The subjective age perception of a Japanese sample of 1,459 (ages in the 20s to 80s) was surveyed, and participants were asked to give their subjective psychological ages. Irrespective of the cohort, participants felt their subjective age to be younger than their chronological age, and a cohort difference was found in the size of the discrepancy. The middle- and upper middle-age generations (50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s) showed a larger discrepancy than that of prior tested young adults (20s and 30s). A cross-cultural comparison was conducted, and possible reasons for the discrepancy between subjective and chronological ages were examined.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AsanoH.KurodaA.LeeJ. W. (2002) Japanese elderly: New roles and perceptions of aging. Paper presented at the Conference on the Elderly: How “New” Old People Are Living. Univer. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, January.
2.
BarakB. (1998) Inner-age of middle-aged prime lifers. International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 46, 189–228.
3.
BarakB. (2009) Age identity: A cross-cultural global approach. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 33, 2–11.
4.
BarakB.RahtzD. R. (1999) Perceived youth: Appraisal and characterization. International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 49, 231–257.
5.
BarakB.SternB. B.GouldS. J. (1988) Ideal age concept: An explanation. In MonroeK. B. (Ed.), Advances in consumer research. Vol. 15. Ann Arbor, MI: Association of Consumer Research. Pp. 146–152.
6.
Barnes-FarrellJ. L.PiotrowskiM. J. (1989) Workers' perceptions of discrepancies between chronological age and personal age: “You're only as old as you feel.”Psychology and Aging, 4, 376–377.
7.
Barnes-FarrellJ. L.RumeryS. M.SwodyC. A. (2002) How do concepts of age relate to work and off-the-job stresses and strains? A field study of health care workers in five nations. Experimental Aging Research, 28, 87–98.
8.
GoldsmithR. E.HeiensR. A. (1992) Subjective age: Imagined pathways in later life. International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 55, 1–24.
9.
HagenB.FrickeC.OswaldW. D.RupprechtR. (1999) Bedingungen der Erhaltung und Forderung von Selbstandingkeit im hohren Lebensalter (SIMA) Teil XVI: Verlaufsanalyse der Befindlichkeit und des subjektiven Alters. Zeitschrift für Gerontopsychologie und Psychiatrie, 12, 263–281.
10.
HattaT. (2007) Report of the neuropsychological examination in middle and upper-middle people of Yakumo cohort. Nagoya, Japan: Nagoya Univer. Pp. 1–679.
11.
HubleyA. M.HultschD. F. (1994) The relationship of personality trait variables to subjective age identity in older adults. Research on Aging, 16, 415–439.
12.
HubleyA. M.HultschD. F. (1996) Subjective age and traits. Research on Aging, 18, 494–496.
13.
KastenbaumR.DerbinV.SabatiniP.ArttS. (1972) “The ages of me”: Toward personal and interpersonal definitions of functional aging. Age and Human Development, 3, 197–211.
14.
MontepareJ. M.LachmanM. E. (1989) “You're only as old as you feel”: Self-perceptions of age, fears of aging, and life satisfaction from adolescence to old age. Psychology and Aging, 4, 73–78.
15.
PinquartM.SorensenS. (2001) Gender differences in self-concept and psychological well-being in old age: Meta analysis. Journal of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 56, 195–213.
16.
UotinenV. (1998) Age identification: A comparison between Finnish and North American cultures. International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 46, 109–124.
17.
UotinenV.RantanenT.SuutamaT. (2006) Perceived age as a predictor of old age mortality: A 13-year prospective study. Aging and Ageing, 34, 368–372.
18.
Van AukenS. E.BarryT. E.BagozziR. P. (2006) A cross-country construct validation of cognitive age. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 34, 439–455.
19.
WesterhofG.BarretteA. E. (2005) Age identity and subjective well-being: A comparison of the United States and Germany. Journal of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 60B, 129–136.
