Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 22, 2026

Validation of a Psychosocial Intervention on Body Image in Older People: An Experimental Design
Published on: May 31, 2021
Age identity, gender, and perceptions of decline: does feeling older lead to pessimistic dispositions about cognitive
Markus H Schafer1, Tetyana P Shippee
1Center on Aging and the Life Course, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907-2114, USA. mhschafe@purdue.edu
Objectives:
Drawing on past studies of age identity, this article examined whether feeling older was associated with more pessimistic views about cognitive aging.
Methods:
Using respondents aged 55 years and older in the Midlife Development in the United States study, we estimated a series of linear regression models to predict people's dispositions toward their cognitive aging. The main comparison is whether the effects of age identity on cognitive aging differ for men and women.
Results:
Beyond the effects of chronological age, older age identities were associated with more pessimistic dispositions about cognitive aging. This relationship, however, was found only among women.
Discussion:
Age identity shapes cognitive aging dispositions, though the gendered nature of this relationship remains somewhat unclear. The findings give further evidence about the far-reaching implications of age identity for successful aging and suggest that future work can explicate how subjective aging processes may differ by gender.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Cognitive Development During Adulthood
Aging
Cellular Clock Theory
The cellular clock theory posits that the human lifespan is closely tied to the finite capacity of cells to divide, a phenomenon governed by telomeres, which are protective caps at the ends of...
Revisionist Views of Adolescent and Adult Cognition
Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination
Cognitive Development During Adolescence
Pharmacodynamics in Geriatric Patients: Effects of Age

