Context Influences on the Subjective Experience of Aging: The Impact of Culture and Domains of Functioning

Attitudes about aging influence how people feel about their aging and affect psychological and health outcomes in later life. Given cross-cultural variability in such attitudes, the subjective experience of aging (e.g., subjective age [SA]) may also vary, potentially accounting for culture-specific...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Gerontologist 2017-08, Vol.57 (suppl_2), p.S127-S137
Main Authors: O'Brien, Erica L, Hess, Thomas M, Kornadt, Anna E, Rothermund, Klaus, Fung, Helene, Voss, Peggy
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aging
Attitudes
Cultural differences
Culture
Family work relationship
Health behavior
Health problems
Homogeneity
Impact analysis
Multiculturalism & pluralism
Older people
Research design
Sociodemographics
Well being
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Summary:Attitudes about aging influence how people feel about their aging and affect psychological and health outcomes in later life. Given cross-cultural variability in such attitudes, the subjective experience of aging (e.g., subjective age [SA]) may also vary, potentially accounting for culture-specific patterns of aging-related outcomes. Our study explored cultural variation in SA and its determinants. American (N = 569), Chinese (N = 492), and German (N = 827) adults aged 30-95 years completed a questionnaire that included instruments measuring basic demographic information, SA, beliefs about thresholds of old age, control over life changes, and age dependency of changes in eight different life domains (i.e., family, work). Analyses revealed consistency across cultures in the domain-specificity of SA, but differences in the amount of shared variance across domains (e.g., Chinese adults exhibited greater homogeneity across domains than did Americans and Germans). Cultural differences were also observed in levels of SA in some domains, which were attenuated by domain-specific beliefs (e.g., control). Interestingly, beliefs about aging accounted for more cultural variation in SA than did sociodemographic factors (e.g., education). Our results demonstrate that subjective perceptions of aging and everyday functioning may be best understood from a perspective focused on context (i.e., culture, life domain). Given its important relation to functioning, examination of cross-cultural differences in the subjective experience of aging may highlight factors that determine variations in aging-related outcomes that then could serve as targets of culture-specific interventions promoting well-being in later life.
ISSN:0016-9013
1758-5341
DOI:10.1093/geront/gnx015