Baby Boomers will age differently using hair-dye, cosmetics, and more extreme measures, such as cosmetic surgery, to keep their bodies in line with feelings of youthfulness.
According to a University of Queensland researcher Mair Underwood, Australian society's obsession with looking younger is set to collide with the reality of aging. Underwood will present her study at the Emerging Researchers in Ageing (ERA) 2005 conference in Brisbane this week.
Underwood's PhD study on how people of different ages feel about, and understand their bodies indicated that Baby Boomers were at the forefront of the anti-aging movement. The sheer numbers of this group will result in the doubling of the population over 65 by 2051, so coping with aging will become an important issue.
"People show at least two responses to the threat or reality of a stigmatized body. While some choose to change their body to prevent stigma, there are, of course, limits to how much you can change the body."
"Therefore, some take a second option – to redefine who they are so that it doesn't include the body. Older people told me that they were still the same person, it was just their body that had become 'old'."
In general, it was younger people (under 60) who were found to take the first option to change the body, while older participants were more likely to accept their changing bodies and adapt by using non-body related factors to define themselves.
Source: Australian Study www.SeniorJournal.com
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Baby Boomers will age differently using hair-dye, cosmetics, and more extreme measures, such as cosmetic surgery, to keep their bodies in line with feelings of youthfulness.
Underwood's PhD study on how people of different ages feel about, and understand their bodies indicated that Baby Boomers were at the forefront of the anti-aging movement. The sheer numbers of this group will result in the doubling of the population over 65 by 2051, so coping with aging will become an important issue.
"People show at least two responses to the threat or reality of a stigmatized body. While some choose to change their body to prevent stigma, there are, of course, limits to how much you can change the body."
"Therefore, some take a second option – to redefine who they are so that it doesn't include the body. Older people told me that they were still the same person, it was just their body that had become 'old'."
In general, it was younger people (under 60) who were found to take the first option to change the body, while older participants were more likely to accept their changing bodies and adapt by using non-body related factors to define themselves.
Source: Australian Study www.SeniorJournal.com