Subjective age in a modern Japanese young, middle-age, and upper middle-age sample

The subjective age perception of a Japanese sample of 1,459 (ages in the 20s to 80s) was surveyed, and participants were asked to give their subjective psychological ages. Irrespective of the cohort, participants felt their subjective age to be younger than their chronological age, and a cohort difference was found in the size of the discrepancy. The middle- and upper middle-age generations (50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s) showed a larger discrepancy than that of prior tested young adults (20s and 30s). A cross-cultural comparison was conducted, and possible reasons for the discrepancy between subjective and chronological ages were examined.