Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-c47g7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T16:46:14.766Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Physical capability and the advantages and disadvantages of ageing: perceptions of older age by men and women in two British cohorts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 October 2012

SAMANTHA PARSONS ,
CATHARINE R. GALE ,
DIANA KUH ,
JANE ELLIOTT  and
THE HALCYON STUDY TEAM
SAMANTHA PARSONS*
Affiliation:
Centre for Longitudinal Studies, Institute of Education, London, UK.
CATHARINE R. GALE
Affiliation:
MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit, Southampton General Hospital, Southampton, UK.
DIANA KUH
Affiliation:
MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing, London, UK.
JANE ELLIOTT
Affiliation:
Centre for Longitudinal Studies, Institute of Education, London, UK.
*
Address for correspondence: Samantha Parsons, Centre for Longitudinal Studies, Institute of Education, 20 Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AE, UK. E-mail: s.parsons@ioe.ac.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In an increasingly ageing society, its older members are receiving considerable political and policy attention. However, much remains to be learnt about public perceptions of older age, particularly the views and experiences of older individuals themselves. Drawing on qualitative interviews carried out with members of two British cohorts (N = 60) who have reached the ‘third age’, this paper discusses perceptions of age, focusing particularly on how perceived advantages and disadvantages differ by respondents' self-reported physical capability. The interviews were carried out in 2010 as part of the HALCyon (Healthy Ageing across the Life Course) collaborative research programme. Findings suggest there is some difference in the way older people view aspects of ageing by capability and that although advantages are widely perceived, physical decline and associated health concerns were the overwhelming theme across the conversations. The article concludes by making tentative suggestions to inform the positive ageing agenda and its related policies.

Keywords

ageingcapabilitycohortthird age
Type
Articles
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 34 , Issue 3 , March 2014 , pp. 452 - 471
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Andrews, Hon. K. 2002. National Strategy for an Ageing Australia: An Older Australia, Challenges and Opportunities for All. Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra.Google Scholar
Baltes, P. and Baltes, M. 1990. Psychological perspectives on successful aging: the model of selective optimization with compensation. In Baltes, P. B. and Baltes, M. M. (eds), Successful Aging: Perspectives from the Behavioral Sciences. Cambridge University Press, New York, 1–34.Google Scholar
Biggs, S. 2001. Toward critical narrativity: stories of aging in contemporary social policy. Journal of Aging Studies, 15, 4, 303–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Birnie, K., Cooper, R., Martin, R., Kuh, D., Sayer, A., Alvarado, B., Bayer, A., Christensen, K., Cho, S-i., Cooper, C., Corley, J., Craig, L., Deary, I., Demakakos, P., Ebrahim, S., Gallacher, J., Gow, A., Gunnell, D., Haas, S., Hemmingsson, T., Inskip, H., Jang, S.-n., Noronha, K., Osler, M., Palloni, A., Rasmussen, F., Santos-Eggimann, B., Spagnoli, J., Starr, J., Steptoe, A., Syddall, H., Tynelius, P., Weir, D., Whalley, L., Zunzunegui, M., Ben-Shlomo, Y. and Hardy, R. 2011. Childhood socioeconomic position and objectively measured physical capability levels in adulthood: a systematic review and meta-analysis. PLoS One 6, 1, e15564. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0015564. Available online at http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0015564.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Black, H. 2009. Pictures of suffering in elders’ narratives. Journal of Aging Studies, 23, 2, 82–9.Google Scholar
Brandtstädter, J. and Renner, G. 1990. Tenacious goal pursuit and flexible goal adjustment: explication and age related analysis of assimilative and accommodative strategies of coping. Psychology and Aging, 5, 1, 58–67.Google Scholar
Brandtstädter, J. and Rothermund, K. 2002. The lifecourse dynamics of goal pursuit and goal adjustment: a two-process framework. Developmental Review, 22, 1, 117–50.Google Scholar
Carrigan, M. and Szmigin, I. 2000. Advertising in an ageing society. Ageing & Society, 20, 2, 217–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cartledge, P. 2001. Spartan Reflections. Duckworth & Co., London.Google Scholar
Chapman, S. 2005. Theorizing about aging well: constructing a narrative. Canadian Journal of Aging, 24, 1, 9–18.Google Scholar
Chapman, S. 2006. A ‘new materialist’ lens on aging well: special things in later life. Journal of Aging Studies, 20, 3, 207–16.Google Scholar
Crawford, R. 1980. Healthism and the medicalization of everyday life. International Journal of Health Services, 10, 3, 365–88.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crawford, R. 2006. Health as meaningful social practice. Health, 10, 4, 401–20.Google Scholar
Dalziel, L. 2001. The New Zealand Positive Ageing Strategy. Senior Citizens Unit, Ministry of Social Policy, Wellington.Google Scholar
Davey, J. and Glasgow, K. 2006. Positive ageing – a critical analysis. Policy Quarterly, 2, 4, 21–7.Google Scholar
Depp, C. and Jeste, D. 2006. Definitions and predictors of successful aging: a comprehensive review of larger quantitative studies. American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 14, 6–20.Google Scholar
Elder, G. 1998. The life course and human development. In Lerner, R. (ed.), Handbook of Child Psychology. Volume 1, fifth edition, Wiley, New York, 939–91.Google Scholar
Elliott, J., Gale, C., Kuh, D. and Parsons, S. 2011. The design and content of the HALCyon qualitative study: a qualitative sub-study of the National Study of Health and Development and the Hertfordshire Cohort Study. CLS Working Paper 2011/5, Centre for Longitudinal Studies, London.Google Scholar
Elliott, J., Miles, A., Parsons, S. and Savage, M. 2010. The design and content of the ‘Social Participation’ study: a qualitative sub-study conducted as part of the age 50 (2008) sweep of the National Child Development Study. CLS Working Paper 2010/3, Centre for Longitudinal Studies, London.Google Scholar
Estes, C. L. and Binney, E. A. 1989. The biomedicalization of Aging – Dangers and Dilemmas. The Gerontologist, 29, 5, 587–96.Google Scholar
Eurostat 2010. Eurostat Yearbook 2010. Eurostat, Luxembourg.Google Scholar
Featherstone, M. and Hepworth, M. 1989. Ageing and old age: reflections on the postmodern life course. In Bytheway, B., Keil, T., Allatt, P. and Bryman, A. (eds), Becoming and Being Old: Sociological Approaches to Later Life. Sage, London, 143–57.Google Scholar
Featherstone, M. and Hepworth, M. 1991. The mask of ageing and the postmodern life course. In Featherstone, M., Hepworth, M. and Turner, B. (eds) The Body: Social Process and Cultural Theory. Sage, London, 371–89.Google Scholar
Featherstone, M. and Hepworth, M. 1995. Images of positive aging. In Featherstone, M. and Wernick, A. (eds), Images of Aging. Routledge, London, 29–47.Google Scholar
Gilleard, C. 2007. Old age in ancient Greece: narratives of desire, narratives of disgust. Journal of Aging Studies, 21, 1, 81–92.Google Scholar
Gubrium, J. and Holstein, J. 2001. Institutional Selves: Troubles Identities in a Postmodern World. Oxford University Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Havighurst, R. and Albrecht, R. 1953. Older People. Longmans, Green and Co., New York.Google Scholar
HM Government 2005. Opportunity Age: Meeting the Challenges of Ageing in the 21st Century. HM Government, London.Google Scholar
Holstein, M. 2000. The ‘New Aging’: imagining alternative futures. In Schaie, K. and Hendricks, J. (eds), The Evolution of the Aging Self: The Societal Impact of the Aging Process. Springer Publishing, New York, 319–31.Google Scholar
Itzin, C. 1990. As old as you feel. In Thompson, P., Itzin, C. and Abenstern, M. (eds), I Don't Feel Old: The Experience of Later Life. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 107–30.Google Scholar
Jones, R. 2006. ‘Older people’ talking as if they are not older people: positioning theory as an explanation. Journal of Aging Studies, 20, 1, 79–91.Google Scholar
Karpf, A. 2011. In this Golden Age of Ageing, Old People Are Met with Fear and Loathing. Available online at http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jun/28/social-care-older-people.Google Scholar
Katz, S. 2000. Busy bodies: activity, aging and the management of everyday life. Journal of Aging Studies, 14, 2, 135–52.Google Scholar
Katz, S. 2008. Busy bodies: thinking of age: personal reflections on critical gerontology. Journal of Aging Studies, 22, 2, 140–6.Google Scholar
Kirkwood, T. 2001. The End of Age Lecture 4: Making Choices. Radio 4 Reith Lectures 2001. Available online at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/reith2001/lecture4_print.shtml.Google Scholar
Kuh, D., Pierce, M., Adams, J., Deanfield, J., Ekelund, U., Friberg, P., Ghosh, A., Harwood, N., Hughes, A., Macfarlane, P., Mishra, G., Pellerin, D., Wong, A., Stephen, A., Richards, M. and Hardy, R. 2011. Cohort profile: updating the cohort profile for the MRC National Survey of Health and Development: a new clinic-based data collection for ageing research. International Journal of Epidemiology, 40, 1, e1–9. doi:10.1093/ije/dyq231.Google Scholar
Laliberte Rudman, D. 2006. Shaping the active, autonomous and responsible modern retiree: an analysis of discursive technologies and their links with neo-liberal political rationality. Ageing & Society, 26, 2, 181–201.Google Scholar
Lanzieri, G. 2006. Long term population projections at the national level. Statistics in Focus, 3/2006. Available online at http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_OFFPUB/KS-NK-06-003/EN/KS-NK-06-003-EN.PDF.Google Scholar
Laslett, P. 1989. A Fresh Map of Life: The Emergence of the Third Age. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London.Google Scholar
Lumme-Standt, K. 2011. Images of ageing in 50+ magazine. Journal of Aging Studies, 25, 1, 45–51.Google Scholar
McDaniel, S. 2005. Sentenced by a metaphor: living with aging. Recent Advances, Recent Updates, 6, 3, 275–8.Google Scholar
McHugh, K. 2003. Three faces of ageism: society, image and place. Ageing & Society, 23, 2, 165–85.Google Scholar
Moynagh, M. and Worsley, R. 2009. Changing Lives, Changing Business: Seven Life Stages in the 21st Century. A & C Black, London.Google Scholar
Moynihan, J. 2011. Beware the fortune tellers peddling genetic tests. British Medical Journal, 342, C7233.Google Scholar
Office for National Statistics 2010. Statistical Bulletin: Older People's Day 2010. Available online at http://www.statistics.gov.uk/pdfdir/age0910.pdf (accessed online August 2011).Google Scholar
Phillipson, C., Leach, R., Money, A. and Biggs, S. 2008. Social and cultural constructions of ageing: the case of the baby boomers. Sociological Research Online, 13, 3. Available online at http://socresonlone.org.uk/13/3/5.html (accessed online July 2011).Google Scholar
Pratt, L. 2000. The old women of ancient Greece and the Homeric Hymn to Demeter. Transactions of the American Philological Association, 130, 2000, 41–65.Google Scholar
Rowe, J. and Kahn, R. 1987. Human aging: usual and successful. Science, 237, 4811, 143–9.Google Scholar
Rozanova, J. 2010. Discourse of successful aging in The Globe & Mail: insights from critical gerontology. Journal of Aging Studies, 24, 4, 213–22.Google Scholar
Scott, J. and Nolan, J. 2005. Ageing positive? Not according to the British public. GeNet Working Paper No. 7. Department of Sociology, University of Cambridge.Google Scholar
Sinding, C. and Gray, R. 2005. Active aging – spunky survivorship? Discourses and experiences of the years beyond breast cancer. Journal of Aging Studies, 19, 2, 147–61.Google Scholar
Strand, B. H., Cooper, R., Hardy, R., Kuh, D. and Guralnik, J. 2011. Lifelong socioeconomic position and physical performance in midlife: results from the British 1946 birth cohort. European Journal of Epidemiology, 26, 6, 475–83.Google Scholar
Suzman, R. M., Willis, D. P. and Manton, K. G. (eds) 1992. The Oldest Old. Oxford University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Syddall, H., Evandrou, M., Cooper, C. and Sayer, A. 2009. Social inequalities in grip strength, physical function and falls among community dwelling older men and women: findings from the Hertfordshire Cohort Study. Journal of Aging and Health, 21, 6, 913–39.Google Scholar
Syddall, H., Roberts, H., Evandrou, M., Cooper, C., Bergman, H. and Sayer, A. 2010. Prevalence and correlates of frailty among community-dwelling older men and women: findings from the Hertfordshire Cohort Study. Age and Ageing, 39, 2, 197–203.Google Scholar
Syddall, H. E., Sayer, A. A., Dennison, E. M., Martin, H. J., Barker, D. J. and Cooper, C. 2005. Cohort profile: the Hertfordshire Cohort Study. International Journal of Epidemiology, 34, 6, 1234–42.Google Scholar
Taylor, P. 2002. New Policies for Older Workers: Transitions After 50 Series. Policy, Bristol, UK.Google Scholar
The Pensions Commission 2004. Pensions: Challenges and Choices. The First Report of the Pensions Commission. The Stationary Office, London.Google Scholar
Thompson, P. 1992. ‘I don't feel old’: subjective ageing and the search for meaning in later life. Ageing & Society, 12, 1, 23–47.Google Scholar
Torres, S. and Hammarström, G. 2006. Speaking of ‘limitations’ while trying to disregard them: a qualitative study of how diminished everyday competence and aging can be regarded. Journal of Aging Studies, 20, 4, 291–302.Google Scholar
Townsend, P. 1979. Poverty in the United Kingdom. Pelican, Harmondsworth, UK.Google Scholar
Tulle, E. 2008. Acting your age? Sports science and the ageing body. Journal of Aging Studies, 22, 4, 340–7.Google Scholar
Wadsworth, M., Kuh, D., Richards, M. and Hardy, R. 2006. The 1946 National Birth Cohort (MRC National Survey of Health and Development). International Journal of Epidemiology, 35, 1, 49–54.Google Scholar
Wanless, D. 2002. Securing Our Future Health: Taking a Long-term View: Final Report. HM Treasury, London.Google Scholar
Ware, J. E. Jr, Snow, K. K., Kosinski, M. and Gandek, B. 1993. SF-36 Health Survey. Manual and Interpretation Guide. The Health Institute, New England Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Wolpert, L. 2011. You're Looking Very Well. Bloomsbury, London.Google Scholar
World Health Organization 2002. Active Ageing: A Policy Framework. Available online at http://whqlibdoc.who.int/hq/2002/who_nmh_nph_02.8.pdf (accessed online August 2011).Google Scholar