Recent evidence suggests that the longitudinal association between subjective aging experiences, that is, the way people perceive and evaluate their aging process, and well-being-related developmental outcomes depends on individual differences. We investigated the moderating role of two processing strategies, that is, mindfulness and negative repetitive thought (RT), for the association between subjective aging experiences and depressive symptoms in middle and old adulthood. Analyses were based on two measurements covering a 4.5-year interval (Time 1: 2012, N = 423; age range = 40-98 years; Time 2: 2017, N = 299; age range = 44-92 years). Subjective aging experiences were operationalized as awareness of age-related gains and losses. Data were analyzed by means of a latent change score model based on a structural equation modeling approach. Mindfulness buffered the harmful effect of high levels of awareness of age-related losses on change in depressive symptoms. Conversely, negative RT exacerbated the detrimental effect of high levels of awareness of age-related losses and low levels of awareness of age-related gains on change in depressive symptoms. With regard to the interplay between awareness of age-related gains and mindfulness, effects were less robust, although the direction of findings was consistent with theoretical considerations. Effects were comparable across middle-aged and older adults. Subjective aging experiences are not operating in isolation, but always need to be considered in the context of the way individuals are cognitively dealing with them. (PsycINFO Database Record

Over the past decades, increases in life expectancy in most modern societies have raised questions about whether and to what extent individuals value possible extensions of their personal lifetime. In this vein, a new field of research emerged that investigates the determinants, concomitants, and consequences of longevity values and personal preferences for an extended lifetime across adulthood. Based on a review of available theoretical and empirical work, we identified 3 mindsets on the challenges and potentials of human longevity common in research as well as personal views: (a) an essentialist mindset that builds on ideal principles of an infinite life, aimed at conquering or significantly postponing a biologically determined aging process, (b) a medicalist mindset that appraises aging as being primarily based on quality of health, and (c) a stoicist mindset that associates longevity and lifetime extension with the experience of grace and meaning. In this regard, we submit that motivation for longevity and its behavioral consequences differ depending on what mindsets individuals adopt in a given developmental context. We suggest that mindsets of longevity motivation are embedded in personal belief systems (e.g., death acceptance) that may depend on health, and on context influences (e.g., culture). Mindsets of longevity motivation may be related to differences in health behavior and late-life preparation. We illustrate such ideas with an exploratory analysis from a cross-cultural data set. We discuss the possible implications of these mindsets of longevity motivation for the aging sciences, and with regard to individual ways of approaching old age.

Abstract. Awareness of age-related change (AARC) refers to an individual’s conscious knowledge about the gains and losses resulting from growing older. Personality traits reflect dispositional patterns of behavior, perception, and evaluation and should therefore influence the experience of AARC. The 4.5-year longitudinal study examines this association between personality traits and AARC in a sample of 423 individuals aged 40 to 98 years ( M = 62.9 years) using latent change analyses. After controlling for sex, health, and education, a different pattern of associations emerged for cross-sectional vs. longitudinal relations. Cross-sectionally, neuroticism was positively related to AARC losses, whereas openness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism were positively related to AARC gains. Longitudinally, the impact of personality traits on change in AARC was rather limited with only higher conscientiousness acting as a predictor of decreases in AARC losses over time. Overall, the findings add to the existing literature on associations between personality traits and subjective aging. Specifically, the results indicate that personality traits are differentially related to awareness of age-related gains in comparison to awareness of age-related losses.

Following theoretical models on wishful thinking, we investigated (a) whether personal aging ideals are discordant from self-perceptions of aging, (b) how such aging discordances evolve across adulthood, (c) whether current aging discordances are related to anticipated future aging discordances, and (d) whether aging discordances are related to a lower psychological well-being. We captured subjective age discordance (SAD) as the discrepancy between current perceived age and ideal age, and we captured subjective life-expectancy discordance (SLED) as the discrepancy between perceived life expectancy and ideal life expectancy. For the analyses, we used cross-sectional data from 1,015 individuals (M = 40.0 years, SD = 17.9 years; 52.1% women) and 2-year longitudinal data from 258 individuals (M = 55.3 years, SD = 17.3 years; 70.5% women). Both aging discordances were clearly present across the adult life span; that is, ideal ages were lower than perceived ages, and ideal life expectancies were higher than perceived life expectancies. A stronger SLED was associated with a stronger SAD, both cross-sectionally and longitudinally. Both discordances were also associated with lower psychological well-being in the cross-sectional analyses. Over time, lower life satisfaction predicted increases in SAD, and SLED predicted increases in negative affect. The results indicate that SAD and SLED are both highly prevalent and potentially functional because they seem to be related to psychological well-being. The discussion focuses on SAD and SLED as constructs for future research, their antecedents, and potential consequences.