DACE - Daily Experiences of Aging - A Cross-Cultural Examination - FHSE

In the DACE project, we investigate the daily experience of aging and compare this experience in different countries (Germany, USA, Israel, Turkey)

The project at a glance

Start date:

01 Jan 2023
Duration in months:

12
Funding:

University of Luxembourg
Principal Investigator(s):

Anna Kornadt

Shevaun Neupert (external)

Yuval Palgi (external)

Amit Shrira (external)

About

The ways in which people subjectively view and experience their own aging process permeates daily functioning and health. Subjective views of aging capture the many ways that people acknowledge, contemplate, and reflect on aging (Diehl et al., 2014), and they are related to a wide range of health and well-being indicators including emotional well-being, mental health, chronic health conditions, memory functioning, and even life expectancy. Cultural and country-specific factors have a huge impact on aging and how it is perceived by people (Kornadt et al., 2022) and thus, there is an urgent need to expand the cross-cultural perspective of subjective views of aging to better understand global commonalities and cultural differences in the construct itself and related factors (Palgi et al., 2021). These goals can be accomplished by systematically examining geographical and cultural differences in how people perceive their own aging and the factors that influence these perceptions as they go about their daily lives. The current project is part of a larger collaboration with researchers from Israel and the US and will complement data from the USA, Israel and Turkey by adding a German sample. With these data, we will be able to investigate similarities and differences between people from different geographical regions and cultural backgrounds (Middle East, North America, Central Europe). We will recruit an online sample of N= 100 people aged 50+ in Germany. After filling in a baseline questionnaire assessing sociodemographic information and personality traits, participants will receive a daily questionnaire on their experience of aging during the past 24 hours for 13 days. We will also assess variables that have been shown to influence and be influenced the aging experiences, such as health and cognitive problems, control beliefs and stressors. Thus, we will be able to capture the dynamics and fluctuations in aging experience throughout two weeks and compare these between countries.