Expectations for Active Ageing: When and How Do They Influence Old-Age Outcomes?
DFG-funded project (2020 - 2025)
Collaborators: Prof. Dr. Klaus Rothermund (Co-PI), Sonja Radoš (doctoral student), Dr. Maria Wirth, Dr. Clara de Paula Couto
Against the backdrop of demographic ageing, older adults are increasingly expected to take on more responsibility for their health and welfare and to make productive contributions lest they become a burden for the younger generations. This drastic change in the societal expectations that are directed at older adults – from disengagement to active engagement – has hardly been reflected in research on views on ageing. Many studies focus either on descriptive views on ageing and their consequences or on ageist norms that prevent older adults from participating in societal activities.
In the present project, we proposed that societal expectations for active ageing may influence old-age outcomes via the mechanisms of internalization and embodiment. A number of psychosocial factors, such as characteristics of social environments, individual resources, mindsets, and age identification, may regulate the exposure to societal expectations and modulate the processes of their internalization and embodiment (as opposed to reactance and rejection). We assumed that, although older adults’ reactions to societal expectations for active ageing are highly individual, they may be systematically predicted from key background, individual, and situational variables. Moreover, we argued that perceived expectations for active ageing and their effects on outcomes are domain specific.
Project publications with my co-authorship:
Radoš, S., Pavlova, M. K., Rothermund, K., & Silbereisen, R. K. (2026). Did aging-related beliefs and behaviors change during the COVID-19 pandemic? European Journal of Ageing, 23, 31. doi:10.1007/s10433-026-00929-6
Radoš, S., Pavlova, M. K., Rothermund, K., & Silbereisen, R. K. (2025). Household members’ positive personality traits and age stereotypes do not predict perceived expectations for active aging. European Journal of Ageing, 22, 11. doi:10.1007/s10433-025-00850-4
Radoš, S., Pavlova, M. K., & Silbereisen, R. K. (2025). Who appraises perceived expectations for active aging favorably? The role of resources and motivation. Aging & Mental Health, 29, 1546-1553. doi:10.1080/13607863.2025.2491017
Wirth, M., de Paula Couto, C., Fung, H. H.-L., Pavlova, M. K., & Rothermund, K. (2025). Normative beliefs for older adults and volunteering intentions. Gerontology, 71, 321-335. doi:10.1159/000543917
Radoš, S., Pavlova, M. K., Rothermund, K., & Silbereisen, R. K. (2024). Perceived expectations for active aging: The role of motivational and personality factors. Aging & Mental Health, 28, 1559-1566. doi:10.1080/13607863.2024.2385450
Pavlova, M. K.,* Radoš, S.,* Rothermund, K., & Silbereisen, R. K. (2023). Age, individual resources, and perceived expectations for active aging: General and domain-specific effects. The International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 97, 267-288. doi:10.1177/00914150221112294. * Equal contributions.
Wirth, M., de Paula Couto, M. C., Pavlova, M. K., & Rothermund, K. (2023). Manipulating prescriptive views of active aging and altruistic disengagement. Psychology & Aging, 38, 854-881. doi:10.1037/pag0000763