If I Had My Life to Live over Again...

Abstract

The study was a replication of DeGenova’s (1992) study, aiming at identifying what elderly people would do differently if they had their life to live over. The Ss were 174 retired women (56%) and men (44%) born in 1927 or 1929, residing in urban areas. The subjects completed a questionnaire, Life Revision Index (LRI), developed by DeGenova (1992), assessing life revision in the areas of friends, family, work, education, leisure, religion, and health. The results show that education and leisure enjoyment are the areas with the greatest amount of desired change. More than 70% of the subjects would spent more time in education, if they had their lives to live over again. More than sixty percent (61.8%) would spend more time in doing things they enjoy in life. Three quarters of the subjects (75%) would spend less time with worrying about job. The high value of education and leisure enjoyment, together with low relative value of work, will be discussed in regard to the levels of formal education of this age-cohort, as well as to the possibility of changing values of work and leisure in society in general.