the world, is usually quite different from the situation we face in old
age. An active, conventionally masculine individual, for example, islikely to be interested in sports all his life. He will probably participatein team and individual sports in high school and college, but once hetakes on a family and career his opportunities for active participation inathletics may be cut drastically , since he no longer has the time or theinstitutional support. As he moves into middle age, physical limitationsmay pose yet another obstacle to participation. Professional athletes atthis point are normally forced to retire or to become coaches or manag -
ers instead of players. Amateurs may change their preferred sport, re -
placing basketball with tennis, or tennis with golf. Physical limitations
continue with age, and medical conditions may completely rule out vig -
orous activity . But an interest in sports and vicarious participation gen -
erally continue undiminished: The spirit remains willing, even if the
flesh is weakened. And the pace of activity (although not perhaps itsvigor) also continues. People who like to keep busy manage to do so inold age by choosing activities that they can handle and perhaps by be-coming more efficient in their motions. The range of individual differ-ences even in physical vigor is enormous, and some 80-year-olds keepup a pace that few 20-year-olds can match.
Or consider another example. Physicians trained in the 1950s
learned to practice a form of medicine that has since been revolution-ized several times. Although many of these men and women are still ac-tive today , they certainly do not continue to prescribe the same drugs,use the same diagnostic procedures, or perform surgery in the sameway . Their interest in medicine and in dealing with patients has contin -
ued unabated over the years, but their behavior has changed dramati -
cally . In fact, it is precisely because of their stable commitment to medi -
cine that they have bothered to learn newer developments.
Characteristic Adaptations
Characteristic Adaptations form the largest and most complex compo -
nent of the personality system, and although many of them have been
studied intensively , it is difficult to make generalizations about whathappens with age. Some Characteristic Adaptations are extremely sta -
ble: Think of the Southern accent of Senator Strom Thurmond or the
pianistic skills of Arthur Rubinstein. Others, like a route habituallyInfluences of Personality on the Life Course 209