Changes in age identity: Self perceptions in middle and late life

Sherman, Susan R.

doi:10.1016/0890-4065(94)90011-6

Cited by 40 publications

(51 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…The prevalent view of good health is that it is for the young, whereas aging is associated with illness (Bernard, 1985). Indeed, several studies have found the onset of illness to be one of the primary reasons why people begin to feel old (for example, Bultena & Powers, 1978;Hori, 1994;Sherman, 1994), while the literature provides overwhelming evidence to demonstrate that better levels of health are associated with a lower self-perceived age (for example, Baum & Boxley, 1985;George, 1985;Suchman, Phillips, & Streib, 1958;Markides, 1980). Self-perceived age has also been studied as an aspect of self-concept theory (Barak, 1987;Barak & Gould, 1985;Barak, Mathur, Lee, & Zhang, 2001;Jeffers, Eisdorfer, & Busse, 1962).…”

Section: Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 97%

Understanding older consumers through cognitive age and the list of values: A U.K.‐based perspective

Sudbury

Simcock

2008

Psychology and Marketing

103

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Although the importance of older consumers to marketers is well documented, there exists a relative paucity of U.K.-based empirical studies into the perceptions and values of these consumers. This is the first study to investigate the relationship between age, cognitive age, and values of consumers aged between 50 and 79 years (n ‫؍‬ 650). Results confirm that by combining cognitive age with the List of Values, much richer insights into the 50؉ market can be gained.

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Section: Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 97%

Understanding older consumers through cognitive age and the list of values: A U.K.‐based perspective

Sudbury

Simcock

2008

Psychology and Marketing

103

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“…Fourth, authors who use the term “age identity” also assume that a person’s perceived age is a defining feature of his or her personal and social identity . As such, age identity may behave like a person’s overall identity and individuals may re-evaluate and re-construct their notions of age and aging as they move through the life course (Kaufman & Elder, 2002; Sherman, 1994). Indeed, research by Weiss and Lang (2009) showed that older adults engaged flexibly in age-group or generation identification in order to maintain a positive self-view and to protect their self-concept against the effects of negative age stereotypes.…”

Section: Major Concepts Related To Awareness Of Aging: Analysis and Cmentioning

confidence: 99%

Awareness of aging: Theoretical considerations on an emerging concept

Diehl

Wahl

Barrett

et al. 2014

Developmental Review

285

240

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Humans are able to reflect on and interpret their own aging. Thus, as individuals grow older, calendar age may become increasingly a subjective variable. This theoretical paper proposes the concept of Awareness of Aging (AoA) as a superordinate construct that can serve an integrative function in developmental research on subjective aging. It is argued that the AoA construct can incorporate the theoretical components of other existing concepts by acknowledging that judgments of subjective aging tend to be made on an awareness continuum ranging from pre-conscious/implicit to conscious/explicit. We also argue that processes of AoA are inherently self-related processes and that AoA is a particular aspect of self-awareness that results in specific aging-related self-knowledge. Over time, aging individuals incorporate this self-knowledge into their self-concept and personal identity. We provide theoretical evidence showing that although all major theories of adult development and aging draw on phenomena related to AoA, the explicit incorporation of aging-related awareness processes has been missing. We also provide an overarching framework to illustrate in a heuristic way how AoA in combination and interaction with other influences affects developmental outcomes. Finally, we argue that attention to AoA-related processes has a number of societal and applied implications and thereby addresses issues of applied developmental psychology.

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“…For instance, higher financial stress was significantly associated with lower physical functioning (Kahn & Fazio, 2005), higher blood pressure (Steptoe, Brydon, & Kunz-Ebrecht, 2005), increased odds of having metabolic syndrome (Pyykkönen et al, 2010), and poor sleep quality (Hall et al, 2008). The symptoms associated with such poor health conditions and sleep inefficiency, as well as their physiological consequences, could generally lead individuals to feel and look older than they actually are (Barrett, 2003; Bowling et al, 2005; Schafer & Shippee, 2010; Sherman, 1994; Stephan et al, 2012; Teuscher, 2009). …”

Section: The Role Of Financial Stressmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stress and Subjective Age: Those With Greater Financial Stress Look Older

2016

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Subjective indicators of age add to our understanding of the aging process beyond the role of chronological age. We examined whether financial stress contributes to subjective age as rated by others and the self. The participants (N = 228), aged 26–75, were from a Boston-area satellite of the MIDUS longitudinal study. Participants reported how old they felt and how old they thought they looked, and observers assessed the participants’ age based on photographs (other look age), at two occasions, an average of 10 years apart. Financial stress was measured at Time 1. Controlling for income, general stress, health, and attractiveness, participants who reported higher levels of financial stress were perceived as older than their actual age to a greater extent and showed larger increases in other-look age over time. We consider the results on accelerated aging of appearance with regard to their implications for interpersonal interactions and in relation to health.

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Changes in age identity: Self perceptions in middle and late life

Cited by 40 publications

References 20 publications

Understanding older consumers through cognitive age and the list of values: A U.K.‐based perspective

Understanding older consumers through cognitive age and the list of values: A U.K.‐based perspective

Awareness of aging: Theoretical considerations on an emerging concept

Stress and Subjective Age: Those With Greater Financial Stress Look Older

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