Reciprocal Relationships Between Subjective Age and Retirement Intentions

Organizational researchers and practitioners have become increasingly interested in how subjective age—employees’ perceived age—is related to important work and career outcomes. However, the direction of the relationship between employees’ subjective age and retirement intentions remains unclear, thus preventing theoretical advances and effective interventions to potentially delay retirement. We contribute to the literature on work and aging by investigating the relationship between subjective age and retirement intentions longitudinally, using a sample of n = 337 workers who participated in a study with six measurement waves across 15 months. Results of a random intercept cross-lagged panel model show unique between-person and within-person relationships linking subjective age and retirement intentions. As expected, we found a positive relationship between subjective age and retirement intentions at the between-person level of analysis. At the within-person level of analysis, results suggest that retirement intentions positively predicted subjective age, but not vice versa. Overall, these findings contribute to a better understanding of the role of subjective age in the context of work and retirement.

The Relationship Between Perceived Age Discrimination in the Healthcare System and Health: An Examination of a Multi-Path Model in a National Sample of Israelis Over the Age of 50

Objectives The present study aims to examine possible pathways that potentially account for the relationship between perceived age discrimination in healthcare settings (as one form of ageism) and health outcomes. Methods We relied on 1570 complete surveys, which constitute a representative national sample of adults aged 50 and above in Israel. Results We found a direct link between perceived age discrimination and health outcomes. This link was partially mediated by self-perceptions of aging and subsequently by health behaviors (e.g., eating vegetables) and preventive health behaviors (e.g., medical check-ups). The link between perceived age discrimination and health behaviors was moderated by age, thus, particularly detrimental for older people over the age of 65 as compared with those between the ages of 50 and 65. Discussion This study adds to the literature as it examines comprehensive mechanisms to account for the path between perceived age discrimination and health status. Our findings point to the unique aspects associated with perceived age discrimination, which potentially make older people more susceptible to its negative effects.

Home and Community Features, Perceived Age-Friendliness, and Intention Toward Aging in Place

Promoting age-friendliness of communities and supporting aging in place (AIP) are of great importance in aging societies. However, little is known about the mechanism linking home and neighborhood features, older adults’ global assessment of community, and their willingness to age-in-place despite the importance in developing policies and interventions. This study used the 2015 AARP Age-Friendly Community Survey, which includes 66 home and neighborhood features under the eight domains specified by the WHO’s Age-Friendly Cities Guidelines. A series of linear regression models were estimated to examine the interrelationship between the availability of age-friendly features in eight domains, perceived age-friendliness of community, and intention toward AIP. Overall, a greater availability of age-friendly features was positively associated with perceived age-friendliness of community and AIP intention. The relationship between age-friendly features and AIP intention was mediated by perceived age-friendliness of community (50.3% to 96% of the total effects). When perceived age-friendliness of community was introduced to models, the direct effects of housing, outdoor spaces and buildings, and transportation domains remained significant. Findings suggest that a greater availability of age-friendly features influence older adults’ perception on their community, leading to the development of a desire to age-in-place. Domains of housing, outdoor spaces and buildings, and transportation may be the most importance features in promoting age-friendliness of community and the key determinants of aging-in-place. Policy makers and practitioners may need to prioritize promoting age-friendly built environment before social environment in building age-friendly communities.

Self- and Other-Directed Ageism and Worries Concerning COVID-19 Health Consequences

Worries associated with COVID-19 health consequences are well-justified. They may motivate people to take safety precautions, but may hinder if they become too intense. Current research examined mainly age and gender as potentially associated with worries. This study instead, focuses on self-perceptions of ageing (SPA) and perceived age discrimination as potential predictors of worry, in light of the ageism pandemic which co-occurred with the COVID-19 outbreak. The study is based on a national representative sample of 1,092 adults aged 50+ in Israel. Phone interviews were conducted between March – May 2020, when Israel gradually moved from strict to partial lockdown. Our findings show that SPA and age-based discrimination in the healthcare system were significant predictors of worries. The findings point to the potentially negative impact of the ageism pandemic in relation to worries. Interventions that address ageism directed by self or others might alleviate people's worries in the COVID-19 pandemic.

The effect of smiling on the perceived age of male and female faces across the lifespan

Previous research has shown an unintuitive effect of facial expression on perceived age: smiling faces are perceived as older compared to neutral faces of the same people. The aging effect of smiling (AES), which is thought to result from the presence of smile-related wrinkles around the eyes, contradicts the common belief that smiling faces should be perceived as younger, not older. Previous research, however, has focused on faces of young adults, where the absence of inherent, age-related wrinkles and other age signs is offset by the weight of the smile-related wrinkles. In a series of experiments, we tested whether the AES extends to male and female faces in older age groups. We replicated the AES in young adults (20–39) and showed that it disappeared in older adults (60–79) of both genders. For photos of middle-aged adults (40–59), however, AES was found only for male, but not for female faces, who showed fewer and less prominent smile-related wrinkles. The results suggest that a person’s apparent age is perceived in a holistic manner in which age-related cues in the region of the eyes are weighted against age cues in other regions of the face.

Exploring awareness of age-related changes among over 50s in the UK: findings from the PROTECT study

ABSTRACT Objectives: Older people describe positive and negative age-related changes, but we do not know much about what contributes to make them aware of these changes. We used content analysis to categorize participants’ written comments and explored the extent to which the identified categories mapped onto theoretical conceptualizations of influences on awareness of age-related change (AARC). Design: Cross-sectional observational study. Participants: The study sample comprised 609 UK individuals aged 50 years or over (mean (SD) age = 67.9 (7.6) years), enrolled in the PROTECT study. Measurements: Between January and March 2019, participants provided demographic information, completed a questionnaire assessing awareness of age-related change (AARC-10 SF), and responded to an open-ended question asking them to comment on their responses. Results: While some of the emerging categories were in line with the existing conceptual framework of AARC (e.g. experiencing negative changes and attitudes toward aging), others were novel (e.g. engagement in purposeful activities or in activities that distract from age-related thoughts). Analysis revealed some of the thought processes involved in selecting responses to the questionnaire items, demonstrating different ways in which people make sense of specific items. Conclusions: Results support the ability of the AARC questionnaire to capture perceived age-related changes in cognitive functioning, physical and mental health, and engagement in social activities and in healthy and adaptive behaviors. However, findings also suggest ways of enriching the theoretical conceptualization of how AARC develops and offer insights into interpretation of responses to measures of AARC.

Skin coloration is a culturally-specific cue for attractiveness, healthiness, and youthfulness in observers of Chinese and western European descent

Facial skin coloration signals information about an individual and plays an important role in social interactions and mate choice, due its putative association with health, attractiveness, and age. Whether skin coloration as an evolutionary significant cue is universal or specific to a particular culture is unclear and current evidence on the universality of skin color as a cue to health and attractiveness are equivocal. The current study used 80 calibrated, high-resolution, non-manipulated images of real human faces, either of Chinese or western European descent, which were rated in terms of attractiveness, healthiness, and perceived age by 44 observers, 22 western European (13 male; mean age ± SD = 24.27 ± 5.30) and 22 Chinese (7 male; mean age ± SD = 26.05 ± 3.96) observers. To elucidate the associations between skin coloration and these perceptual ratings and whether these associations are modulated by observer or image ethnicity, a linear mixed-effect model was setup with skin lightness (L*; CIELAB), redness (a*) and yellowness (b*), observer and image ethnicity as independent variables and perceived attractiveness, healthiness, and estimated age as dependent variables. We found robust positive associations between facial skin lightness (L*) and attractiveness, healthiness, and youthfulness, but only when Chinese observers judge facial images of their own ethnicity. Observers of European descent, on the other hand, associated an increase in yellowness(b*) with greater attractiveness and healthiness in Chinese facial images. We find no evidence that facial redness is positively associated with these attributes; instead, an increase in redness (a*) is associated with an increase in the estimated age of European facial images. We conclude that observers of both ethnicities make use of skin color and lightness to rate attractiveness, healthiness, and perceived age, but to a lesser degree than previously thought. Furthermore, these coloration cues are not universal and are utilized differently within the Chinese and western European ethnic groups. Our study adds to the growing body of work demonstrating the importance of skin color manipulations within an evolutionary meaningful parameter space, ideally using realistic skin models based on physical parameters.

Awareness of Age-Related Change as a Behavioral Determinant of Survival Time in Very Old Age

Although research on the association between subjective views of aging (VOA) and survival is scarce, more negative VOA have been found to be associated with increased all-cause mortality, even after controlling for possible confounders. Longitudinal studies on the predictive association of VOA with survival in individuals aged 80 years or older are, however, very limited. Thus, the aim of this study was to link adults’ awareness of age-related change (AARC), a multidimensional measure of adults’ subjective VOA, to survival time across a 3.5-year observation interval in advanced old age. To put the AARC construct in context, the study also considered related psychosocial concepts (i.e., perceived control and appraisal of life) essential for coping with late-life challenges as potential behavioral predictors of longevity. Data came from a representative panel study that included persons living in community and institutional settings. A total of 1,863 interviews were conducted at wave 1. This study used meta-data from wave 2 fieldwork 2 years after the initial assessment and death records obtained during panel maintenance after 3.5 years to estimate determinants of survival. Results showed that loss-related VOA indicated increased risk to survival, whereas gain-related VOA were predictive of longer survival. Both perceived age-related losses and perceived age-related gains exerted a significant independent effect on late-life mortality over and above socio-demographic background characteristics, perceived control, engagement with life, as well as health status. These findings suggest that the multidimensional examination of very old adults’ VOA may help to better understand successful longevity in the Fourth Age.