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Perceptions of Being Old and the Ageing Process

March 2017
Ageing International 42(1)

Authors:

Charles Sturt University

Ageing anxiety is based on worry about age-related changes in one’s physical appearance and the belief that old age is a phase of life in which poor physical health, pain or discomfort, sensory losses and cognitive decline are inevitable. This qualitative study aimed to explore perceptions of being an older adult and the ageing process. Six focus groups were conducted with a total of 39 participants, aged between 50 and 92 years. An inductive thematic analysis identified three manifest themes within the data: freedom/liberation, independence/autonomy and personal responsibility/self-care, and one overarching, latent theme, continuity and change. Perceptions of ageing and old age among this group of older adults were generally positive, however, this positivity was tempered by fears about possible future declines in health and loss of independence.

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Perceptions of Being Old and the Ageing Process

Rhonda Shaw

1,2

&Matthew Langman

Published online: 3 February 2017

#Springer Science+Business Media New York 2017

Abstract Ageing anxiety is based on worry about age-related changes in one’s

physical appearance and the belief that old age is a phase of life in which poor

physical health, pain or discomfort, sensory losses and cognitive decline are

inevitable. This qualitative study aimed to explore perceptions of being an older

adult and the ageing process. Six focus groups were conducted with a total of 39

participants, aged between 50 and 92 years. An inductive thematic analysis iden-

tified three manifest themes within the data: freedom/liberation, independence/

autonomy and personal responsibility/self-care, and one overarching, latent theme,

continuity and change. Perceptions of ageing and old age among this group of older

adults were generally positive, however, this positivity was tempered by fears about

possible future declines in health and loss of independence.

Keywords Ageing .Positive ageing .Freedom .Independence .

Personal responsibility .Continuity

Older people have often occupied a special place in society, valued for their experience,

skills and wisdom (Butler 2009;Nelson2005). By the mid-twentieth century, however,

attitudes toward older people changed. In societies that attached great importance on

economic productivity, older people were often portrayed as a problem, a burden on

younger, more productive members of the community (Angus and Reeve 2006).

Further, in a youth-oriented culture, the stigmatisation of old age applied to the ageing

process itself. The physical signs of ageing were considered a source of shame and

embarrassment, something to deny, repair or conceal, Bas if it were the most damning

thingintheworldtolookold^(Lerner 1957,p.613).

Ageing Int (2017) 42:115–135

DOI 10.1007/s12126-017-9279-5

*Rhonda Shaw

rhshaw@csu.edu.au

Charles Sturt University, Sydney, NSW, Australia

7 Major Innes Rd, Port Macquarie, NSW 2444, Australia

Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.

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