Perceived Youth: Appraisal and Characterization

Abstract

Results from a mail survey of respondents aged sixty to ninety-four suggest that psychographic dimensions of youthfulness and identification with old age constitute effective inner-age research variables, especially to those seeking to study older populations. The two specific dimensions explored are: “perceived youth,” a magnitude measure of the proportional discrepancy between chronological and cognitive ages; and “feeling-old,” which inversely measured youth through reliance on a six-point Likert agree/disagree statement: “I feel old.…” In addition to the obvious inverse relationship between these inner-ages, research established trait covariation relative to an increase in perceived youth coincidental with a rejection of a feeling-old identity, corresponding to increases in “happiness, own-health rating, being venturesome, giving advice, self-esteem, social activity, and keeping-in-shape,” as well as decreases in “taking advice, being a homebody, and having health worries.”