Abstract
The purpose of this study is to explore what makes the elderly women resilient in old age and how they reconstruct their later lives. This study used life histories extracted from tape-recorded interviews of 13 elderly women and analyzed key issues focused on how to adapt in old age. Main results are following: First, emerging themes to maintain life satisfaction in old age are related to both informants' inner and outer life worlds; subjective reinterpretation of life, feeling rich, family, social activities, overcoming social stigma. With supporting and supplementing one another, these five dimensions are important contributors to better later life. Second, where my informants search for meaning of life in old age is the critical clue of understanding the later life styles. Some of them are still searching meaning of life in roles as a ‘mother’, while others are finding their sense of worth outside the family or in themselves. These results show that the elderly are interacting with themselves and their surroundings in adapting to old age and different tie styles according to different sources of life satisfaction manifest the changes among the elderly and Korean society.