Subjective aging: factors influencing individuals' perspectives.

Kydd, Angela; Rees, Margaret

Abstract

The subjective experiences of old age or any event or experience occurring in an individual's life can be researched through both qualitative and quantitative methodologies. Asking participants how they maintain self-presentation of themselves as they age provides useful insights, not generalisations, into the field of inquiry. Okun and Ayalon (2022) undertook an online survey in 2020 of 818 Israeli adults (342 women and 350 men) aged 65-90 to address this question. This article focuses on two main questions from the survey: 'How do you define yourself?' and choosing and ranking by participants of the old age terms they preferred from a list that included the eight most common terms in the Hebrew language. The majority of the sample were aged 65-75 years, were married, were academic (education for more than 12 years), were retired and had no economic problems. They found that participants employed three strategies for self-presentation: absence of old age, camouflaged aging or multiplicity of old age terms.

Citation

KYDD, A. and REES, M. 2023. Subjective aging: factors influencing individuals' perspectives. International psychogeriatrics [online], 35(10): aging and well-being, pages 541-544. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1041610222001144

• Journal Article Type: Commentary
• Acceptance Date: Dec 6, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Dec 6, 2022
• Publication Date: Oct 31, 2023
• Deposit Date: Dec 9, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 7, 2023
• Journal: International psychogeriatrics
• Print ISSN: 1041-6102
• Electronic ISSN: 1741-203X
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 35
• Issue: 10
• Pages: 541-544
• Item Discussed: OKUN, S. and AYALON, L. 2023. The paradox of subjective age: age(ing) in the self-presentation of older adults. International psychogeriatrics [online], 35(10): aging and well-being, pages 566-575. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1041610222000667
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1041610222001144
• Keywords: Subjective experiences; Old age; Self-presentation; Interactionalism
• Public URL: https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/1832058