The later years constitute Erikson’s final stage of the life cycle: ego integrity versus despair. As Erikson stated (1950, p. 231), those who have taken care of people and things and have adapted to the joys and disappointments that accompany living can harvest the fruits of their lives. Lacking such adjustment leads to feelings of despair because little time remains to search for alternative life choices as well as to heightened fears of death. Individuals struggle to evaluate and give meaning to all that has occurred: Is there a meaningful pattern and satisfaction in a job well done, or a sense of despair that life should have been lived differently?

To understand how older people feel about their lives, Fisher (1993) interviewed 74 people aged 60 or older. In his analysis of the study results, he divided these years into five separate periods:

1. Continuity with middle age. Many of the elders interviewed did not feel any abrupt change with old age and retirement, but rather felt a sense of continuity with their behaviors and activities of middle adulthood. Fisher believed that the added time they could devote to leisure activities substituted for work activities.