None of us are getting any younger, but it seems that the age at which we are considered old has moved upwards over the generations.
What’s more, as adults age, they move the goalposts even further, a study showed.
The researchers behind the study said the upward shift could be down to increases in life expectancy and retirement age, as well as other factors.
“We have to be aware that conceptions and perceptions of ‘old’ change over historical time, and that people are completely different from when they think old age begins, depending on their age, their birth cohort, but also their health, etc. Markus Wettstein, co -author of the study, from the Humboldt University of Berlin.
Write in the journal Psychology and agingWettstein and colleagues report how they analyzed responses to the question, “At what age would you describe someone as old?”, which is part of the ongoing German Aging Survey that follows people born between 1911 and 1974.
The results of 14,056 middle-aged and older adults who answered the question between one and eight times over a 25-year period from 1996, when they were between 40 and 100 years old, reveal that the point at which age is thought to begin is increasing.
“For those born in 1931, the observed onset of age is 74 when they are 65. For those born in 1944, it is about 75 years when they are 65,” Wettstein said, adding that although the study could not ask 65. -year-olds born in 1911 when they thought old age began, models suggest it would have been at 71.
However, perceptions appear to be stabilizing: while the team found that people born after 1935 viewed old age as later in life than those born between 1911 and 1935, there was no noticeable difference between those who between 1936 and 1951 and those born between 1952 and 1952. 1974.
Furthermore, as people age, they revise the age they consider old upwards.
“It may have to do with the fact that many people don’t want to be old, so they delay the onset of old age,” Wettstein said, adding that it may be related to age stereotypes.
However, those born in later cohorts seem to move the goalposts to a greater extent: while people born in 1944 revised their idea of age upwards by 1.9 years from 64 to 74 years, those born in born in 1934 is their view with less than a month between these ages.
The team adds that although the perception of when age started was higher for women than men, and lower for those who had poor health or were more lonely, neither these factors nor education level or how old participants felt fully explained their findings not.
Caroline Abrahams, the charity director at Age UK, said it was common knowledge that people tended to judge “old” as a few years beyond their chronological age, even in their 70s and 80s, and this probably reflected the bad image of “old” in Western cultures.
“It’s a shame if it keeps us from living as full and happy lives as we can and should in our later years because we limit our activities and aspirations ourselves,” she said.
Instead, Abrahams said the idea that we are “as old as we feel” is much more supportive.
“The truth is that chronological age is rarely a good proxy for anything and the sooner we realize that in our society, the better,” she said.
