February 16, 2023
"Reverse the face of time, now!"
"Skin looks 5 years younger in 4 weeks."
"Fight oxidation, fight aging!"
"I've seen it wreck romances... That's why I guard against dry, lifeless 'middle-age' skin!"
A cursory glance at beauty advertising since the 1940s suggests that we, as a society, fear getting old. Look further in pop culture and even Mick Jagger famously sang “what a drag it is getting old”.
What a drag it isn't getting old
Research shows that as we age, our subjective well-being actually improves. In our formative (read: younger) years, mental and physical health are tightly correlated. You'd think that as we age and physical health declines that our mental health would too. However, the body and mind actually dissociate over time—subjective well-being does not decline with our physical health.
We're all familiar with the feeling that time seems to slip away faster with each passing year. This common phenomenon—the feeling that time is increasingly limited—leads us to a re-prioritization our goals. We increasingly derive emotional meaning from the present and near future as we age, de-prioritizing goals with long-term payoffs. This motivational shift leads to:
The “positivity effect of aging”. We pay more attention to emotionally relevant information and memories. As result, we notice and remember positive information better than negative information. Even our autobiographical memory becomes more positive as we age.
A preference emotionally gratifying social contacts over contacts with new or suboptimal social partners. Perhaps as a result of this, satisfaction with social support networks is higher as we age.
An improvement in emotional regulation. We tend toward emotion-focused coping (regulating our emotional response to a stressor) rather than problem-focused coping (responding directly to the stressor).
Implications on our understanding of health and illness experiences
Individuals' shifting priorities and emotional regulation can significantly impact health outcomes. Older folks may avoid making personal health-related decisions in order to avoid negative thoughts and emotions. As we grow old, we may make poorer health-related decisions in an effort to prioritize happiness and short-term joy. Comparative research suggests that other factors that limit one’s time (i.e., a terminal illness), might similarly impact emotional regulation, emotional-processing and prioritization.
At Throughline, we dig into research insights through social science lenses to deepen our understanding of patient and caregiver experiences. With these implications in mind, we seek to apply different behavioural science concepts in opportunities and strategic recommendations to keep mental and physical wellbeing and health outcomes top of mind for individuals with illness at any age.
Back to Mick Jagger though—he probably thought getting old was a drag because he was only 22. Had he written the song later in life, he might’ve felt quite differently.
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Carstensen, Laura L., Derek M. Isaacowitz, and Susan T. Charles. (1999) "Taking time seriously: A theory of socioemotional selectivity." American psychologist 54.3: 165.
Carstensen, Laura L., Helene H. Fung, and Susan T. Charles. (2003) "Socioemotional selectivity theory and the regulation of emotion in the second half of life." Motivation and emotion 27.2: 103-123.
Löckenhoff, Corinna E., and Laura L. Carstensen. (2004) "Socioemotional selectivity theory, aging, and health: The increasingly delicate balance between regulating emotions and making tough choices." Journal of personality 72.6: 1395-1424.
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