Expectations of Aging: Young vs. Old
Tuesday, 30 June 2009
Fifty-seven percent of people aged 18 to 64 expect to be afflicted with memory loss in old age, but only 25 percent of people 65 and older report such a difficulty. Forty-two percent of the younger group say serious illness will be a problem; only 21 percent of the older group report experiencing such.
In nine negative markers of aging, younger people expect growing old to be worse than it is.
Yesterday, Pew Social Trends released a new survey titled Growing Old in America: Expectations vs. Reality. Here is their chart on the difference between young and old on “The Challenges of Aging”:
Do you think this misperception by young people might have something to do with the incessant cultural drumbeat to remain young at any cost? The responses of the young to the positive markers of age are also at odds – to a slightly lesser degree - with the reality elders report.
Eight-seven percent of the young group expect more time for hobbies and interests; 65 percent of elders find this to be true. The gap between younger and older on more time for travel is 77 percent to 52 percent. Here's that chart:
In the past on this blog, we have discussed – even argued - at what age people can be labeled old. The Pew survey asked about this and as expected, the older you are, the older old age begins. But I was pleased to see that it doesn't vary all that much – 14 years – from age 18 to 65-plus:
Here is another way of looking at the same question: events that mark one as old, answered by all 2,969 respondents, but not separated into age groups:
As long-time readers of Time Goes By know, I get nuts when anyone says something like, “I'm 72, but I don't feel that old.” It's absurd; since no one has ever been as old as they are today, whatever they feel is how that age feels.
What is happening when people make that statement, I've come to see, is that they are reacting to misperceptions of old age from their youth when, as the younger people in this Pew survey, they believed old age is worse than it is. Here's the Pew chart on actual age versus perceived age:
This is an excellent and extensive survey comparing young and old beliefs about aging which helps explain some cultural ageism. There is much more than I have covered in this post and you can read the entire report here.
At The Elder Storytelling Place today, Lyn Burnstine: Confessions of a Neurotic.
I think it's safe to say I can be considered very old. Nonetheless, this morning I didn't get up immediately after waking. The thought occurred to me that, at this moment, I don't feel any different than I did when I was forty.
Within the calendar year there are days when I feel very old and other days when I feel young. It is never a 'constant'.
Posted by: Darlene | Tuesday, 30 June 2009 at 04:43 AM
On my next birthday I turn 60, and why is it that I don't like the idea of being 60? Probably because it was drummed into me when I was a young thing that 60 was OLD.
Very interesting survey Ronni, thanks for sharing. This makes us all think twice about what is "old" and what the definition really means.
Posted by: Melinda | Tuesday, 30 June 2009 at 05:11 AM
I only feel old when my knee hurts! And that is only on rainy days....this is interesting information. I used to think old was my grandmother who was fraile and blind in her 70's. Now, as I age, I believe old is not a relevant term. The good news is our numbers are growing in terms of population of elders. Maybe then, perceptions will change also.
Posted by: Nancy B | Tuesday, 30 June 2009 at 05:44 AM
Good article with interesting information! Thank you Ronni.
I do have 2 thoughts. The first survey used the subjects' own reporting. I hate to say this but they may not be the most objective of reporters. I am basing this on my mother's actions as she progressed through her eighties. You could not, and certainly can not now, depend on her version of facts, including how she feels.
Also, this business of "feeling old." I don't feel different from when I was 40. I don't "feel older"; I feel like myself. I think probably this is not uncommon. We don't have to feel we are different when we grow old. We are essentially the same preople we have always been. It is like body image, I think. Our body image often does not keep pace with change either.
Posted by: Sophronia | Tuesday, 30 June 2009 at 06:17 AM
Thank you for this.
And too, would you mind if I linked to your elder blogger list on my Blogger page?
Posted by: Mage Bailey | Tuesday, 30 June 2009 at 07:03 AM
Like Darlene, I also have old days and young days. For me, on old days, I feel I’m a better listener, more patient, and, in general, a better friend. On young days, I talk too much; do too much. Maybe a balance of the two would be worth a try.
Posted by: Claire Jean | Tuesday, 30 June 2009 at 07:47 AM
I remember asking my mother about her self-perception of age when by many "objective" measures she was unequivocally "old" -- she was in her late 80s, had shrunk 6 inches due to nasty osteoporosis, and given up driving because of a bad accident. She allowed as how she didn't feel any different than she had in her 30s. So there it is.
I have little idea how how "old" I am, because I don't know quite what the question means.
Posted by: janinsanfran | Tuesday, 30 June 2009 at 09:40 AM
Very interesting, I'm revising my view of how old I feel. It occurred to me while reading this that my "old" days are the ones when I am excessively tired, or not feeling well. I felt the same as at 35 with a toddler and a baby. I was more of a wreck then than I am now at 67 I think somewhere I linked feeling cruddy with feeling old when much of it is neglect in to attending to needs such as sleep or medication. I will happily blame it on cultural misperceptions. My head is pretty much lodged around 35 just with more experience and information.
Posted by: Celia | Tuesday, 30 June 2009 at 03:04 PM
The expectations of young people run the gamut of what we might expect when we get old but hasn't yet happened. We will all die of some disease or our bodies will atrophy-- take your pick. Many of us do lose some memory as we age but that's not Alzheimer.
When I was young, no ads to convince me, movies and television that were not unkind to the aged (thinking of Spring Byington's series), I thought people in their 50s were old. It just seemed they looked and acted old and therefore they were. It came as a big surprise to me when I got there and it wasn't like that. There are definite differences for me physically for how lifting something heavy or doing a lot of exercise will feel. It's not debilitative yet or anything like it but it's definitely different at nearly 66. I think aging is a gradual process that is very real but different for everybody. You could do all the PC correcting that you want but in the end things do change as we age. I saw it most recently in my cat, who died of old age at the end of May. Nobody told her she should age but she did and little by little she could not do what she had. Maybe in her spirit she still felt like a kitten and wondered why her body wouldn't cooperate. I have wondered how aware animals are as they age. Having a farm and raising livestock, I see aging and its impact, the differences in different animals quite a bit.
Posted by: Rain | Tuesday, 30 June 2009 at 06:39 PM
I love this! It's very encouraging! I'm a bit of a worrier, and I can easily get stuck in a groove of thinking, no ASSUMING, that when I get old I will be sick. I will get cancer. I won't be able to do this. I won't be able to do that. Whatever. And it's not all down to negative thinking. It's also the societal 'input' and the media harping on youth.
This report is an excellent reminder, to ME, to LIGHTEN UP!
Posted by: Nikki | Saturday, 04 July 2009 at 01:05 AM