When I'm 64

As a serious college student I remember feeling old before my time compared to some of my classmates who would blow off studying to socialize. Now as a middle-aged professor I don't "feel" as old as many of my peers (even though my daughter reminds me all of the time that I am "very old"). Apparently my experience is shared by Yoko Ono:

Chronological age, or how many years old you are, is just one way to think about aging. You can also consider: Biological age - how healthy you are; Social age - the habits you have and the roles that you take on; and Psychological age - how well you reason and think.

A recent study highlights how people's perceptions of their Biological and Social ages can influence their Subjective ages - or how old they feel. Stephan, Demulier, and Terracciano (2012) asked more than 1,000 French adults ages 18-91 to rate their physical health, to complete a version of the Big Five personality inventory, and to report their subjective ages.

The results support the idea that how old we feel is based on more than how old we are. These effects varied depending on the ages of the participants. The authors did not state the ranges of the age groups, but we would usually assume that their young adults were ages 18-39, middle-aged adults were 40-59, and older adults were 60-91.

A strong relationship between chronological age, health, and subjective age emerged. Middle aged and older adult participants who rated themselves as being in good health were more likely to say that they felt younger than they actually were. Stephan et al. clarify that on average, these middle aged adults felt 2 years younger and these older adults felt four years younger. These results support the importance of considering a person's Biological age.

When the authors controlled for health and demographic factors a relationship between chronological age, certain Big Five traits, and subjective age appeared. Because our personality traits often relate to our behaviors and activities, these results support the importance of assessing a person's Social age. For example, young adults who were high in Conscientiousness felt older than they really were. Conscientiousness implies being responsible and organized. Motivated and reliable young adults might feel like they are older than their peers because these are not characteristics that Western culture often associates with that age.

Middle aged and older adults who were high in Openness to Experience, and older adults who were high in Extraversion felt younger than they were. Openness to Experience has to do with engaging in diverse interests and being open to new ideas; Extraversion is associated with being out-going and dynamic. Both are traits that Western culture does not associate with middle and older age, so people with these traits are likely to feel younger than they really are as they age.

These results explain the experience that Yoko Ono and I share. When I was a young adult, my conscientious behavior did not match with my stereotype about my age: so I felt older. Now as a middle aged person who has broad interests and loves creativity, my self-perception again runs contrary to the stereotype about my age: so I feel younger. In some decades, I can predict that I will continue to feel younger because I am relatively high in Extraversion.

This research also raises a question about Western stereotypes about age. What does it mean that we view young adults as irresponsible, middle-agers and seniors as stuck in their ways, and senior citizens as being unsociable? If we can imagine a time that these negative assumptions are no longer part of our culture, it would have implications for subjective age. Instead of feeling older or younger than our chronological age we would simply be that old and recognize that at all ages individuals can differ on Big Five traits.

Further Reading:

A pre-publication version of the Stephan et al. (2012) article can be read here thanks to the National Institute of Health. The Psychology and Aging article can be accessed through your local college library.

A blog post from the AARP about research done by Rippon and Steptoe (2015): "Feeling Old vs Being Old." More support for Biological age!

Know an Extraverted senior? The social networking site Meet Up has groups around the world for outgoing older people who want to socialize!

Now I Can Get Fat

At first glance this week's meme made me groan because joking about women and weight is really only funny anymore if delivered by Amy Schumer with a critical jab toward our culture.

However, as a life-span developmental psychologist, I began to wonder...do women and men gain weight after they say "I do"?  Apparently the answer is yes - although the amount is debated.  Some studies, regardless of other factors that influence weight, find a gain of about 5 lbs (2.28 kg) amongst young adult newlyweds and others estimate the gain to be up to 20 lbs (9 kg) if we follow those married young adults through midlife.

Meltzer, Novak, McNulty, Butler, and Karney (2013) devised a study to evaluate this weight gain against two competing theories to explain this trend.  The first theory is the Health Regulation Model: the argument here is that marriage encourages us to take care of each other.  If our marriage going well, we would be more likely to go to the doctor, floss, eat well, and by extension maintain a healthy weight.  Because marital satisfaction tends to decline within the first few years, that health maintenance would also decline leading to skipping the doctor, forgetting to floss, eating junk food, and by extension gaining weight.

The alternate theory is featured in our meme:  it is supposed to be funny because the bride has snagged her man and no longer has to worry about looking a certain way to attract a mate.  This is the premise of the Mating Market Model: if our marriage is going well we may gain weight because we are not interested in finding a new mate; if our marriage is going poorly we may lose weight because we are gearing up to attract a new partner within a culture that values thinness.

Meltzer et al. tracked more than 100 heterosexual young adult couples (average age 24 - which is younger than the average age of first marriage in the U.S.) for four years after their marriages.  These participants were asked to complete questionnaires about their marital satisfaction and to self-report their heights and weights to calculate their Body Mass Indexes (BMIs).  After controlling for pregnancy and childbirth, the trend of weight gain after marriage was confirmed: both men and women gained some weight after marriage, but weight gain was not in the unhealthy range.  So our meme may be correct about weight gain but incorrect to imply that only women may experience this after marriage.

Lending strength to the Mating Market Model and to our meme, the authors also found that participants who reported greater marital satisfaction were more likely to report weight gain.  If our bride (and groom) match the demographics of the Meltzer et al. study, perhaps they have the right to be smug: if they are happy with their marriage they may gain some weight and not care a bit.  The Mating Market Model was further supported by another trend in their data: when participants reported that they were "thinking of divorce" they also tended to report a lower BMI than usual.

Interestingly, unlike thoughts of divorce, levels of overall marital stress did not correlate with changes in BMI.  Using the Health Regulations Model we would have expected the couples who reported less marital stress to have steady or lower BMIs, but no such relationship was found.  The authors note this as further evidence on the side of the Mating Market Model.

However, is marriage a leading correlate of weight gain?  Currently about 51% of American adults are married (happily and otherwise) while 69% of American adults are overweight.  Thus, there must be other factors involved.  Also, if the majority of American heterosexual adults get married at some point and the majority of American adults are overweight, it also stands to reason that you don't have to be thin to get married in the first place.  If you find happiness with another person just count your lucky stars instead of counting the numbers on the scale.

Further Reading:

The Meltzer et al. (2013) study can be accessed through your local college library or as a free pdf via Research Gate.

A piece by NPR that casts a critical view on the use of BMI as an accurate assessment of weight and health.

Information about body image from the National Eating Disorder Association.  Their website has links to lots of excellent resources including this one about Size Diversity.

Find good information about health, food, and fitness from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
A post by Samantha Joel on the Science of Relationships blog:  What makes a good spouse based on psychological research.  See if you and your partner have what it takes.