How do older people discuss their own sexuality? A systematic review of qualitative research studies.

This study captured older people's attitudes and concerns about sex and sexuality in later life by synthesising qualitative research published on this issue. The systematic review was conducted between November 2015 and June 2016 based on a pre-determined protocol. Key words were used to ensure a precise search strategy. Empirically based, qualitative literature from 18 databases was found. Twenty studies met the inclusion criteria. Thomas and Harden's thematic synthesis was used to generate 'analytical themes' which summarise this body of literature. Three main themes were identified: (a) social legitimacy for sexuality in later life; (b) health, not age, is what truly impacts sexuality, and (c) the hegemony of penetrative sex. The themes illustrate the complex and delicate relation between ageing and sexuality. Older adults facing health issues that affect sexual function adopt broader definitions of sexuality and sexual activity.

Preparation for Old Age: The Role of Cultural Context and Future Perceptions.

OBJECTIVES: Preparation for age-related changes is a central task in midlife and older age and a determinant of functioning and well-being in later life. If and how people prepare is influenced by societal and institutional circumstances and also by beliefs about aging and the future. METHOD: We assessed domain-specific preparation for age-related changes in samples from three countries with high population aging but different premises regarding preparation, and analyzed data from N = 1,830 individuals aged 35-85 years from urban regions in Germany, the United States, as well as China (Hong Kong). RESULTS: Preparation was universally low in China, but the amount of differences between countries varied depending on life domain. While we found pronounced differences between all three countries for domains related to public provision (such as health care, work, and finances), East-West differences in preparation emerged for domains regarding social relations and end-of-life concerns. The concreteness of time perspective and future self-views mediated country differences in preparation. DISCUSSION: Our results speak for the culture-specificity of preparing for old age and we deliver evidence on psychological variables that might explain these differences.

Subjective remaining lifetime and concreteness of the future as differential predictors of preparation for age-related changes.

Demographic changes have been linked to the expectation of cuts in government-provided social security services, emphasizing individual responsibility to prepare for old age and concomitant challenges and changes. Accordingly, the identification of psychological variables predicting preparation is a matter of theoretical as well as practical importance. We thus consider different aspects of a person's future time as theoretically prominent psychological predictors of preparation. The subjectively perceived quantity of remaining lifetime, the concreteness of future time, and preparation for life domains indicative of an active third age as well as of a more dependent fourth age were assessed in a longitudinal study in a core sample of N = 593 participants (30-80 years old at T1) at two measurement occasions 4 years apart. The quantity of subjective remaining lifetime predicted subsequent changes in preparation, but this effect was restricted to preparation for the fourth age. In contrast, a more open and concrete outlook on ones' personal future predicted changes in preparation for an active third age. Our findings highlight the importance of distinguishing between different aspects of future time-its quantity versus its relation to goals and action plans-when predicting specific facets of developmental self-regulation.

Subjective Age Across the Life Span: A Differentiated, Longitudinal Approach.

Objectives: How old people feel compared with their actual age, their so-called "subjective age" (SA), is a central indicator of individual aging experiences and predicts developmental outcomes, such as health and mortality, across the life span. We investigated the multidimensional structure of SA with respect to specific life domains, focusing on domain differences as well as age group differences and age-related changes. Furthermore, we inspected the relationship between SA and how people perceive their future as old persons (future self-views). Method: We assessed these variables in a sample of 593 persons who completed a questionnaire at two time points 4 years apart (baseline-T1; follow up-T2) and who were aged 30-80 years at T1. Results: SA differed across life domains and age groups, and the amount of change in SA across time was also contingent on life domain. Future self-views at T1 predicted subsequent changes in SA, with more negative self-views being associated with an increase in SA, especially for middle-aged participants for whom the transition to older age is imminent. Discussion: Our results provide support for a multidimensional view of subjective aging experiences. They highlight the importance of a differentiated investigation of subjective aging constructs and their relations for understanding how these variables shape the aging process.

A world of difference? Domain-specific views on aging in China, the US, and Germany.

Research on cross-national differences in views on aging has often focused on a comparison between Asian and Western countries. However, the results are mixed showing either more positive views in Asia, no difference at all, or even more positive views in Western countries. A potential moderator of country differences that might explain some of the heterogeneity is the fact that views on aging differ in their content and valence depending on life domains such as health versus family relations. Therefore, our aim was to systematically address domain-specific views on aging in a cross-national study, also considering that cross-national differences are age group-specific. We examined differences in views on aging between China, the United States, and Germany in eight life domains using samples with a broad age range. For most of the domains, cross-national differences indicated more negative views on aging in China compared with the Western countries and more positive views among the American compared with the German participants. Intriguingly, the differences between China and the United States or Germany were absent or even reversed in the domains friends, personality, and finances. Cross-national differences also varied by age group. Our results show that explanations of cross-national differences in views of aging probably do not apply uniformly across all life domains or age groups. They underline the importance of acknowledging the domain-specific nature of views on aging in cross-national research. (PsycINFO Database Record

Getting what you expect? Future self-views predict the valence of life events.

Views on aging have been shown to predict the occurrence of events related to physical health in previous studies. Extending these findings, we investigated the relation between aging-related future self-views and life events in a longitudinal study across a range of different life domains. Participants (N = 593, age range 30-80 years at t1) completed a survey at 2 measurement occasions that were separated by a 4-year interval (t1: 2009, t2: 2013), providing information on domain-specific future self-views as well as on life events that had occurred in the respective domains in-between the 2 measurement occasions. Future self-views measured at t1 predicted the occurrence of subsequent life events corresponding in valence: Participants with more positive (negative) future self-views in a domain reported relatively more positive (negative) life events in the respective domain. In addition, individual differences in future self-views were reinforced by life events that were consistent with these self-views. Accordingly, future self-views can be interpreted in terms of self-fulfilling prophecies: They are related to the likelihood of encountering and remembering life events that further confirm the aging-related future self-views from which they originate. Our study demonstrates the importance of future self-views on aging for development-related outcomes that have an especially high impact on people's lives. (PsycINFO Database Record

Age Stereotypes and Self-Views Revisited: Patterns of Internalization and Projection Processes Across the Life Span.

OBJECTIVES: We investigated processes of age stereotype internalization into the self and projection of self-views onto age stereotypes from a life-span perspective, taking age-related differences in the relevance of life domains into account. METHOD: Age stereotypes and self-views in eight life domains were assessed in a sample of N = 593 persons aged 30-80 years (T1) at two time points that were separated by a 4-year time interval. We estimated cross-lagged projection and internalization effects in multigroup structural equation models. RESULTS: Internalization and projection effects were contingent on age group and life domain: Internalization effects were strongest in the young and middle-aged groups and emerged in the domains family, personality, work, and leisure. Projection effects in different domains were most pronounced for older participants. DISCUSSION: Our findings suggest that the internalization of age stereotypes is triggered by domain-specific expectations of impending age-related changes and transitions during certain phases of the life span. Projection processes, however, seem to occur in response to changes that have already been experienced by the individual. Our study demonstrates the dynamic interrelation of age stereotypes and self-views across the life course and highlights the importance of a differentiated, life-span perspective for the understanding of these mechanisms.

Relations between views on ageing and perceived age discrimination: a domain-specific perspective.

This study investigates the relation between age stereotypes and perceived age discrimination. Existing evidence for such a relation is notoriously ambiguous with regard to its direction-age stereotypes can predict (perceived) discrimination, but experiencing discrimination may also change views on ageing-which is why we used a dataset with two waves to disentangle the direction of the associations. Considering research on the multi-dimensionality of views on ageing and perceived age discrimination, we addressed this question from a domain- and age group-specific perspective. Drawing on data from two measurement points of the German Ageing Survey (DEAS; t1: 2008, t2: 2011; age range at t1: 40-93 years, n = 6092 participants at t1), we examined reciprocal relations between views on ageing and perceived age discrimination. Cross-lagged models revealed that domain-specific views on ageing predict subsequent changes in perceived discrimination in corresponding domains: Negative views on ageing regarding personal competence, physical decline, and social interactions were associated with increases in perceived discrimination in the domains of work, medical care, and social life, respectively. However, we did not find evidence for a reciprocal effect of perceived age discrimination on views on ageing. In sum, results indicate that negative views on ageing act as self-fulfilling prophecies by predisposing people to categorize other people's behaviour as age discrimination or to act themselves in a way that might elicit ageist behaviour in others.

Context Influences on the Subjective Experience of Aging: The Impact of Culture and Domains of Functioning.

Background and Objectives: Attitudes about aging influence how people feel about their aging and affect psychological and health outcomes in later life. Given cross-cultural variability in such attitudes, the subjective experience of aging (e.g., subjective age [SA]) may also vary, potentially accounting for culture-specific patterns of aging-related outcomes. Our study explored cultural variation in SA and its determinants. Research Design and Methods: American (N = 569), Chinese (N = 492), and German (N = 827) adults aged 30-95 years completed a questionnaire that included instruments measuring basic demographic information, SA, beliefs about thresholds of old age, control over life changes, and age dependency of changes in eight different life domains (i.e., family, work). Results: Analyses revealed consistency across cultures in the domain-specificity of SA, but differences in the amount of shared variance across domains (e.g., Chinese adults exhibited greater homogeneity across domains than did Americans and Germans). Cultural differences were also observed in levels of SA in some domains, which were attenuated by domain-specific beliefs (e.g., control). Interestingly, beliefs about aging accounted for more cultural variation in SA than did sociodemographic factors (e.g., education). Discussion and Implications: Our results demonstrate that subjective perceptions of aging and everyday functioning may be best understood from a perspective focused on context (i.e., culture, life domain). Given its important relation to functioning, examination of cross-cultural differences in the subjective experience of aging may highlight factors that determine variations in aging-related outcomes that then could serve as targets of culture-specific interventions promoting well-being in later life.

Context influences on the relationship between views of aging and subjective age: The moderating role of culture and domain of functioning.

Subjective age has been shown to reliably predict a variety of psychological and physical health outcomes, yet our understanding of its determinants is still quite limited. Using data from the Aging as Future project, the authors examined the degree to which views of aging influence subjective age and how this influence varies across cultures and domains of everyday functioning. Using data from 1,877 adults aged from 30 to 95 years of age collected in China, Germany, and the United States, they assessed how general attitudes about aging and perceptions of oneself as an older adult influenced subjective age estimates in 8 different domains of functioning. More positive attitudes about aging were associated with older subjective ages, whereas more positive views of self in old age were associated with younger subjective age. It is hypothesized that these effects are reflective of social-comparison processes and self-protective mechanisms. These influences varied considerably over contexts, with views of aging having a greater impact in domains associated with stronger negative stereotypes of aging (e.g., health) compared to those with more positive ones (e.g., family). Culture also moderated the impact of aging views in terms of the strength of prediction, direction of effect, and age of greatest influence, presumably due to cultural differences in the salience and strength of aging-related belief systems across contexts. The results illustrate the contextual sensitivity of subjective age and highlight the role played by an individual's views of old age-both in general and regarding oneself-in determining their own experience of aging. (PsycINFO Database Record

Hope for the best, prepare for the worst? Future self-views and preparation for age-related changes.

Extending research on the impact of views on aging and developmental regulation across the life span, we tested the hypothesis that more positive views of oneself as an older person predict more preparation for age-related changes. Drawing on recent evidence regarding the domain specificity of aging-related developmental processes, we assumed this relationship to be moderated by the relevance of preparation in different life domains for different age groups. We investigated these research questions in a longitudinal study that assessed future self-views and preparation for different life domains in a sample covering a large part of the adult life span. Findings supported our hypotheses: More positive/negative personal views of one's own aging at T1 predicted subsequent increases/decreases in preparation, with influences being strongest for those domains in which relevant age-related changes are expected to occur for the respective age groups. Our study provides additional evidence for the idea that views on aging shape development, identifying age-related provision making as an important mediating process. Furthermore, our findings highlight the added value of a domain-specific approach that takes the differential relevance of life domains and age-related developmental tasks into account.

Multiple standards of aging: gender-specific age stereotypes in different life domains.

Whereas it is often stated that aging might have more negative consequences for the evaluation of women compared to men, evidence for this assumption is mixed. We took a differentiated look at age stereotypes of men and women, assuming that the life domain in which older persons are rated moderates gender differences in age stereotypes. A sample of 298 participants aged 20-92 rated 65-year-old men and women on evaluative statements in eight different life domains. Furthermore, perceptions of gender- and domain-specific age-related changes were assessed by comparing the older targets to 45-year-old men and women, respectively. The results speak in favor of the domain specificity of evaluative asymmetries in age stereotypes for men and women, and imply that an understanding of gendered perceptions of aging requires taking into account the complexities of domain-specific views on aging.