Social and Temporal Comparisons in Adjustment to Aging

Rickabaugh, Cheryl A.; Tomlinson-Keasey, Carol

doi:10.1207/s15324834basp1903_3

Cited by 43 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…Among the mental processes identified in the current study, consistent with social comparison theory (Rickabaugh & Tomlinson-Keasey, 1997) and with temporal comparison theory (Ferring & Hoffmann, 2007), participants reported a younger SA when they compared themselves to people in worse health than themselves (Beaumont & Kenealy, 2004) or when they concluded that despite their increasing age they had not changed significantly. In line with resilience theory some participants reported a younger SA when they concluded that they did not match negative stereotypes of older individuals (Kotter-Grühn & Hess, 2012).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 70%

What does feeling younger or older than one’s chronological age mean to men and women? Qualitative and quantitative findings from the PROTECT study

Sabatini

Ukoumunne

Ballard

et al. 2021

Psychology & Health

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Objective: We explored which factors are associated with subjective age (SA), i.e. feeling younger, the same as, or older than one's chronological age, and whether these factors differ between men and women and between two age sub-groups. Design: Cross-sectional study using qualitative and quantitative data for 1457 individuals (mean age= 67.2 years). Main outcome measures: Participants reported how old they feel they are and provided comments in relation to their SA judgments. Results: By using content analysis participants' comments were assigned to 13 categories, grouped into three higher-order categories (antecedents of age-related thoughts, mental processes, and issues when measuring subjective age). SA may result from the interaction between factors that increase or decrease age-related thoughts and mental processes that individuals use to interpret age-related changes. Chi-squared tests show that individuals reporting an older SA are more likely to experience significant negative changes and to engage in negative age-related thoughts than individuals reporting an age-congruent SA or a younger SA. Women experience a more negative SA and more age-salient events than men. Conclusion: Individuals reporting an older SA may benefit from interventions promoting adaptation to negative age-related changes. There is the need to eradicate negative societal views of older women.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 70%

What does feeling younger or older than one’s chronological age mean to men and women? Qualitative and quantitative findings from the PROTECT study

Sabatini

Ukoumunne

Ballard

et al. 2021

Psychology & Health

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“…Likewise, temporal comparison theory (Albert, 1977) contends that individuals use their past selves as points of comparison to evaluate aspects of their present identity and make subsequent amendments. When individuals sense discrepancies between past and current selves, they experience dissonance that can result in lower levels of self-esteem, life satisfaction, and optimism (Harter, Bresnick, Bouchey, & Whitesell, 1997; Rickabaugh & Tomlinson-Keasey, 1997; Wills, 1987).…”

Section: Identity and Perceived Self-stability As Bases For Psycholog...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Derailment: Conceptualization, measurement, and adjustment correlates of perceived change in self and direction.

Burrow¹,

Hill²,

Ratner³

et al. 2020

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

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Developmental perspectives on self and identity view a sense of personal sameness and continuity as critical for positive adjustment. Thus, the degree to which individuals perceive change over time in self and direction constitutes an important individual difference. Here, we offer an empirically sound instrument for assessing the extent to which people feel temporally discrepant and off course-a sense we term First, we develop and empirically validate a self-report measure that is sensitive to our conceptualization of derailment (Studies 1-3). Employing the new measure with adult samples, Study 3 demonstrates its predictive ability above and beyond other widely used measures of subjective change and identity distress. Study 4 shows the negative effects of derailment persist independent of whether individuals perceive changing for the better or worse, or actually experience status-changing life events. Study 5 demonstrates the prospective utility of this measure by predicting depressive symptoms 18 months later. Finally, levels of derailment are shown to be reduced by a daily writing experiment that emphasizes goal continuity (Study 6). The discussion situates derailment at the intersection of developmental, clinical, and social psychological literatures as a unique and measurable source of psychological vulnerability, and strategies for attenuating its potentially deleterious impact are suggested. (PsycINFO Database Record

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“…Feeling younger contributes to mentally distancing oneself from an age group associated with a decline in functioning, which might allow older people to maintain a more positive view of themselves ( 46 ). People often report a younger subjective age when comparing themselves to people with worse health, or when they conclude that despite their increasing age, they do not change significantly ( 16 , 47 , 48 ). Accordingly, ageism, which refers to stereotyping individuals or groups based on age, contributes significantly to the assessment of subjective age.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

What Determines That Older Adults Feel Younger Than They Are? Results From a Nationally Representative Study in Germany

Heimrich

Prell²,

Schönenberg³

2022

Front. Med.

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BackgroundThere is increasing evidence that subjective age is an important predictor of beneficial health outcomes besides chronological age. However, little is known about the factors associated with younger subjective age. This study aimed to identify which factors are predictive of feeling younger in old age. In this context, feeling younger was defined as an individual's perception of being younger than their current chronological age.MethodsData from 4,665 community-dwelling older people were drawn from wave 7 (2020) of the German Aging Survey (DEAS), a nationally representative study in Germany. Network, mediation, and binomial logistic regression analyses were performed to reveal the associations between feeling younger and biopsychosocial factors.ResultsA total of 4,039 participants reported feeling younger, while 626 did not. Older chronological age, engaging in sports more frequently, a better standard of living, a better state of health, higher satisfaction with life, more positive attitudes toward one's aging, and fewer depressive symptoms are associated with feeling younger in older people.ConclusionThe present study provides novel and consistent evidence regarding the association between feeling younger and biopsychosocial factors. Further research is needed to confirm these factors and identify how they can be adapted in potential intervention studies to generate the life and health circumstances that allow older people the benefit of feeling younger.

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Social and Temporal Comparisons in Adjustment to Aging

Cited by 43 publications

References 41 publications

What does feeling younger or older than one’s chronological age mean to men and women? Qualitative and quantitative findings from the PROTECT study

What does feeling younger or older than one’s chronological age mean to men and women? Qualitative and quantitative findings from the PROTECT study

Derailment: Conceptualization, measurement, and adjustment correlates of perceived change in self and direction.

What Determines That Older Adults Feel Younger Than They Are? Results From a Nationally Representative Study in Germany

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