KRONOLOJİK YAŞIN ÖTESİNDE: ÖZNEL YAŞ ÇALIŞMALARININ TARİHİ, TANIMI VE GÜNCEL BULGULAR

Öz

Öznel yaş, bireylerin kendilerini ne ölçüde genç ya da yaşlı hissettikleri temeline dayanan ve yaşlanma sürecini keşfetme fırsatı sunan bir kavram olarak tanımlanmış ve son yıllarda özellikle gelişim psikolojisi alan yazınında ciddi anlamda ilgi görmüştür. Araştırmacılar, bireylerin kendilerini kaç yaşında hissettikleri ve yaşlanma sürecinin neresinde oldukları hakkındaki kişisel değerlendirmelerinin, hem bireysel hem de toplumsal faktörlerden etkilendiğini ve bu bakımdan öznel yaşın karmaşık bir yapıya sahip olduğunu belirtmişlerdir. Ayrıca, güncel araştırma bulguları bireyin kendisini kronolojik yaşından daha genç hissetmesinin daha iyi fiziksel ve bilişsel sağlık, daha yüksek yaşam doyumu, daha az bilişsel gerilemeler, daha düşük morbidite ve daha uzun ömür gibi bir dizi olumlu gelişimsel sonuçlar ile ilişkili olduğunu göstermektedir. Bu derlemenin amacı, öznel yaş kavramının tanımı ve tarihi ile ilgili kısa bir bilgi verdikten sonra öznel yaşla ilişkili kavramları ele almak ve öznel yaşın yaşam boyu nasıl bir örüntü izlediğini ortaya koymaktır. İzleyen bölümlerde ise öznel yaşı yordayan ve öznel yaş tarafından yordanan değişkenlerle ilgili güncel araştırma bulguları sunularak öznel yaşın ölçümü ile ilgili yöntemsel sorunlara değinilmiştir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Öznel yaş
• Hissedilen yaş
• kronolojik yaş
• gelişim psikolojisi

BEYOND CHRONOLOGICAL AGE: HISTORY, DEFINITION AND CURRENT FINDINGS OF THE STUDY OF SUBJECTIVE AGE

Öz

Subjective age has been defined as a concept based on the extent to which individuals feel young or old and offers the opportunity to explore the aging process and has received dramatic attention in the developmental psychology literature in recent years. Researchers have stated that individuals' personal evaluations of how old they feel and where they are in the aging process are affected by both individual and social factors, and in this respect, subjective age has a complex structure. In addition, current research findings show that feeling younger than one's chronological age is associated with a number of positive developmental outcomes such as better physical and cognitive health, higher life satisfaction, less cognitive decline, lower morbidity, and longer survival. The purpose of this review, after giving a brief information about the definition and history of the concept of subjective age, is to deal with the concepts related to subjective age and to reveal what kind of a pattern subjective age follows throughout lifespan. In the following sections, current research findings on variables that predict and are predicted by subjective age are presented, and methodological problems related to the measurement of subjective age are addressed.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Subjective age
• felt age
• chronological age
• developmental psychology.

Kaynakça

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