Self and Older-People Referents in Evaluating Life Problems

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Abstract
This study examined the severity of common life problems among “older people” as reported in national survey data along with similar evaluations of such problems among the respondents themselves. The two surveys, seven years apart (1974–1981), permit the examination of cohort changes in such perceptions over time. People of all ages, including older adults, evaluate the problems of “older people” as being more substantial than such problems among the respondents themselves. More recent cohorts (younger people) were more likely than earlier cohorts to report serious personal problems during the first survey and even more so by the second survey. The more recent cohorts also felt that the seriousness of problems among older people increased over time, whereas earlier cohorts reported just the opposite in assessing the problems of their age peers. It appears that younger people believe older persons' problems are more serious than do the older people themselves, and this difference in perceptions did not disappear over time

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