College students (N = 3,435) in 26 cultures reported their perceptions of age-related changes in physical, cognitive, and socioemotional areas of functioning and rated societal views of aging within their culture. There was widespread cross-cultural consensus regarding the expected direction of aging trajectories with (1) perceived declines in societal views of aging, physical attractiveness, the ability to perform everyday tasks, and new learning, (2) perceived increases in wisdom, knowledge, and received respect, and (3) perceived stability in family authority and life satisfaction. Crosscultural variations in aging perceptions were associated with culture-level indicators of population aging, education levels, values, and national character stereotypes. These associations were stronger Löckenhoff et al. Page 3 Psychol Aging. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2010 September 3.
NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript for societal views on aging and perceptions of socioemotional changes than for perceptions of physical and cognitive changes. A consideration of culture-level variables also suggested that previously reported differences in aging perceptions between Asian and Western countries may be related to differences in population structure.
KeywordsAging; stereotypes; cross-cultural; values; national character stereotypes Perceptions of aging influence societal behaviors and expectations towards older people (e.g., Pasupathi & Löckenhoff, 2002) as well as older adults' well-being and coping with the aging process (e.g. Levy, 2003;Levy & Myers, 2004). The majority of studies in this field have focused on individual differences in perceptions of aging within (mostly Western) cultures, but there is growing evidence that views of aging may differ across cultures as well (e.g., Arnhoff, Leon, & Lorge, 1964;Giles et al., 2000). The present study extends previous research by comparing multiple aspects of aging perceptions across 26 cultures and examining their culture-level associates. To provide the background for this work, we review previous research on intercultural differences in perceptions of aging and discuss theoretical perspectives on the causes of such differences.According to social representations theory (Moscovici, 1984(Moscovici, ,1988) the views of aging held within a given culture are a form of shared cultural representation. They constitute systems of ideas, values, and customs related to aging that are treated by members of the society as if they were established reality. Perceptions of aging are multi-dimensional in nature (e.g., Hummert, 1990), encompass both positive and negative characteristics (e.g., Hummert, 1990;McTavish, 1971;Heckhausen, Dixon, & Baltes, 1989), and reflect a mix between accurate depictions of age-related changes and distorted views of older people (Kite, Stockdale, Whitley, & Johnson, 2005). Healthy aging is associated with predictable biological changes (Digiovanna, 2000) that lead to systematic age differences in physical ...