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This essay examines the issue of how age identity is related to physical health and life satisfaction. As life expectancy has increased, we would expect ideas about aging and old age to change. In addition, as individuals move through the life course they may reevaluate their notions of aging. We consider both personal views of aging and more general ideas about when old age begins. In general, age identity refers to the subjective evaluation of a person’s age, which is subject to individual and historical experiences. This evaluation is consistent with Goffman’s (1963, p. 105) concept of a person’s identity as ‘‘the subjective sense of his own situation and his own continuity and character that an individual comes to obtain as a result of his various social experiences.’’ This concept corresponds to George’s (1980) view of age identity as meaningful evaluations and perceptions of oneself.

Life satisfaction is one of the most popular subjective well-being measures of quality of life. Other measures include morale, happiness, and psychological well-being. A major problem with the subjective well-being research in gerontology has been the lack of consistency in defining, measuring and using these terms which has lead to conflicting findings (Mannell & Dupuis, 1996). It has been suggested that subjective well-being be reconceptualized as personal development and adjustment. For example, Ryff (1995) have developed a scale that reflects psychological health and well-being (e.g., self-acceptance, positive relations with others, autonomy, environmental mastery, purpose in life, and personal growth) based on major personality and life-span theories. This approach appears to be more in line with current views of wellness.
People often believe that happiness is a matter of circumstance that if something good happens, they will experience long-lasting happiness, or if something bad happens, they will experience long-term misery. But instead,...