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Older people have a different perception of ageing and different factors can influence this perception. Among the factors influencing the perception of ageing are various functions including physical, mental and social functioning of the elderly. Therefore, in this study, the authors intend to investigate the relationship between the perception of ageing and social functioning.

A systematic search was conducted of four electronic databases (PubMed, Embase, Web of Science and Scopus). Citations within identified reports were also searched. Studies were included if they included perceptions of ageing and social functioning measures involving older participants. Study selection and data extraction were conducted using predefined criteria. Older adults’ perceptions of ageing and social functioning were assessed with a variety of measures.

From a total of 79 articles, eight reports met the criteria for inclusion. In these studies, the positive and negative aspects of ageing perception and various social functions of the elderly in society such as economic, political, social activities; social support; and formal and informal participation have been raised.

The results of this narrative review demonstrate that there is a two-way relationship between the perception of ageing and social functioning. Therefore, it is suggested that appropriate practical and educational interventions be taken to increase the positive perception of ageing in the elderly and increase the social performance of the elderly in society.

This paper aims to investigate the reaction to the use of senior models in ads by older consumers while taking into account their spiritual dimension in the context of ageing.

This research relies on a qualitative approach and the narrative analysis of 40 transcribed interviews with older adults of age 50-83.

Interviews with senior respondents confirm that ageing is a challenging individual process in the context of which spiritual needs emerge. Taking these needs into account helps understand the reaction of older consumers to the use of senior models in ads. It also reveals the potential of this marketing practice to respond to spiritual needs in the context of ageing.

This paper contributes to the understanding of older consumers’ reaction to the senior models they see in ads. It reveals the necessity to take spiritual needs into account to fully understand consumer behavior at old age. This paper contributes to the understanding of older consumers’ reaction to the senior models they see in ads. It reveals the necessity to take spiritual needs into account to fully understand consumer behavior at old age.

This paper provides practical guidance to advertising professionals on the use of senior models in ads.

This research reveals that the adequate representation of older models in advertisements can help fight the negative stereotypes associated with ageing and contributes to highlighting the major role played by older adults in society.

This research is the first to investigate the relationship of older consumers to the senior models used in advertisements while taking into account their spiritual dimension. It extends the existing research on older consumers and advertising, especially their perception of senior models.

Retiring from work used to signify the end of paid employment and a transition to focus on life outside the workplace. From this perspective, the work-life interface may have no relevance for the retired. However, recent changes, particularly resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, suggest that conceptualizations of both retirement and the work-life interface are more fluid, ambiguous, and complex. In this chapter, we first set the scene, reviewing how and why the traditional concept of retirement has changed so dramatically. Drawing on empirical data from contemporary media, we then consider how the current experience of the older worker and retiree are being reframed in neoliberal terms, emphasizing individual responsibility to remain not just fit and healthy but also productive, through a wide range of activities. We then focus on the impact of COVID-19, highlighting how pre-pandemic structural inequalities have been exacerbated, resulting in a range of responses in both levels of retirement and work by older people. We conclude by suggesting that retirement and its work-life interface need to recognize lived experience as dynamic, messy, and varied and implicated in wider structural features of both the economy and society.

This paper aims to consider how the situation of the COVID-19 pandemic questions the neoliberal project of ageing, based on a notion of a healthy, active, working older person. A long-term struggle to include older people has been (temporarily) replaced with a struggle to exclude them. This seems to be one of the most sensitive sore spots of the coronavirus crisis and one of the most serious challenges to social policy and welfare systems the world over. The purpose of this paper is to consider where the concepts of ageing and the action on ageing were at right before the crisis and what their further development may look like.

This paper provides a critical overview of main conceptions based on the neoliberal project of ageing.

The main principle of the neoliberal project of ageing, which had been formed on the crossroad of social theory and policy through decades, became vulnerable in the face of COVID-19 pandemic. The new forced ageing reveals its repressive nature through ensuring seniors’ safety from exposure, their removal from work and isolation. The theory now faces new challenges of meshing a neoliberal actor – active, independent and productive – with an older person in isolation, who needs safeguarding, of re-conceptualizing social exclusion of seniors in a situation where exclusion is equated with safety, of resolving a dilemma between isolation and respect of human rights and of keeping progress in anti-ageism.

This paper presents an overview of the main conceptions, underlying the neoliberal project of ageing. It aims to designate the vulnerabilities of the project, which were revealed under the situation of pandemic. Further development of the discussion needs detailed analysis of theoretical conceptions of ageing.

Theoretical debate reflects policy of ageing. Discussion of theoretical problems of ageism, social exclusion, safeguarding of the elderly and compulsion are necessary for improvement of social policy of ageing.

When the neoliberal project of ageing comes into collision with the reality with the reality, the authors recognize it as a crisis. It moves the society, and especially the elderly, to the situation of uncertainty. This paper calls for discussion and search for a new balance among the generations in a society.

This paper relies upon the current debate on neoliberal project of ageing and responds immediately to the situation of pandemic. Now conceptual problems in theories of ageing and policy projects became visible, and the authors suppose it is time to initiate this discussion.

Perceptions of ageing towards the self and towards others can positively and negatively impact an older adult’s mental wellbeing. This paper aims to consolidate literature examining the relationship between perceptions of ageing and depression in older adults to inform both practice and policy for older adult mental health services.

Quantitative research articles examining perceptions of ageing and depression in older adults were identified through searches on three electronical databases, alongside forward and backwards citation searches. A total of 14 articles involving 31,211 participants were identified.

Greater negative attitudes towards ageing were associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms and greater positive attitudes towards ageing were associated with lower levels of depressive symptoms or higher levels of happiness. However, the causal direction of this relationship could not be determined. Studies demonstrated that perceptions of ageing also act as a moderator in the relationship between depression and health status, hopelessness and personality traits. Future research should attempt to examine the relationship between perceptions of ageing and depression in older adults to attempt to identify the causal direction of this relationship.

This is the only systematic review the authors are aware of consolidating literature which explores the relationship between older adults’ perceptions of ageing and depression. It is hoped that these findings will be able to inform both policy and practice to improve older adults’ care and support for depression.

As the workforce is aging and becoming increasingly age diverse, successful aging at work has been proclaimed to be a desirable process and outcome, as well as a responsibility of both workers and their organizations. In this chapter, we first review, compare, and critique theoretical frameworks of successful aging developed in the gerontology and lifespan developmental literatures, including activity, disengagement, and continuity theories; Rowe and Kahn’s model; the resource approach; the model of selective optimization with compensation; the model of assimilative and accommodative coping; the motivational theory of lifespan development; socioemotional selectivity theory; and the strength and vulnerability integration model. Subsequently, we review and critically compare three conceptualizations of successful aging at work developed in the organizational literature. We conclude the chapter by outlining implications for future research on successful aging at work.

Purpose – To outline new research on the ways in which older athletes incorporate drinking practices into their social and sporting identities. Drawing on research with older Australian athletes, the chapter asks us to re-imagine the sport–alcohol nexus to include new sites and subjects that can shed light on wider articulations of the pleasurable and problematic relationships between sport, alcohol and social identity.

Design/methodology/approach – In the first part of the chapter, key themes in sport and ageing research are discussed. In the second, issues of alcohol, older age and sporting identities are considered, drawing on research at the 2017 Australian Masters Games. This sets the scene for a fuller discussion and analysis of some of the missed opportunities in alcohol and sport research, and their implications for sport and social policy, health promotion and social care more broadly.

Findings – The chapter reveals several under-developed opportunities in a broader research agenda on sport and alcohol, including the role alcohol plays in conferring membership and belonging to the sporting communities of older athletes. The chapter suggests that a recalibration of popular understandings of sport, ageing and alcohol – both as separate and as inter-related concerns – may provide an opportunity for addressing wider social concerns with ageing more broadly.

Research limitations/implications – Discussion of ageing and alcohol, through the lens of sport, has important implications for an analysis of drinking practices and in sport, and for sport and social policy, health promotion and social care.

Successful aging represents a positive development in older adults. The emphasis on aging well has sought to understand resources such as emotional regulation that facilitates healthy and happy aging. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of two common emotional regulation strategies (i.e. cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression) on successful aging among Thai older adults.

The participants selected for this paper were 150 older adults living in Bangkok and adjacent areas. Their mean age was 69.7 (±6.7) years old. Instruments were the Successful Aging Inventory and Emotion Regulation Questionnaire. Each participant voluntarily completed an individual self -reported questionnaire.

The results revealed that the two emotional regulation strategies (cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression) have collectively explained 6 percent of the variance of successful aging. The cognitive reappraisal strategy was a sole significant predictor (β=0.20).

Promoting emotional regulation strategies in particular a cognitive reappraisal strategy among Thai older adults can facilitate their cognitive functioning, and their successful aging.

The COVID-19 pandemic poses a great challenge for older people both in terms of the severity of the disease and the negative consequences of social distancing. Assumptions about negative effects on the lives of the elderly, affecting dimensions of successful aging (such as the preservation of social relationships), have thus far been hypothetical and have lacked empirical evidence. The aim of this paper is to shed empirical light on the effects of COVID-19 on the everyday life of older people against the background of the concept of successful aging.

Data of a standardized, representative telephone survey with residents of Lower Austria, a county of Austria, were used for this secondary analysis. The sample included 521 persons of 60 years of age and older. For this paper, contingency analyses (χ² coefficients, z-tests using Bonferroni correction) and unidimensional correlational analyses were calculated.

The empirical data show that successful aging along the three dimensions of successful aging is a challenge in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic – leaving the elderly caught between two fronts.

The present work focusses on a unique moment in time, describing the changes to the lives of Austrian elderly because of the social distancing measures imposed to protect against the spread of COVID-19. These changes are discussed in the theoretical framework of successful aging.

As demographic changes impact the workplace, governments, organizations, and workers are looking for ways to sustain optimal working lives at higher ages. Workplace flexibility has been introduced as a potential way workers can have more satisfying working lives until their retirement ages. This chapter presents a critical review of the literature on workplace flexibility across the lifespan. It discusses how flexibility has been conceptualized across different disciplines, and postulates a definition that captures the joint roles of employer and employee in negotiating workplace flexibility that contributes to both employee and organization benefits. Moreover, it reviews how flexibility has been theorized and investigated in relation to older workers. The chapter ends with a future research agenda for advancing understanding of how workplace flexibility may enhance working experiences of older workers, and in particular focuses on the critical investigation of uses of flexibility in relation to older workers.