TY - JOUR
T1 - Subjective Age and Attitudes Toward Own Aging Across Two Decades of Historical Time
AU - Wahl, Hans Werner
AU - Drewelies, Johanna
AU - Duezel, Sandra
AU - Lachman, Margie E.
AU - Smith, Jacqui
AU - Eibich, Peter
AU - Steinhagen-Thiessen, Elisabeth
AU - Demuth, Ilja
AU - Lindenberger, Ulman
AU - Wagner, Gert G.
AU - Ram, Nilam
AU - Gerstorf, Denis
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021. American Psychological Association
PY - 2021/10/25
Y1 - 2021/10/25
N2 - A large body of empirical evidence has accumulated showing that the experience of old age is “younger,” more “agentic,” and “happier” than ever before. However, it is not yet known whether historical improvements in well-being, control beliefs, cognitive functioning, and other outcomes generalize to individuals’ views on their own aging process. To examine historical changes in such views on aging, we compared matched cohorts of older adults within two independent studies that assessed differences across a two-decade interval, the Berlin Aging Studies (BASE; 1990/1993 vs. 2017/2018, each n = 256,Mage = 77) and the Midlife in the United States Study (MIDUS; 1995/1996 vs. 2013/14, each n = 848, Mage = 67). Consistent across four different dimensions of individuals’ subjective views on aging (age felt, age appeared, desired age, and attitudes toward own aging) in the BASE and corroborated with subjective age felt and subjective age desired in the MIDUS, there was no evidence whatsoever that older adults of today have more favorable views on how they age than older adults did two decades ago. Further, heterogeneity in views on aging increased across two decades in the MIDUS but decreased in BASE. Also consistent across studies, associations of views on aging with sociodemographic, health, cognitive, and psychosocial correlates did not change across historical times.
AB - A large body of empirical evidence has accumulated showing that the experience of old age is “younger,” more “agentic,” and “happier” than ever before. However, it is not yet known whether historical improvements in well-being, control beliefs, cognitive functioning, and other outcomes generalize to individuals’ views on their own aging process. To examine historical changes in such views on aging, we compared matched cohorts of older adults within two independent studies that assessed differences across a two-decade interval, the Berlin Aging Studies (BASE; 1990/1993 vs. 2017/2018, each n = 256,Mage = 77) and the Midlife in the United States Study (MIDUS; 1995/1996 vs. 2013/14, each n = 848, Mage = 67). Consistent across four different dimensions of individuals’ subjective views on aging (age felt, age appeared, desired age, and attitudes toward own aging) in the BASE and corroborated with subjective age felt and subjective age desired in the MIDUS, there was no evidence whatsoever that older adults of today have more favorable views on how they age than older adults did two decades ago. Further, heterogeneity in views on aging increased across two decades in the MIDUS but decreased in BASE. Also consistent across studies, associations of views on aging with sociodemographic, health, cognitive, and psychosocial correlates did not change across historical times.
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U2 - 10.1037/pag0000649
DO - 10.1037/pag0000649
M3 - Article
C2 - 34694838
AN - SCOPUS:85119271743
SN - 0882-7974
VL - 37
SP - 413
EP - 429
JO - Psychology and aging
JF - Psychology and aging
IS - 3
ER -