By Jordan Orbe, S.J., Psy.D. ’19

I will be presenting a poster on “Aging and Transcendence: An Examination of the Gerotranscendence Scale among Older Catholic Clergy.”  Many models of positive/successful aging focus on the maintenance of physical health and functional abilities. One alternative theory is gerotranscendence (Tornstam, 2005) which emphasizes a shift in perspective (transcendence) with aging. Using the survey data from 201 Roman Catholic priests (age 50 and older) in the United States, a confirmatory factor analysis was conducted on the 10-item Gerotranscendence Scale to assess the fitness of the original three-factor model (i.e. cosmic transcendence, coherence, solitude). The findings of the study showed partial support for the 10-item Gerotranscendence Scale. I was awarded the APA Student Travel Award. The purpose of the travel award program is to help psychology graduate students travel to the annual APA convention to present their research. Through this award, students can receive up to $500 each to support their travel to the APA convention, to be held in Chicago in 2019.