When I’m sixty-four: Self-perceptions of aging

ANN ARBOR-In the 1960s, the Beatles sang about wondering whether their true love would still love them as they grew older-after they've lost their hair and are no more adventurous than wanting to knit a sweater. A group of four studies led by University of Michigan researchers has found that however the hero of the Beatles song turns out, his health-and his wife's health-may be dictated by their perceptions of their own aging. "Beliefs about one's own aging are shared within couples, and these beliefs are predictive of future health above and beyond individual beliefs," said Shannon Mejia, a postdoctoral fellow at U-M's Institute for Social Research. "Husbands' and wives' individual experiences of physical activity and disease burden are important for their current shared beliefs and future functional health." That is, couples who tend to view their aging negatively tend to become less healthy and less mobile than couples who view their aging positively. In addition, husbands' disease burden shape their attitudes toward both their own aging and their wives' aging. Mejia and colleagues surmise that the husbands' limitations stemming from disease negatively affect the wives' health because of the increased burden of caregiving. Jennifer Sun, an M.D./Ph.D.