Cross-cultural differences in aging attitudes may lead to variability in how people feel about and experience their own aging in specific contexts. These differences could consequently result in variability in specific age-related behavioral and health outcomes associated with subjective aging (SA) experiences. We explored how SA varies across domains of functioning in three different cultures and factors, such as perceptions about the age of being old and the situation of older people in society, that explain might observed variability. American (n = 573), Hong Kong Chinese (n = 495), and German (n = 827) adults aged between 26 and 95 years (M = 58.17, SD = 14.5) in the Aging as Future Project completed a questionnaire designed to capture subjective perceptions of aging, including general attitudes and SA, in eight different domains of functioning (e.g., family, work, health). Factor analyses showed consistency in the domain-specificity of SA across cultures, but differences in the amount of variance shared between domains. GLM-based tests indicated that country moderated the effect of age group on perceptions of older adults’ situations, with Chinese young adults reporting more negative perceptions than same-aged Americans and Germans. Additionally, perceptions of the age of being old explained unique variance in SA within each domain and was found to diminish the effects associated with culture on SA in some domains but not others. Initial results suggest that context-specific differences in age-related attitudes can account for cross-cultural variability in felt age. Findings may have important implications for adaptive aging within cultures.
展开▼
