Objective: We explored which factors are associated with subjective age (SA), i.e. feeling younger, the same as, or older than one’s
chronological age, and whether these factors differ between men
and women and between two age sub-groups.
Design: Cross-sectional study using qualitative and quantitative
data for 1457 individuals ...
Objective: We explored which factors are associated with subjective age (SA), i.e. feeling younger, the same as, or older than one’s
chronological age, and whether these factors differ between men
and women and between two age sub-groups.
Design: Cross-sectional study using qualitative and quantitative
data for 1457 individuals (mean age= 67.2years).
Main outcome measures: Participants reported how old they feel
they are and provided comments in relation to their SA
judgments.
Results: By using content analysis participants’ comments were
assigned to 13 categories, grouped into three higher-order categories (antecedents of age-related thoughts, mental processes, and
issues when measuring subjective age). SA may result from the interaction between factors that increase or decrease age-related
thoughts and mental processes that individuals use to interpret
age-related changes. Chi-squared tests show that individuals
reporting an older SA are more likely to experience significant
negative changes and to engage in negative age-related thoughts
than individuals reporting an age-congruent SA or a younger SA.
Women experience a more negative SA and more age-salient
events than men.
Conclusion: Individuals reporting an older SA may benefit from
interventions promoting adaptation to negative age-related
changes. There is the need to eradicate negative societal views of
older women.