The older we get, the later we think ‘old age’ starts

I'm still thinking young and that's why I'm still in middle age at 68. I'd have to say my stroke medical 'professionals' didn't do much for my recovery. 

The older we get, the later we think ‘old age’ starts

Whether it's a big birthday, a creaky knee, or realising you have no idea who the latest TikTok star is, it's easy to feel like you're getting old. Most of the time, that isn't the case. But perceptions of old age are, in fact, pretty malleable. According to new research, as life expectancy increases, so too does our idea of when old age begins.

Writing in Psychology and Aging, Markus Wettstein and team explore how and when we perceive an age as 'old'. They find that perceptions of old age have changed over the decades, and can be subject to more personal factors, such as how lonely we are(not lonely at all), our health(very good), and our own age(68).

Looking at survey data from 14,056 participants aged 40 to 85 years old, all of whom were taking part in a 25-year, longitudinal study in Germany, the team found several factors which influenced when we perceive old age to start.

First and foremost, there was a strong relationship between how old participants were and their perceived onset of old age. When participants hit 64, their perception of old age increased by 1.9 years (or 2.5%) over the next ten years. By the time they were 74, though, perceived old age increased by 3.4 years (or 4.6%) every decade.

Those born more recently were also more likely to see old age as starting later: participants whose birthday fell after 1935 saw old age as beginning approximately 0.6% later per decade than those born before. To put this into perspective, when participants born in 1911 were 65, they saw old age as starting at 71. People born in 1956, on the other hand, thought it started at 74. Interestingly, women saw old age as starting on average 3.2% later than men.

Psychosocial and health factors also moved the needle. Those born in East, rather than West, Germany saw old age as starting 1.9% earlier, which the team suggests is related to previously studied differences between the two areas: East Germans, research has suggested, have "less positive views on ageing, older subjective ages, and substantially lower life expectancy". This reflects an interesting facet of the study: that the way we think about age is closely connected to our social contexts.

In terms of psychosocial factors, loneliness made a difference: those who experienced the highest levels of loneliness thought old age started 1.3% earlier than those who weren't lonely. Poor self-rated health also led to a 0.8% earlier perceived onset of old age. Participants who felt old themselves thought old age started 8.7% earlier, suggesting that what we think of as old age is heavily influenced by our personal context.

The team suggests that this "postponing" old age could reflect either positive or negative trends in attitudes towards older people. As they note in their paper, older people are becoming more savvy with things generally associated with younger people, like technology and the internet. These skills may make those on the older end of the spectrum appear subjectively younger, postponing perceptions of old age further. On the other hand, however, it's possible that people may see being older as an undesirable state, and nudge their ideas of when they might hit old age it further down the line as they approach their own 'cut-off' point.      
    
Whether it's our health, where we live, or how we think about age, the study suggests that ageing is deeply subjective. For those of us who are anxious about getting older, this could be good news, giving us the possibility to reflect on what it means to be 'old' – and giving us the chance to reframe age as just a number.

Read the paper in full:
Wettstein, M., Park, R., Kornadt, A. E., Wurm, S., Ram, N., & Gerstorf, D. (2024). Postponing old age: Evidence for historical change toward a later perceived onset of old age. Psychology and Aging, 39(5), 526–541. https://doi.org/10.1037/pag0000812