Researchers say popularity of the successful aging movement reflects American age-ism
By Joaqlin Estus
Many Americans are obsessed with the idea of staying forever young. That impossible desire is the subject of researchers who worry an unrealistic mindset about the eventuality of life’s decline can lead to depression.
In the 1960s, scientists began examining how people stay healthy, independent, and productive into old age. Their findings led to a widespread, although somewhat misguided, belief that by making the right choices, people can stave off disease, disability, and even death. But some experts say the idea of successful aging reflects American abhorrence of old age and denial of death.
Speaking at a gerontological conference in Washington, D.C. Last month [November], Brandeis University anthropology professor Sarah Lamb said so-called successful aging articles and books tell readers how to “direct” their own aging, and paint disability as “bleak,” and dependence on others as “demeaning.” Lamb says the problem is that much of the aging process is beyond our control, and aging does lead to physical decline and death, issues she says Americans are loath to acknowledge – a symptom, she says, of age-ism.
“Age-ism can mean different things,” said Lamb. “One, it can mean discrimination against older people, not giving them a job. But more profoundly, it's like thinking that old age is very bad and embarrassing. And that's really pervasive in our culture. I think that's why the successful aging movement is so successful, is that it is a way of denying that we have to be old. And that's very negative, very bad.”
Dr. Anna Corwin, of Stanford University, says that’s due in part to the promotion of products that promise eternal youth. She says the concept of successful aging got its start among researchers who study aging, but marketers saw the concept offered huge sales potential to youth- focused Americans. They promoted the idea of being eternally young and used the opportunity to market everything from special diets, supplements and rejuvenating face creams:
“It's something that has totally spilled over and been taken up,” said Corwin. “And there's a lot of like market value in it, there's a lot of people making a lot of money with it. And so I think it just sort of hinges, it sort of connects well with a lot of other paradigms in the U.S.”
Lamb says putting too much faith in successful aging, can lead to feelings of failure when natural decline in function or disabilities develop. She says Baby Boomers relish their independence and may make overly optimistic assumptions about well they will be able to continue that independence into old age. This could have big impacts in the future as communities grapple with increasing health care, assisted living, and financial support needs for those who may be in denial about the inevitability of age and death.
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This story was revised for statewide broadcast from a version that ran on KNBA 12/29/14, and corrected to attribute comments by Dr. Anna Corwin to her.
Joaqlin Estus produced this story through a Fellowship from New America Media and the Gerontological Society of America, supported by AARP.