Hello, and welcome to Late Life Insights: A series of short, informational pieces on all things aging. I’m Dr. Lisa Rill, your friendly social gerontologist and Executive Director of Senior Life Source. Today’s topic is understanding the difference between chronological, functional, and subjective age. 

When is someone old? Although the question sounds simple, there are multiple ways of defining old age. 

The most commonly used marker of old age is chronological age. This is age in terms of years, months, and days since birth. However, this is mostly an arbitrary number and a poor indicator of old age. For example, in the US, 65 is the age that is most often considered old because that is when individuals originally became eligible for Social Security benefits and Medicare. 

But, when determining old age there is more to it than just a number. Functional age takes into consideration multiple factors, other than the day you were born, such as how an individual looks and what they can do. Within this context, a person becomes old when they experience physical changes in the body and are no longer able to perform activities of daily living along with other roles of adulthood in their society. 

Have you ever met someone in their late 60’s who exercises regularly and has the physical conditioning of someone in their 40’s, while someone of the same age requires extensive care and support for basic activities like dressing and eating? Or have you ever heard that some 80-year-olds have levels of mental capacity that compare favorably with 20-year-olds, while others experience severe memory loss, such as Alzheimer’s Disease? These are examples of determining functional age among older adults.

But just like chronological age, functional age can also be a poor indicator of old age if you only consider how someone looks, and don’t include what they can do. For instance, think about how hair-dye and Botox can alter appearances so dramatically that the normal signs of physical aging can be generally hidden.   

Finally, there is subjective age. This term follows along with the saying you’ve probably heard of, which is, “You’re only as old as you feel.” In other words, it’s how the individual defines themselves, as either being young or old. This type of age identity tends to be influenced by a person’s social class and gender. 

So let’s return to my original question: When is someone old? By now I hope you would be able to answer this question with the key takeaway being: there’s not just one simple answer.   

The point is not that it’s impossible to define old age, but rather knowing that regardless of what definition of age a person chooses to use, variability exists from one person to the next. And the definition social gerontologists (like me) use depends on what we want to know in our research. 

Now that you understand these terms, would you consider yourself as old?

Thank you for joining me for Late Life Insights from Senior Life Source, where we provide education on aging for all ages.

Lisa Rill, PhD

Executive Director, Senior Life Source