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Hope I die before I get old

In section you are going to switch your focus of study. You have examined attitudes to ageing and old age and are about to consider older people’s own attitudes but, first we start by asking how attitudes change to later life change as we get older.

In 1965 when the rock star Pete Townshend was 20, he wrote the line Hope “I die before I get old” in the song ‘My Generation’, the anthem to youth which helped launch The Who’s career. Recently, Townshend re-formed The Who and they are recording and touring successfully. All the signs suggest that at age 61 he no longer subscribes to the negative view of growing old that he held in his youth. How typical is he of older people in general?

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Hope I die before I get old

Look at the two questions below and select which answer a,b or c reflects your opinion.

Do you think people who are aged 70 or more are generally:

  1. less happy than you are?
  2. as happy as you are?
  3. happier than you are?

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Hope I die before I get old

The exercise may have helped you to think about your own and others’ attitudes to ageing and how they can change over time. Your answers are in line with key findings from a recent University of Michigan study, which assessed the happiness of more than 540 adults, either between 21 and 40, or over 60 years of age. (Lacey, Smith and Ubel, 2006). This study found that:

  • Both younger and older people think that younger people are happier than older people but this study shows the opposite
  • Whilst older and younger adults tend to equate old age with unhappiness for other people, most respondents thought they themselves would be happier than most others in old age

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Hope I die before I get old

Going back to Pete Townshend, now he is 61 he might look back and think he was happier in his youth. But the opposite is more likely to be true. It seems that older people tend to ‘mis-remember’ their level of happiness in their youth, whilst younger people, ‘mis-predict’ how happy (or unhappy) they will be when they are older.

Overall, the older group reported a current level of happiness for themselves that was significantly higher than the self-rating by the members of the younger group. Notwithstanding this, people of all ages thought that that the average 30–year–old would be happier than the average 70–year–old, and that happiness would decline with age.

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Hope I die before I get old

So, why are people happier in later life than they had predicted?

Part of the explanation may relate to the negative stereotypes of ageing you considered earlier which lead people to predict that their old age will be a miserable time, whereas their actual experience contradicts this. But it also seems that happiness may be more a matter of people’s underlying emotional resources, than the popular view – that it depends on good or bad circumstances – suggests.

The Michigan study suggests that people’s emotional resources appear to grow with age. They get better at managing life’s ups and downs and the result is that, as they age, they become happier. This may happen even if their objective circumstances, such as their health, decline. So it’s not that older people over-estimate their happiness, but rather that from adversities they learn how to value life.

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Hope I die before I get old

This is not the only research to demonstrate that old age can be a positive experience. A representative study of over 200 people aged 90 and over in the UK found that whilst “objective circumstances” – e.g. health, income and housing - were important to their quality of life, such circumstances did not always negate these old people’s sense of well-being. This was because their own felt sense of the quality of their relationships often compensated for the losses which time had brought (Bury and Holme, 1991).

These studies show that it’s important to pay attention to older people’s own attitudes and their actual experience of ageing.

“Maybe there is a difference between older people just being seen as a group and getting to meet a particular older person and hearing their views. Maybe you get more respect that way”

(John, aged 70.)

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What do older people want?

What are the attitudes and aspirations of older people themselves? Research into older people’s own views has largely been neglected in favour of the opinions of others, such as professionals, carers and families (Tinker, 1997).

This reflects the general disregard for older people in society. More recent research has endeavoured to repair this neglect, however, and we now have a better idea of what older people want. Of course attitudes change over time and the way people experience later life is shaped by their approach to life in general. Your own attitude, for example, will influence how you experience ageing. So before you read what older people say they aspire to, take a minute to think about what you want from your own old age.

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What do older people want?

Here is a list of concerns and aspirations that older people value:

Health and mobility

This has been identified as a key concern for older people. Indeed attitudes to retirement can change over time due to declining health or loss of mobility (Boaz, Hayden and Bernard, 1999).

Income

Another key concern for older people. Adequacy of income influences both choice in whether to retire and the lifestyle experienced in retirement (Hayden, Boaz and Taylor, 1999).

Independence

Independence is valued highly. For older people who are healthy it means being able to look after yourself without having to rely on others for support and assistance. For those in residential homes it means being able to make choices over how you are cared for, menus and meal times, when to get up and go to bed etc (Hayden, Boaz and Taylor, 1999).

Respect

A key factor which influences the attitudes of older people is their perception of how others value them and this affects how they value themselves. Most older people feel they have a lot to contribute but many feel they are devalued by society and government, seen as a ‘burden on the state’ and a ‘drain on resources’. In a ‘throwaway society’ they feel expendable, their experience disregarded because of the premium placed on youth, speed and technology, an attitude reinforced by negative media portrayal (Hayden, Boaz and Taylor, 1999).

Inclusion in society

Older people want to be included in society rather than being marginalised and excluded because of their age (Boaz, Hayden and Bernard, 1999).

Relationships

Along with the value placed on continuing relationships with family and friends, older people want recognition that they give care and support as well as receive it. Grandparenting and other inter-generational activities are seen as important ways of bridging the gap between generations (Hayden, Boaz and Taylor, 1999).

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What do older people want?

Whilst key concerns and aspirations can be identified, it’s important to emphasise the range in attitudes which reflects the diversity in the older population, their varied circumstances and life experiences. For this reason age alone is a poor predictor of attitudes – income, health, gender, mobility and living status all play their part.

However, we know that most older people feel government has an important role to play in encouraging positive attitudes to ageing and in giving priority to a supportive environment and appropriate services for older people. If this happens, older people may feel that their life experience is valued and they may also feel encouraged to contribute to society.