THE PERCREPTIONS OF MIDDLE AGE AND OLD AGE IN CROSS - CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE

Recently, Neugarten and Neugarten (1986) stated that:In all societies lifetime is divided into socially relevant units and biological time is translated into societal time ... Societies frome the simplest to the most complex define various periods of life.” (p. 32) Several years earlier Neugarten, Moore and Lowe(1965) reported on the age norm timetable which society used to identify the expected age for major events to occure, Based on their findings, they concluded that these age norms were used to determine the ”best time” for many critical social behaviors.However, Kimmel (J 980) concluded that many people established their own personal age norms by using society’s”best. age” determination as guidelines. Therefore, society was,in fact, defining appropriate actions for people at different ages.It turned out that conforming with these social dock norms led to favorable results; violations, on the other hand, did not.These social norms identified the standards shared andconformed to by the members of different cultural, social or ethnic groups. Another approach was explored by Hagan and Yorke (1986) in a ,paper titeld: ”Stages and ages in adult development: A commentary and research note.” In their study they analyzed the responses of men and women college students who identified themselves with three ethnic groups: Black,Caucasian and Hispanic. While they differed somewhat in degree of perceived mean ages, most of the schemata were the same or similar.Previously, Dr. Leonore Loeb Adler had conducted some informal studies that investigated the perception of age for two age-linked periods in adult life. The results gathered in her Introductory Psychology classes showed that20 to 30 year old college women perceveid ”middle age” from 40 to 45 years,while 35 to 45 year old college students perceived this stage Irome 50 to 55 years. When the same groups were asked about”old age” the younger group responded with 65 or 70 years,whichwas probably prompted by the social security law.