IELTS essay, topic: Can the society cope with the larger number of elderly people and how?

Table 2. Perception of financial conditions and social distancing-related aspects of adults (n = 139) and older adults (n = 437).

In the West Bank/Palestine, about one-third of adult Palestinians 18 years reported low levels of well-being; this was influenced by different socioeconomic factors including marital status, living standard, and community participation [31]. These contributing factors to well-being can be more prominent among older adult Palestinians, a marginalized growing population age group with a high rate of poverty, unemployment, and chronic diseases that requires further studies and research [32, 33]. To our knowledge, this is the first qualitative study exploring perceptions of older adult Palestinians on aging well. Thus, the aim of this study was to explore perceptions about aging well among older adult Palestinians who were 60 years old and older at the time of the data collection. Our findings revealed that autonomy and independence were viewed as primary attributes to age well. Concern of being a burden to others was very prominent throughout participants expression.

The most significant findings within the first study (the study about gendered perceptions of aging) generally involved the differences in opinion that males and females tended to have about aging, but also the similarities that they shared. One of the more interesting findings is that women tended to draw more positive images of elderly than men did, with 54 of women sketching positive images, and only 32 of men sketching images that seemed positive. Also, there seemed to be a gender bias among Why did older individuals in our sample report larger discrepancies between subjective and chronological age than the sample average? One explanation may lie in selective mortality: The participants older than the BASE mean age of 85 years are positively selected survivors of their birth cohorts. This is especially true for men older than 85 years of age. Many of the oldest-old participants in this study may indeed experience delayed (or slowed) rates of decline in functioning compared with those in their mid-70s who may not survive to be 85.

This would be unpopular, but would allow governments to have the necessary funds available. A still open question, therefore, is whether interindividual differences in functional autonomy and related motor resources/efficiency within the elderly population affect distance perception. Another unexplored question is whether the decline of motor resources affects spatial perception only when distances are judged with reference to the observers own body as previously observed [14] or also when they are judged with reference to the body of another agent present in the scene, given that we automatically encode his/her actions possibility [8, 16]. Taken together, the present results demonstrate the value of investigating subjective perceptions of one's aging. In particular, our study suggests that an examination of changes in self-perceptions of aging over time in very old age provides information about the resilience and vitality of the older self. Future research should examine whether and how changes in self-perceptions of aging are associated with survival.

The multilevel modeling indicated that there were significant interindividual differences in the average discrepancy (intercept random effect) of felt age from chronological age over time but, on average, felt age did not change over time (nonsignificant fixed effect for time: refer to first column of Table 2). On average, individuals felt years younger than their actual age over time. There was some variance around the slope but the effect did not reach significance. However, significance tests of variance components in multilevel modeling have long been questioned with regard to their utility. Because of their sensitivity to departures from normality and imbalance (unequal numbers of observations per individual), results have to be examined with extreme caution (e. g. , Singer & Willett, 2003). Following the recommendations of Snijders and Bosker (1999), we calculated the 95 plausible value range to describe individual differences in change. This indicated that the direction and amount of change in felt age discrepancy varied between individuals from (i. e. , discrepancy increased by years between two measurement points) to (i. e. , discrepancy was reduced by years between two measurement points).

Other studies find that temporal comparisons about age-related change are negatively related to well-being and self-esteem (e. g. , Filipp, Ferring, Mayer, & Schmidt, 1997). In contrast, no specific comparison context is primed in the question about felt age. The instruction for physical age cues a comparison between subjective appearance and a less malleable mirror image. These different methods may partly explain differential patterns of change over time. With social distancing, people are modifying their social bonds, and this could result in a negative impact on the eating habits of the participants, especially the older adults (Allès et al. , 2019). There is a correlation between social bonds and eating habits (Campos et al. , 2000; Silveira et al. , 2015). However, with stress, there may be changes in the quantity and the quality of the food consumed, a decrease in appetite (Petrowski et al. , 2014; Reichenberger et al. , 2018), as well as an increase in high caloric density food consumption. These alterations may lead to changes in glycemia, lipid profile, and consequently increased risk for the development of chronic diseases (Evers et al. , 2010; Van Strien et al.

Studies that address questions about successful aging find that youthful subjective age is associated with good health and high levels of well-being (Hubley & Hultsch, 1994; Westerhof & Barrett, 2005). High satisfaction with aging is associated with good health (Levy, Slade, & Kasl, 2002) and few daily health symptoms (Rakowski, Julius, Hickey, Verbrugge, & Halter, 1988), and it is uniquely related to living longer, after other predictors of mortality have been controlled for (Levy, Slade, Kunkel, & Kasl, 2002; Maier & Smith, 1999). Studies about age identity report that subjective age is associated with group differences in social roles and the experience of life course events (e. g. , retirement or widowhood; see Barrett, 2005; Kim & Moen, 2002). Researchers who focus on self-regulation report the benefits to self-esteem garnered by strategic changes in standards and selection of comparison targets (e. g. , Heckhausen & Krüger; Sneed & Whitbourne). Notably, our findings indicate that distance judgments were affected by the level of functional autonomy also when using an allocentric but (Other) body-centered reference frame. Our previous data on young adults showed that targets are perceived nearer with reference to another persons body with movement opportunities as compared with a person without them or an inanimate static object [8].

Self-Perceptions of Aging as Indicators of Successful Aging

These analyses revealed considerable amounts of between- and within-individual variance over time: 65 of the total variance in the felt age discrepancy (54 for physical age; 57 for aging satisfaction) was related to differences between individuals, and thus 35 was within-person variance (46 for physical age; 43 for aging satisfaction). The fact that there was considerable intraindividual variation in the data warranted further modeling of time-related change and its underlying covariates. Older adults and adults had different levels of tiredness before and during social distancing (Figure 1C, both p < ). Both groups related significantly increased levels of tiredness during the social distance period (Figure 1C, p < ), although perception of tiredness in adults has remained higher than in the older adults (Figure 1C, p < ). The confidence level of median was for adults before and during and social distancing, while for the aged, the confidence level was and before and during social distancing, respectively.

A human body is therefore a special allocentric reference frame [8] that would induce an automatic perspective taking [32, 33], probably sustained by a self-projection motor simulation mechanism [9]. The present data bring further support to this idea, because the effects of another persons action (specifically, walking) potentialities on the observers judgments appear to be actually modulated by the observers own abilities as if she or he was in the other persons situation. In line with this result, Witt et al. [34] have put in evidence that when people with better or worse ball-blocking ability than their partners abilities are asked to judge the speed in a ball-blocking paradigm observing the partners performance, they still continue to filter the speed perception by their own abilities. This is consistent with action-specific accounts of perception [1, 4], which assert that the world is perceived in terms of the perceivers ability to perform the intended action.

Older adults in other cultural circumstances as well placed a high value on personal independence and self-reliance, where staying independent was viewed as a major trait for aging well [24, 44]. The participants related their level of independence to their physical and mental health; a sensible understandable relation as a higher level of physical functioning enables older adults to perform more integrated functional tasks which include activities of daily living and the fulfillment of social roles as well as recreational activities [7], issues that are essential to age well. For the aged, the impact of physical distancing could be worse because they have less online social interaction (Berg-Weger and Morley, 2020). Moreover, it has been widely proposed that the maintenance of daily activities are fundamental to keep the quality of life and physical and mental health of older adults (Manini et al. , 2006; Britto et al. , 2018; Chen et al. , 2020; Hammami et al. , 2020).

In the present study, we ask if felt age, physical age, and aging satisfaction change over 6 years during old age and whether there are individual differences in change. In line with proposals linked to successful aging and adaptive self-regulation, we hypothesized that the subjective age discrepancies would increase over time whereas there would be no change in aging satisfaction. We recognize that hypotheses based on the successful aging perspective may be overly optimistic given the advanced age of our sample (Mage = 85 years at baseline; age range = 70104). Indeed, life span theory (e. g. , Baltes & Smith, 2003) and recent evidence about decline in life satisfaction during old age (Gerstorf, Ram, Röcke, Lindenberger, & Smith, 2008; Mroczek & Spiro, 2005) suggest that there may be limits to aging successfully in very old age. Society should be able to handle these changes. Governments will have been able to predict the changing demographic situations in their countries and plan accordingly. This might indeed lead to other sectors in society having money taken away from them, but caring for the elderly is one of the key responsibilities of todays governments. For the future, it might be necessary to ensure that an extra insurance charge is levied on peoples salaries in order that any future financial shortfall is met.

Interestingly, a very recent study on spatial text processing showed that also time estimations, but not distance estimations, are affected by the age of the participants and that of the characters [35], probably because, in line with the embodied cognition approach, the elderly create a mental representation of the characters action potential that stems on the spatial reenactment of their own sensorimotor experience. Future research might manipulate also the age of the Other body used as RF during perceptual distance judgments, in order to clarify the relationship between own- and other-body characteristics within the embodiment process. Moreover, further studies employing more similar procedures are needed to see whether spatial and temporal attributes are similarly or differently sensitive to the bodys physical characteristics [35]. The differential patterns of change may also reflect different viewpoints on self-perceptions of aging. Satisfaction with aging is measured by concrete questions about the cognitive-emotional experience of age-related change. The items prime temporal comparisons about changes in energy level, perceived usefulness, happiness, and life quality (Lawton, 1975).

To do this, we designed an observational study performed with a survey which was intended to capture a complete and detailed sample so that we may draw a useful and reliable conclusion Within this subtheme, promoting healthy eating habits related to aging well were addressed. The participants talked about healthy habits to be taken as well as unhealthy eating style to be skipped. In this context, overeating or getting a full stomach was described as a source of disease, a behavior that has to be prevented in order to maintain good health. Unhealthy eating habits like skipping breakfast and excessive use of salt and sugar were viewed as aggravating factors for some disease symptoms. Staying socially active was described in different phrases and was manifested about having good neighbors and visiting friends, highly motivated person towards life, and not being dismal. Participation in community events was described by some participants as a helpful tool for older adults to stay socially active. Additionally, being socially active was connected with community voluntary work.

(2020) reported that this decrease is greater for older adults, since it is well-known that regular physical activity is essential to maintain and/or improve muscle strength, gait, and postural balance, influencing functional independence, quality of life (Liu-Ambrose et al. , 2019; Greve et al. , 2020), and falls prevention (Pelicioni and Lord, 2020). Although the number of falls could not be determined, it should be considered that the mean age of the older adults in the present study was relatively low. Furthermore, data collection was performed after a period of 3060 days of social distancing and falls report depended on participants memory and comprehension of what should be considered as a falling event. Stimuli included a 3D scene created by means of a virtual reality software (3D Studio Max 4. 2, Autodesk, Discreet). The scene was a 3D environment, representing a square arena palace (Figure 1). In the first set of stimuli (Figure 1(a)), a red target umbrella was present on the scene, along a central vector aligned to the central camera (Self reference frame or RF).

Models that estimate the dynamics of change over time in self-perceptions of aging and related covariates would provide information that could be used to disentangle conflicting interpretations. Partly consistent with former research, women reported higher physical age and lower aging satisfaction than men did (Kim & Moen, 2002; Montepare & Lachman, 1989). Women older than 70 years of age might experience changes in their physical appearance more negatively than older men do, and this might contribute to less positive self-perceptions of aging (Clarke, 2001). Given the inconsistent findings in current studies of midlife and older age, further research is needed to address these questions. As reported in Table 1, a significant positive skipped Pearsons correlation was obtained between the IADL percentage score and the spatial JTT with both the Self RF and the Other RF. Crucially, the correlation with the Object RF was not significant and neither the Self JTT nor the Other JTT showed a significant correlation with age and MMSE corrected score. As previously reported in literature [21], IADL and MMSE scores were positively correlated. Well-being and physical and mental health are closely linked and the link may become more important at older ages, a connection that contributes to aging well in terms of life satisfaction, feelings of happiness, having sense of purpose, and meaning in life [2730].

Given their concurrent physical and cognitive changes [12], the elderly represent a privileged occasion for testing action-perception links as well as a natural fit for the embodied cognition theoretical framework [13]. In the field of spatial cognition, much work has been devoted to the effects of aging on spatial memory and navigation (see [23]), with particular attention to the changes of egocentric and allocentric spatial representations/reference frames. Impairments of allocentric coordinates have been often documented (e. g. , [2427]), but also deficits in learning spatial environments when operating through an embodied and first-person perspective, as well as a reduced efficiency in the multisensory integration of the bodily signals (kinesthetic, tactile, proprioceptive, and interoceptive), with overreliance on visual information (for review, see [13]). According to the action-specific theory of perception [1], a persons dynamic ability to act in the environment, which is largely determined by her/his body (size, control and coordination, and energetic potential), affects her/his spatial perception. These effects are suggested to be potentially adaptive for planning future actions based on the perceivers abilities rather than on behaviorally irrelevant metrics [1].

The state of well-being is a multifaceted phenomenon in the older population which generally involves happiness, self-contentment, satisfying social relationships, and autonomy [6]. The sense of well-being refers to an individuals feelings, in this case, based on how older persons perceive the concept of well-being. Thus, the term subjective well-being is frequently used [7]. Well-being is also subject to other persons feelings about oneself whether that is positive or negative. According to McNulty et al. [8], well-being is determined jointly by the interplay between individual characteristics and qualities of peoples social environments. Several limitations of the present study should be acknowledged. More measurement points and a longer time period are needed in order to determine if change is robust and differs from linearity. It would also be worthwhile to assess change in individuals who, as a result of frailty, transit from high functioning to frailty and increasing health problems. This transition may accelerate negative changes in self-perceptions of aging.

Exercising helps the elderly cope better as they go through the changes of life by helping become stronger so that they can move when completing Generally, modern society reinforces negative perceptions of the process of aging, and it is often portrayed in society as being a lonely and depressing experience. These perceptions are important because elderly individuals that have a positive outlook on aging have been linked to better health and psychological well-being. This study explores the impact of negative and positive perceptions of aging, held by society, and how they influence aging individuals. Although, some positive stereotypes Theoretically, positive self-perceptions of aging are viewed as indicators of successful aging, age identity, and self-regulation processes (e. g. , Baltes & Smith, 2003; Heckhausen & Krüger, 1993; Sneed & Whitbourne, 2005). Although these perspectives propose different underlying processes, there is consensus that positive self-perceptions of aging serve to sustain levels of social activity and engagement, enhance self-esteem and well-being, and boost biophysiological functioning.

The participants, both men and women commented on how vital for them it was to do voluntary activities, which helped them as older adults to efficiently spend their free time by doing something sensible to serve their own community. The participants reflected on how voluntary work or being involved in charitable work may enhance their state of well-being. Focus group method was used to acquire data about perceptions of older adults towards aging well. Focus groups are defined as carefully planned series of discussions designed to obtain perceptions on a defined area of interest in a permissive, nonthreatening environment [34]. Group interaction is a fundamental part of this method, in which the vital group discussions among the participants produce the data of the studied topic [35, 36]. However, the great majority of studies focused on older adults as a group, largely neglecting interindividual differences in relevant embodiment factors [13]. One of these factors, still neglected, is the level of functional autonomy in daily life, which is strongly associated with physical performance [15] and is crucial when considering the interaction between an individual and her/his surrounding environment.

However, it is still unknown whether the elderly space perception is affected by interindividual differences in their functional autonomy (FA) and whether the decline of motor resources affects spatial categorization only when distances are judged with reference to the observers own body or also when they are judged with reference to the body of another agent present in the scene. To this aim, a sample of elderly adults with preserved cognitive functions but different levels of FA, measured through the Instrumental Activity of Daily Living (IADL) scale, were enrolled and tested on the extrapersonal space categorization task. This task requires judging the position of a target as Near or Far with respect to different reference frames (RFs): centered on the observers body (Self RF) or centered on external elements, like another body (Other RF) or an object (Object RF). Results indicated that the higher the level of FA, the wider the space categorized as Near when adopting as reference frame our own body or the body of another agent in the scene, but not a static object.

In conclusion, the individual functional autonomy of elderly individuals, which is strongly influenced by motor resources and efficiency, modulates how the surrounding space is represented, but only when the distance judgment implies an agent body, thus providing new relevant data for recent embodied cognition models of aging. Selectivity analyses (following Lindenberger, Singer, & Baltes, 2002) indicated that individuals who contributed the most data (i. e. , over four time points as compared with one time point) were on average younger ( SD), more satisfied with their aging ( SD), and felt younger than the 516-person T1 baseline sample ( SD for felt age, SD for physical age). Such a selection effect in BASE is expected given the average age of the baseline sample (M = 85 years), and the fact that attrition was primarily due to death (Gerstorf et al. , 2006).

Some participants felt even younger over time, whereas others reduced the gap between their felt and actual age. A second set of models examined potential factors underlying interindividual differences in level and change over time (Table 3). Several factors were related to mean-level (intercept) differences in felt age discrepancy: Individuals who were 1 year older at the first measurement occasion reported a felt age that was more discrepant () from their actual age, indicating that they felt an additional years younger than the sample average. (Interceptaverage sample = ; Intercept1 year older than average = = ). Given that older adults typically manifest concurrent physical and cognitive changes [12], they represent a privileged occasion for testing action-perception links as well as a natural fit for the embodied cognition theoretical framework (see [13], for review). Not surprisingly, elderly people judge the hills as steeper compared with younger adults [3]. More recently, it has also been shown that older adults perceive distances as farther compared to young adults and that their verbal estimates of target distance are sensitive to the floor surface, with greater perceived distances on a slippery one, due to greater anticipated walking effort and increased risk of falling [14].

Initial insight into the importance of maintaining a sense of positive well-being during old age has been gained from findings that satisfaction with aging and emotional vitality predict mortality (e. g. , Levy et al. , 2002; Maier & Smith, 1999; Penninx et al. , 2000), and that negative changes in life satisfaction are more associated with distance to death than age per se (Gerstorf et al. , 2008). Data of health perception and physical status are shown in Table 3. Adults had greater changes related to stool frequency when compared to older adults (p < ). Adults referred to greater difficulties while most older adults reported no difficulties in carrying out their activities at home (p < ). The decrease in physical activity level was an expected consequence of the stay at home recommendations. Lippi et al.

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