CHANGES IN AGE IDENTITY - SELF-PERCEPTIONS IN MIDDLE AND LATE-LIFE

Sixty-seven women and 34 men, aged 41 to 96, ranging from blue collar workers to professionals, were interviewed about changes that led to t heir feeling older, and to note special events or birthdays that held particular significance. Four themes were used in the analysis to desc ribe the ways respondents perceived their own aging: the comparative s elf, reflected self, retrospective self, and mature self. The resultin g framework, relying heavily on symbolic interactionist theory, was us eful for the entire age range of six decades, despite the fact that ag e identity is usually studied over attenuated age ranges.