concerned with the problem of physical adaptation, and many human illnesses are thought to be related to the processes of the adaptation to the stress of life. Such illnesses include diseases of the circula tory system that produce coronary attacks and cerebral hemorrhages as well as disturbances of the digestive tract such as ulcers and intestinal colitis. The biological concept of adaptation has been R. S. Cavan, E. W. Burgess, R. J. Havighurst, and H. Goldhamer, Personal Adjustment in Old Age (Chicago: Science Research Associates, 1949), p. 137. 2 Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species (New York: The American Library of World Literature, Inc., 1959). Hans Selye, The Stress of Life (New York: McGraw- Hill, 1956). "