Attitudes toward Present and Expected Life Satisfaction for Self and Others

The present study was designed to investigate the differences between present and expected life satisfaction when one is older. Do persons perceive themselves and others as less satisfied with life when they are older? Some recent researchers (1, 3, 6) have found negatlve aspects of certain components of life satisfaction to be a large part of the stereoryped view of old age. Ninety-six university students, 18 to 26 gr. of age, responded to an 18-item life satisfaction scale (4) under four different instructions: (a) as they saw themselves presently, (b) as they thought the items would be applied to themselves when they became 70 yr. old, (c) as subjects thought items would be true or false for most 70yr.-old men, and (d) whether items would be true or false for most 70-yr.-old women. Order of insuuctions varied. Each scale was then scored to indicate the strength of life satisfaction. Scores on each scale were subjected to a 2 X 4 analysis of variance which yielded a significant P ratio (P = 63.99, df = 3/92, p = ,001). There w3s a consistent decline in life satisfaction from the self-ratings to self-ar-70 ratings to males-at-70 to females-at-70 rarlngs. There were no significant sex differences on the ratings. The significant decline from present to expected life satisfaction indicated that subjects expected to become markedly less satisfied with life as they aged. However. the difference between self-expectations and expectations for others indicated that sub jects saw themselves more positively as aging individuals than they saw others who were aged. The negative nature of attitudes toward old age has been pointed out (2, 5). Stereotypes of aging may very well be related to individuals' self-perceptions. Present subjects expressed largely negative attitudes for both self and others as a result of getting older.