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Subjective Age and Work

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Encyclopedia of Geropsychology

Synonyms

Age identity; Cognitive age; Personal age; Psychological age

Definition

Numerous measures exist, yet there is little consensus on the definition of subjective age (SA). Subjective age, unlike chronological age, is a multidimensional construct that reflects how old a person feels and into which age group a person categorizes himself/herself (Kleinspehn-Ammerlahn et al. 2008). It is a self-perception of age, and common to most definitions is the notion of how hold or young individuals experience themselves to be (Montepare and Lachman 1989). According to the pioneering work by Kastenbaum et al. (1972), subjective age is a person’s sense of age based upon: (1) the reflection of their own development and their interpretation of aging or how old an individual feels, looks, and acts, (2) with which age cohort the individual identifies, and (3) how old the person desires to be (Kaliterna et al. 2002). More recently, Diehl and associates conceptualize subjective age as a specific...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, College of Natural Sciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, 80523, USA

    Jeanette N. Cleveland, Madison E. Hanscom & Lena-Alyeska M. Huebner

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  1. Jeanette N. Cleveland
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  2. Madison E. Hanscom
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  3. Lena-Alyeska M. Huebner
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Correspondence to Jeanette N. Cleveland .

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  1. The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

    Nancy A. Pachana

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Cleveland, J.N., Hanscom, M.E., Huebner, LA.M. (2016). Subjective Age and Work. In: Pachana, N. (eds) Encyclopedia of Geropsychology. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-080-3_328-1

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