Turkish Young-Old Adults’ Self-Perceptions of Aging

Abstract

In this study, we examined the self-perception of aging of young-old adults living in Turkey’s Central Anatolia Region within the scope of aging anxiety and future time perspective dimensions. This research is a descriptive study and in this study, phenomenology, a qualitative research method, was employed. The study group was selected by snowball and purposeful sampling methods. Participants were identified through the elderly relatives of the author/authors (snowball sampling). At the same time, purposeful sampling was used to ensure that the participants were in the 65–74 age range. The study group was composed of a total of 37 old individuals aged between 65 and 74 years living in Turkey. The interview instrument was a semi-structured questionnaire and included both open and close ended questions. The interviews conducted within the framework of the ‘personal information form’ and ‘semi-structured interview form’ administered to the participants and the data obtained by transcribing these interviews into written text were analysed by theoretical thematic analysis method by the researchers. The findings showed that aging anxiety, future time perspective and loneliness represent different sub-dimensions of self-perception of aging. The results of this study showed that the self-perceptions of aging of 65–74-year-old young-old adults living in Central Anatolia Region in Turkey are negative, and that these perceptions differ according to living arrangements but do not differ according to gender.