Having a “senior moment”: Induced aging phenomenology, subjective age, and susceptibility to ageist stereotypes

Eibach, Richard P.; Mock, Steven E.; Courtney, Elizabeth A.

doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2010.03.002

Cited by 101 publications

(88 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…In addition, a younger subjective age is considered a self-protective response that is displayed by older adults in response to exposure to negative age stereotypes, 37,38 and that is also motivated by personality traits such as openness to experience and extraversion, in response to personality stereotypes of aging. 39 Therefore, feeling younger than one's actual age protects individuals from the influence of negative aging stereotypes, 16,33 which are recognized as having a consistent deleterious influence on older people's cognitive performance. 40 Furthermore, given that the American culture puts a strong emphasis on youthfulness, 21 individuals harboring a younger subjective age may behave more like the typical young individual.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Participants' felt age was subtracted from their chronological age, and these difference scores were divided by chronological age. 17,19,33 A discrepancy score was obtained, reflecting how old or young individuals feel relative to their chronological age. Furthermore, this score takes into account that a discrepancy between felt age and actual age might have different meanings depending on the age of a person, and thus is applicable and comparable across different age groups.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, this score takes into account that a discrepancy between felt age and actual age might have different meanings depending on the age of a person, and thus is applicable and comparable across different age groups. 17,19,33 A positive value denotes a youthful subjective age, and a negative value represents an older subjective age. For example, a score of þ0.20 means that a person feels 20% younger and a score of À0.20 means that an individual feels 20% older than their actual age.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Subjective Age and Cognitive Functioning: A 10-Year Prospective Study

Stéphan¹,

Caudroit²,

Jaconelli³

et al. 2014

The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry

139

113

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Objectives: The present study examines whether subjective age (i.e., how old or young individuals feel) is associated with cognitive functioning and tests potential mediators of this association. Design: Data from the two waves of measurement of the Midlife in the United States survey were used, with assessments conducted at the first wave in 1994e1995 and at the second wave in 2004e2006. Participants: A total of 1,352 men and women aged from 50 to 75 years at baseline (M: 59.32; SD: 6.72). Measurements: Subjective age, body mass index (BMI), physical activity, and the covariates sex, age, education, marital status, and disease burden were assessed at baseline to predict episodic memory and executive function measured 10 years later. Results: Multiple regression analysis revealed that a younger subjective age at baseline was prospectively associated with better episodic memory and executive function. Bootstrap analysis indicated that the association of subjective age with episodic memory and executive function was partially mediated by BMI and frequency of physical activity respectively. Conclusion: Even after accounting for chronological age and other risk factors for cognitive decline, such as disease burden and sedentary lifestyle, the subjective experience of aging predicts cognitive functioning in old age. (Am J Geriatr Psychiatry 2014; 22:1180e1187)

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Subjective Age and Cognitive Functioning: A 10-Year Prospective Study

Stéphan¹,

Caudroit²,

Jaconelli³

et al. 2014

The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry

139

113

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This outcome replicates the relationship reported by Stephan et al (2011) and extends it into the last stages of life. Subjective age has been conceptualized as an attitude about aging that may influence how people interpret possible age-related losses (Weiss, & Freund, 2012) and that lower subjective age may help block susceptibility to age-related stereotypes (Eibach, Mock, & Courtney, 2010). Given that memory loss and memory pathol ogy are common stereotypes about aging (see Hummert, 2011), it is certainly possible that people with higher subjective age expe rience memory failures in everyday life as diagnostic of advanced aging.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Little evidence for links between memory complaints and memory performance in very old age: Longitudinal analyses from the Berlin Aging Study.

Pearman¹,

Hertzog²,

Gerstorf

2014

Psychology and Aging

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Cross-sectional and longitudinal relationships between memory complaint and memory performance were examined in a sample of old-old participants from the Berlin Aging Study (BASE; N = 504, ages 70 to 100, age M = 84.7 at study onset). Participants were measured 4 times over the course of 6 years. Similar to many previous studies, initial cross-sectional memory complaints were predicted by depression and neuroticism, but not memory performance. Subjective age also predicted memory complaint independent of other variables. Latent growth curve models based on age and time in the study revealed that memory complaints did not change in level with age or time, and manifested no reliable random effects (individual differences in change). These models also detected no significant relationship between changes in memory and either initial memory complaint or changes in memory complaint over age or over time. None of the covariates that predicted initial memory complaints were related to changes in memory complaints over time. An autoregressive latent variable model for memory complaints, consistent with a conceptualization of complaints as judgments constructed from beliefs and other influences in the moment, did detect a concurrent effect of memory on memory complaints at the third occasion, controlling on initial complaints. These results suggest that for the oldest-old, changes in memory complaints may not primarily reflect monitoring of actual age-related memory changes, but rather are affected by other variables, including age-based memory stereotypes, neuroticism, depression, and concerns about aging.

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“…This would complement the suggested internal self-evaluation with an external, comparative evaluation. Furthermore, those who feel subjectively younger seem to be less susceptible to negative aging stereotypes (Eibach, Mock, & Courtney, 2010), and therefore might not behave in a stereotypical way. Subjective age also seems to be associated with health and well-being, which was shown by several studies.…”

Section: Predictors For Health Behaviormentioning

confidence: 99%

Direct effects of a domain-specific subjective age measure on self-reported physical activity – Is it more important how old you are or how old you feel?

Wienert¹,

Kuhlmann²,

Lippke³

2015

Health Psychology Report

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Research has shown that physical activity is important for healthy aging. At the same time, physical activity and different age factors (chronological and subjective age measures) are interrelated. The present study investigated whether subjective physical age and chronological age are significantly correlated with physical activity over time. participants and procedureA study design with baseline assessment and a 4-week follow-up period was conducted with an online sample (N = 541), aged 25-78 years (M = 39.62, SD = 10.74). Regression analysis with the enter method was used to predict subsequent physical activity by baseline predictors. resultsSubjective physical age correlates with chronological age (r = -.34, p < .001). Subjective physical age predicted subsequent physical activity when controlling for baseline variables (B = -.12, t = -2.43, p = .015) until past physical activity was entered (B = -.06, t = -1.44, p = .150). The final model explained 33% of variance in subsequent physical activity. conclusionsSubjective physical age seems to be more important for physical activity than chronological age. This is an important finding as subjective physical age might be a target for interventions, to enable individuals to become more physically active. Future studies should investigate non-linear relationships between subjective physical age, social-cognitive predictors of physical activity and physical activity behavior.key words subjective age; domain-specific measure; social cognitive predictors for behavior change; online study; self-reported physical activity

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Having a “senior moment”: Induced aging phenomenology, subjective age, and susceptibility to ageist stereotypes

Cited by 101 publications

References 28 publications

Subjective Age and Cognitive Functioning: A 10-Year Prospective Study

Subjective Age and Cognitive Functioning: A 10-Year Prospective Study

Little evidence for links between memory complaints and memory performance in very old age: Longitudinal analyses from the Berlin Aging Study.

Direct effects of a domain-specific subjective age measure on self-reported physical activity – Is it more important how old you are or how old you feel?

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