Political and Psychosocial Antecedents of Self-Rated Successful Aging among Young-Old and Old-Old Adults

Abstract

Abstract Due to the demographic growth of older population segments, psychological research is increasingly devoted to the determinants of successful aging. The current study investigates the relationship between older people’s self-perception of aging and its potential political and psychosocial antecedents. We concentrate on a subjective aspect of successful ageing, so we refer to these self-perceptions as self-rated successful ageing. We examine two groups of potential antecedents of self-rated successful ageing associated with political participation (political subjectivity and political agency) and the resources that an individual possesses: personal (a sense of autonomy) and social (perceived social support). Informed by previous research, our study compares two age-separated groups of older people—conveniently labeled the Young-Old (Y-O), aged 65–74, and the Old-Old (O-O), aged 75–95. In line with prior findings, our regressions confirm the importance of autonomy as a positive self-rated successful ageing predictor among the elderly, regardless of whether they fall into the Y-O or O-O group. Political subjectivity, however, turns out to be a significant predictor of self-rated successful ageing only in the Y-O group of the elderly.