Am I Old?

The answer to the Am I old? questions depends on whom you ask.

The Pew Research Center for People and the Press released their Growing Old in America: Expectations vs. Reality survey findings earlier this week and here is the answer to the Am I old question:

Survey respondents ages 18 to 29 believe that the average person becomes old at age 60.
Middle-aged respondents put the threshold closer to 70.
Respondents ages 65 and above say that the average person does not become old until turning 74.

So what about the question of feeling old. The Pew study found:

Only 21% of participants ages 65-74, say they feel old.
Only 35% of participants ages 75 and older, say they feel old.

The results of the  survey show a "sizable gap between the expectations that young and middle-aged adults have about old age and the actual experiences reported by older Americans themselves." Here are some key findings that I found interesting:

"Older adults report experiencing the negative benchmarks of aging often associated with aging (illness, memory loss, an inability to drive, an end to sexual activity, a struggle with loneliness and depression, and difficulty paying bills) at lower levels (often far lower) than younger adults report expecting to encounter them when they grow old.

Older adults report experiencing fewer of the benefits of aging that younger adults expect to enjoy when they grow old, such as spending more time with their family, traveling more for pleasure, having more time for hobbies, doing volunteer work or starting a second career.

The gap in years between actual age and "felt age" widens as people grow older. Nearly half of all survey respondents ages 50 and older say they feel at least 10 years younger than their chronological age. Among respondents ages 65 to 74, a third say they feel 10 to 19 years younger than their age, and one-in-six say they feel at least 20 years younger than their actual age.

About one-in-four adults ages 65 and older report experiencing memory loss. About one-in-five say they have a serious illness, are not sexually active, or often feel sad or depressed. About one-in-six report they are lonely or have trouble paying bills. One-in-seven cannot drive. One-in-ten say they feel they aren't needed or are a burden to others. But when it comes to these and other potential problems related to old age, the share of younger and middle-aged adults who report expecting to encounter them is much higher than the share of older adults who report actually experiencing them.

The same factors that predict happiness among younger adults-good health, good friends and financial security-by and large predict happiness among older adults. However, there are a few age-related differences in life's happiness sweepstakes. Most notably, once all other key demographic variables are held constant, being married is a predictor of happiness among younger adults but not among older adults (perhaps because a significant share of the latter group is made up of widows or widowers, many of whom presumably have "banked" some of the key marriage-related correlates of happiness, such as financial security and a strong family life). Among all older adults, happiness varies very little by age, gender or race."

Read a summary of the report here. You can access the full report here.