Perceptions of individual and societal onset of old age: associations with views on aging in a sample aged 16 to 96 years.
There are considerable interindividual differences regarding when individuals perceive someone as "old" (i.e., perceived individual onset of old age). Individuals might also differ in when they believe that society considers someone as "old" (i.e., perceived societal onset of old age). We investigat...
| Published in: | European Journal of Ageing Vol. 22; no. 1; pp. 1 - 17 |
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| Main Authors: | , , , |
| Format: | Article |
| Published: |
Springer Nature
9/23/2025
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=188148782&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 188148782 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 16139372 3RAL jtl: European Journal of Ageing issn: 16139372 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: 9/23/2025 vid: 22 iid: 1 pid: 237 pub: Springer Nature artinfo: ui: 188148782 10.1007/s10433-025-00886-6 ppf: 1 ppct: 16 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 960KB tig: atl: Perceptions of individual and societal onset of old age: associations with views on aging in a sample aged 16 to 96 years. aug: au: Wettstein, Markus Kornadt, Anna E. Warner, Lisa Marie Kessler, Eva-Marie affil: https://ror.org/01hcx6992 Department of Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Humboldt-Universität Zu Berlin, Rudower Chaussee 18, 12489, Berlin, Germany https://ror.org/025vngs54 Department of Prevention Research and Social Medicine, Institute for Community Medicine, University Medicine, Greifswald, Germany https://ror.org/036x5ad56 Department of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences, University of Luxembourg, Esch–sur–Alzette, Luxembourg https://ror.org/001vjqx13 Department of Psychology, MSB Medical School Berlin, Berlin, Germany su: Germany Psychological aspects of aging Attitudes toward aging Health literacy Cross-sectional method Health status indicators Sex distribution Interviewing Population geography Social norms Ageism Sociodemographic factors Educational attainment Employment Age of onset Structural equation modeling Descriptive statistics Chi-squared test Surveys Conceptual structures Data analysis software sug: subj: Psychological aspects of aging Attitudes toward aging Health literacy Cross-sectional method Health status indicators Sex distribution Interviewing Population geography Social norms Ageism Sociodemographic factors Educational attainment Employment Germany Age of onset Structural equation modeling Descriptive statistics Chi-squared test Surveys Conceptual structures Data analysis software keyword: Age categorization Age stereotypes Age threshold Psychology and Cognitive Sciences Psychology Subjective age Subjective age views Age categorization Age stereotypes Age threshold Psychology and Cognitive Sciences Psychology Subjective age Subjective age views ab: There are considerable interindividual differences regarding when individuals perceive someone as "old" (i.e., perceived individual onset of old age). Individuals might also differ in when they believe that society considers someone as "old" (i.e., perceived societal onset of old age). We investigated how multiple indicators of views on aging (age stereotypes, subjective age, age knowledge, perceived ageism), socio-demographic factors (age, sex, education, region of residence), and self-rated health are related to perceptions of individual vs. societal onset of old age and with the difference between both measures in an age-heterogeneous sample. In the Age_ISM Germany survey, a representative sample of 2,000 Germans was recruited (age range 16–96 years, M = 56.6 years). We ran structural equation models with sampling weights and found that individuals report a perceived individual onset of old age that was on average more than eight years later than their perceived societal onset of old age. Perceived ageism was associated with an earlier perceived individual and societal onset of old age as well as with a greater discrepancy between both indicators. Feeling younger was associated with a later perceived individual onset of old age. Associations of views on aging, socio-demographics, and self-rated health with perceived individual onset of old age did not vary across age groups, whereas age-group differences emerged for perceived societal onset of old age. Our findings advance theoretical frameworks on views on aging by demonstrating a meaningful discrepancy between perceived individual and societal onset of old age, which are uniquely associated with views on aging. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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