Centre for Policy on Ageing



Perceived problems for self and others — self-protection by social downgrading throughout adulthood
Author(s)	Jutta Heckhausen, Orville Gilbert Brim
Journal title	Psychology and Aging, vol 12, no 4, December 1997
Pages	pp 610-619
Keywords	Life satisfaction ; Self esteem ; Cross national surveys ; Germany.
Annotation	In this German study, the authors investigated social downgradings reflected in the difference between perceptions about the self and about 'most people my age'. A large cross-national probability sample of adults at different age levels throughout adulthood provided ratings of perceived problems expected for the self and for 'most other people my age' with regard to twelve domains of life (e.g. health, marriage, and job). Results showed that with regard to all domains, younger, middle-aged, and older adults believed other people's problems to be more serious than their own in these domains. Social downgrading was particularly pronounced for those domains for which a given participant experienced problems himself or herself. This self-protection tendency under threat was particularly pronounced in the older adults. The function and adaptive values for social downgrading across adulthood and old age are discussed.
Accession Number	CPA-980224006 A
Classmark	F:5HH: DPA: 3K: 767
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...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.