New research carried out by psychologists at the University, titled ‘Being old and ill’ across different countries: social status, age identification and older people’s subjective health, (published in the journal Psychology and Health) used data from the European Social Survey. Respondents, who were all aged 70 and over, were asked to self-rate their health.
The researchers, including Dr Hannah Swift, Christopher Bratt and Professor Dominic Abrams, found that those living in societies where older people have lower status were more likely to have a negative subjective view of their health if they identified themselves as ‘old’. However, identifying as an older person was not associated with subjective health in societies where older people have higher status.
The results highlighted that in countries where old age is perceived as signifying low status, identifying strongly with old age is related to worse subjective health.
For more information, see the full press release.