When would you say “old age” begins? It’s possible that the closer you think you are to that threshold, the later you’ll put it, but people’s general perceptions of old age have been changing over time. New research finds that nowadays, we think of old age starting later than we used to – but that trend may not continue forever.
Scientists from Germany, the USA, and Luxembourg took data from over 14,000 people who participated in a decades-long study called the German Ageing Survey. The participants were born between 1911 and 1974, covering several generations, and they each provided up to eight responses during a 25-year period, when they were aged between 40 and 100.
One of the main questions, and the subject of the new paper, was “At what age would you describe someone as old?”
When they were asked this question at the age of 65, people born in 1911 said that old age begins, on average, at the age of 71. When the question was repeated to people born in 1956 once they also hit 65 years old, they instead put the threshold three years later, at 74.
In a statement, first author Markus Wettstein gave some suggestions as to why this might be: “Life expectancy has increased, which might contribute to a later perceived onset of old age. Also, some aspects of health have improved over time, so that people of a certain age who were regarded as old in the past may no longer be considered old nowadays.”
The same trend was observed at the individual level too. On average, as each participant aged by four or five years themselves, their estimate for the onset of old age increased by a year.
Women put the threshold for old age about two years later than men on average. There were some other factors that were found to impact someone’s individual estimate too – for example, people in poorer health, who were lonelier, or who “felt” older generally believed old age begins earlier.
“It is unclear to what extent the trend towards postponing old age reflects a trend towards more positive views on older people and aging, or rather the opposite – perhaps the onset of old age is postponed because people consider being old to be an undesirable state,” Wettstein said.
What’s also clear is that this trend towards postponement may not continue indefinitely. In recent years, it has slowed down.
The study has some limitations, in that the cohort of participants were all from one country, Germany, and it’s likely that non-European cultures may view aging in different ways. The researchers say future studies should seek to address this, as well as examining whether the trend towards postponing the perception of the onset of old age is continuing to decelerate.
Humans are living longer than ever. Reaching your centenary is set to become much more common, so much so that people are beginning to ask whether there is a limit to human life. With some going to extreme lengths in the quest for longevity, it’s interesting to keep an eye on how society views old age, and how those views might be evolving.
The study is published in the journal Psychology and Aging.
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