GROWING OLD GRACEFULLY - AGE CONCEALMENT AND GENDER

In order to investigate some of the relationships between age concealment and gender, 269 adults completed an anonymous questionnaire dealing with signs of aging and the use of techniques to conceal them. Although most of the signs of aging were considered unattractive for both males and females, aging women were seen as particularly unappealing. More women than men were expected to use age concealment techniques, and female subjects were indeed more likely to use them. Both men and women who concealed their age were likely to be judged harshly by others, although individuals indicated a willingness to use age concealment techniques themselves. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that there are two different double standards of aging, one indicating that aging is judged differently depending on the gender of the person doing the judging and the target, and one indicating that people may judge the use of age concealment techniques more harshly in others than in themselves.