Attributing life changes to age represents a core marker of the subjective experience of aging. The aims of our study were to investigate views on aging as origins of age-related attributions of life changes, and to investigate the implications of these age-related attributions for personal control and life satisfaction.
Life changes and the attribution of life changes to age were independently assessed on a large international sample of older adults (N=2,900, age range 40–90 years) from the Ageing as Future project. The valence of views on aging (VA), personal control (PC), and life satisfaction (LS) were also assessed to investigate possible determinants (VA) and consequences (PC, LS) of age-related attributions of life changes.
Attributions to age were shown to depend on the valence of experienced life changes, with more negative changes being linked to more age-related attributions. This relation was moderated by the valence of personally held views on aging, with more negative views on aging amplifying the relation between negative life changes and age-related attributions. Age-related attributions predicted reduced personal control and lower life satisfaction and were found to exacerbate the effects of negative life changes on life satisfaction, especially for the older cohorts of our sample.
Our findings help to better understand what determines age-related attributions of life changes, and highlight the negative consequences of attributing them to aging. Age-related attributions of change are a major factor that worsens the subjective aging experience. Methodologically, our study emphasizes the necessity to separately assess changes and their attributions to age.