Relationship between age identity and pessimism about cognitive ageing

Drawing on past studies of age identity, this research examined whether feeling older was associated with more pessimistic views about cognitive ageing. Using respondents aged 55 years and older in the Midlife Development in the United States study, researchers estimated a series of linear regression models to predict people’s dispositions toward their cognitive ageing. The main comparison is whether the effects of age identity on cognitive aging differ for men and women. Beyond the effects of chronological age, older age identities were associated with more pessimistic dispositions about cognitive ageing. This relationship, however, was found only among women. Age identity shapes cognitive ageing dispositions, though the gendered nature of this relationship remains somewhat unclear. The findings give further evidence about the far-reaching implications of age identity for successful ageing and suggest that future work could explain how subjective aging processes may differ by gender.