By Stephen Beech via SWNS
People believe “old age” begins later than it used to, reveals a new study.
And women say that it starts two years later than men, according to the findings.
Today’s middle-aged adults and pensioners believe that “old age” begins in your mid- or late-seventies, years later than people born 40 years earlier.
For example, when those born in 1911 were 65 years old, they pinpointed the beginning of old age at age 71. But people born in 1956, when they were 65, said old age begins at 74.
The research team also found that as people aged, their perception of the onset of old age also pushed back. At age 64, participants said old age started at an average of 74.7. But, when aged 74, they said it started at 76.8.
The perceived onset of old age, on average, increased by about one year for every four to five years of actual aging.
Increases in life expectancy and later retirement could explain the shift in public perception of when old age begins, say researchers.
But they also found that the trend toward a later perceived onset of old age has slowed in recent years.
Study author Dr. Markus Wettstein, of Humboldt University in Germany, said: “Life expectancy has increased, which might contribute to a later perceived onset of old age.
“Also, some aspects of health have improved over time, so that people of a certain age who were regarded as old in the past may no longer be considered old nowadays.”
Dr. Wettstein and his colleagues analyzed data from more than 14,000 people living in Germany born between 1911 and 1974. The participants answered survey questions up to eight times over 25 years, from 1996 to 2021, when they were between 40- and 100 years old.
Additional participants, aged 40 to 85, were recruited throughout the study as later generations aged.
Among the questions the participants answered was: “At what age would you describe someone as old?”
The research team found that compared with the earliest-born participants, the younger participants reported a later perceived onset of old age.
But the findings, published in the journal Psychology and Ageing, also showed that the trend toward a later perceived onset of old age has slowed in recent years.
Dr. Wettstein said: “The trend toward postponing old age is not linear and might not necessarily continue in the future.”
The research team also looked at how individual characteristics – such as gender and general health -contributed to differences in the perceived onset of old age.
They found that women, on average, said that old age started two years later than men – and that the difference between men and women had increased over time
The research team also found that people who reported being more lonely, in worse health, and feeling older said old age began earlier, on average than those who were less lonely, in better health and felt younger.
Dr. Wettstein says the results may have implications for when and how people prepare for their own aging, as well as how people think about older adults in general,
He added: “It is unclear to what extent the trend towards postponing old age reflects a trend towards more positive views on older people and aging, or rather the opposite – perhaps the onset of old age is postponed because people consider being old to be an undesirable state.”
