Changing colour preferences with ageing: a comparative study on younger and older native Germans aged 19-90 years

Previous studies have shown that colour preferences change from early childhood to adulthood.

The main objective of this study was to assess whether colour preferences undergo further changes during adult life.

Cross-sectional data on colour preferences were collected in 842 adults (aged 19-90 years) living in Mainz, Germany. The sample was split by age into younger (183 men, 232 women) and older (157 men, 270 women) adults. The subgroups were compared for their most and least preferred colours that they had chosen by name out of four given colours (blue, green, red, yellow). Differences in the pattern of frequencies between sexes and age groups were assessed for statistical significance using chi-square analyses.

Both age groups and both sexes chose blue as most preferred colour and yellow as least preferred one; green and red fluctuated in the middle position of the rank order of preferences. All frequency distributions departed significantly from chance (p < 0.001). In both younger and older adults, significant sex differences did not exist for the ranking of the most preferred colours (p > 0.2), but were evident in the ranking of the least preferred colours (p < 0.01); men stated more often yellow and less often red as least preferred than women did. Age group differences in colour preferences were highly significant. With advancing age, the preference for blue decreased steadily, whereas the popularity of green and red increased (p < 0.001).

The results suggest that colour preferences change during the course of the adult life span. These changes seem to be a reversal of the trend reported in the literature for children. Changed colour preferences in the aged might be attributed to alterations in colour discrimination and visual imagery, the yellowing of the crystalline lens, and the decreased function of the blue cone mechanism with ageing.