Sixty-Five Isn't What it Used to Be: Changes and Trends in the Perceptions of Older Adults

With increasing life expectancy, adults can look forward to more years after age sixty-five than previous generations, many with better health, financial stability, and increased expectations of social activity. Yet, many Americans feel that the "golden years" are anything but idyllic, perceiving that older adults face a lonely life filled with health, financial, and medical worries. However, as the baby boomer generation has approached that stage in the life course, more Americans are confronted with a changing image of what it means to be sixty-five years or older. Using two studies -- Myth and Reality of Aging from 1974 and the American Perceptions of Aging in the 21st Century5 from 2000 -- the authors discuss changing trends in perceptions of adults sixty-five years or older. Specifically, they explore the following questions: 1) how are the lives older adults perceived?; 2) how have perceptions of older adults changed over the last thirty-five years?; and 3) how might the baby boomer generation influence perceptions of the lives of older adults?