Re-Examination of the Relationship between Age and Fear of Aging

Abstract

As is the case with fear of death, fear of aging may be multidimensional (Pollack, 1979). While it is difficult to say which dimension of anxiety about aging was measured, Lester, er al. (1979) found that senior citizens reported significantly less fear of. aging than did college students. Using data gathered from a mail questionnaire to a probability sample of adult Alabamians (1012 or 57.3% of those reached, Ma.. = 48.2 yr., SD = 16.7), personal concern about the consequences of being old measured with a four-item inde? (M = 12.1, SD = 3.6, coefficient alpha = .81) was not correlated with age ( r = .04, d f = 920, p > . I ) . Better to approximate the analysis used by Lester, et al. (1979), the sample was divided into five categories ( . I ) . Further, neither the linear (F = 1.3, d f = 1/918, fi > . I ) nor the nonlinear (F = 1.9, df = 3/918, f l > . I ) effects were statistically significant. The findings of this study cast some doubt on the generalizability of those presented by Lester, et al. (1979). Age does not appear to have a simple relationship with fear of aging when this is conceptualized as personal concern for the consequences of being old.