Multiple "Old Ages": The Influence of Social Context on Women's Aging Anxiety

Anne E Barrett, Erica L Toothman, Anne E Barrett, Erica L Toothman

Abstract

Objectives: Dominant views of aging generate anxiety for many adults-especially women, who face greater disadvantages in later life compared with men. However, little is known about changes in these concerns over time and their variation across women. Employing a feminist perspective on age relations, our study examines three social contexts affecting women's aging anxiety-social location, health, and social relationships.

Method: Using a sample of women (n = 905) from Midlife in the United States (1995-1996; 2004-2006), logistic regression models examine predictors of over-time patterns in three aging anxiety sources-declining attractiveness, declining health, and reproductive aging.

Results: Women report more declining-health anxiety, and it remains more stable over time than do declining-attractiveness and reproductive aging anxiety-both of which tend to decrease with age. The effects of social context vary across anxiety sources; however, more favorable over-time patterns are often associated with more disadvantaged social locations (i.e., older ages, non-white, lower socioeconomic status)-but better health and social relationships.

Discussion: Our study, the first to examine over-time patterns in aging anxiety, illustrates women's multiple "old ages"-a reality manifesting in not only objective conditions of later life but also perceptions of aging. It provides insight on social and cultural processes shaping aging perceptions.

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