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Accelerated increase and relative decrease in subjective age and changes in attitudes toward own aging over a 4-year period: results from the Health and Retirement Study

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Abstract

The passage of time may force people to adjust their subjective age in response to changes in their attitudes toward own aging (ATOA). Although positive associations have been found between well-being and both positive ATOA and younger subjective age, the relationships between changes in these measures have not been examined yet. We expected (1) a decrease in positive ATOA to be associated with an accelerated increase in subjective age and (2) an increase in positive ATOA to be associated with a relative decrease in subjective age. Participants were individuals and their spouses, aged 50 and over, recruited by the Health and Retirement Study, who provided responses to a question concerning one’s subjective age in 2008 and 2012 (n = 4174). A change in subjective age over the two waves was regarded as (1) an accelerated increase if it was greater than 5 years (36.2 % of the sample); (2) a relative decrease (39.1 %), if it was less than the 3 years; (3) no change if it did not comply with criteria 1 or 2 (24.7 %). A decrease in positive ATOA over the two waves resulted in an accelerated increase in subjective age, and an increase resulted in a relative decrease in subjective age. Older age and more physical impairments and depressive symptoms in 2012 compared with 2008 were associated with an accelerated increase in subjective age. Our findings emphasize the consequences ATOA might have on subjective age experiences, and the need to improve them.

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Notes

  1. In order to examine if these results are reconstructed with subjective age as a continuous measure, we also conducted a sensitivity analysis. In this analysis, we controlled for subjective age (as computed by the difference between subjective and chronological age divided by chronological age in 2008), for gender and for years of education, as well as for medical conditions, physical functioning, and depressive symptoms in 2008. In this analysis, we used ATOA in 2008 as a predictor variable, and used the same 2008 discrepancy computation for subjective age in 2012, which was entered to the model as a predicted variable. Results remained consistent, and ATOA in 2008 predicted the continuous measure of subjective age in 2012, R 2 = .28, B = .44, t = 4.72, β = .47, p < .0001.

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Acknowledgments

The HRS is supported by the National Institute on Aging (NIA U01AG009740) and the Social Security Administration. The collaborators in this study were supported by the COST IS1402 (European Cooperation in Science and Technology).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Interdisciplinary Department of Social Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, 5290002, Ramat Gan, Israel

    Ehud Bodner

  2. The Department of Music, Bar-Ilan University, 5290002, Ramat Gan, Israel

    Ehud Bodner

  3. Louis and Gabi Weisfeld, School of Social Work, Bar-Ilan University, 5290002, Ramat Gan, Israel

    Liat Ayalon

  4. School of Social and Community Sciences, Ruppin Academic Center, 402500, Emek Hefer, Israel

    Sharon Avidor

  5. Department of Gerontology and the Center for Research and Study of Aging, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel

    Yuval Palgi

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  1. Ehud Bodner
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Correspondence to Ehud Bodner.

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Responsible editor: H.-W. Wahl.

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Bodner, E., Ayalon, L., Avidor, S. et al. Accelerated increase and relative decrease in subjective age and changes in attitudes toward own aging over a 4-year period: results from the Health and Retirement Study. Eur J Ageing 14, 17–27 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10433-016-0383-2

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