Study of retirement and aging fears (based on research in the Yaroslavl Region)

Cover Page

Cite item

Full Text

Open Access Open Access
Restricted Access Access granted
Restricted Access Subscription Access

Abstract

The article presents the results of a sociological study of fears associated with retirement and fears of aging using the method of unfinished sentences. The fears of people who have reached retirement age, were studied. The importance of studying the fears of older people in sociology is postulated, including from the point of view of increasing the effectiveness of social policy in relation to older people. It was revealed that fears caused by retirement and fears of aging differ. The former are dominated by a decrease in income, health deterioration, and loneliness. Fears of aging are primarily fears of loneliness, serious illnesses, helplessness, and infirmity. Concerns about material difficulties are on the far periphery here. The effect of “pushing back” the age boundaries of aging, as the age of the respondents increases, was confirmed. Both, personal markers of aging in its application to themselves and ideas about ways to “push back” old age are focused mainly on the physical aspects of aging, health status, and various elements of a healthy lifestyle. A weak degree of respondents’ attention to the cognitive elements of a healthy lifestyle was noted; a certain gap was found in the motivation to maintain it and to follow the principles of active longevity.

Full Text

Restricted Access

About the authors

Igor Y. Kiselev

Demidov Yaroslavl State University

Author for correspondence.
Email: igkisselev@mail.ru

Dr. Sci. (Sociol.), Prof., Head of the Chair, Chair of Sociology

Russian Federation, Yaroslavl

Elena V. Mikhailova

Demidov Yaroslavl State University

Email: nmev649@mail.ru

Cand. Sci. (Sociol.), Assoc. Prof., Chair of Sociology

Russian Federation, Yaroslavl

Anna G. Smirnova

Demidov Yaroslavl State University

Email: agsmirnova2001@mail.ru

Cand. Sci. (Polit.), Assoc. Prof., Chair of Sociology

Russian Federation, Yaroslavl

References

  1. Akopyan L. S. (2014) The elderly’s fears in the urban and rural communities. Povolzhskij pedagogicheskij vestnik [Volga Pedagogical Bulletin]. No. 2 (3): 8–11. (In Russ.)
  2. Awang H., Mansor N., Peng T. N., Osman N. A.N. (2018) Understanding Ageing: Fear of Chronic Diseases Later in Life. Journal of International Medical Research. Vol. 46(1): 175–184.
  3. Clark M., Henderson B. G. (1989) Loneliness and old age. In: Pokrovsky N. E. (eds) Labyrinths of loneliness: 453–484.
  4. Costa F. (2024) The fear of old age: a survey of adults in the UK. Educational Gerontology. September: 1–18. doi: 10.1080/03601277.2024.2402056.
  5. Delkhah Z., Vafa M. A., Moheb N. (2023) Fear of Aging in Older Adults: the Role of Meaning in Life, Self-Compassion and Perceived Social Support. Aging Psychology. No. 9 (3): 311–326.
  6. Еlutina М. E., Ufimceva E. I. (2024) Practices of Religious Participation in the Context of Positive Ageing Project. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. No. 5: 103–112. doi: 10.31857/S0132162524050084. (In Russ.)
  7. Galkin K. A. (2021) Employment of Older People and Active Agеing Policies in Europe and Russia. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. No. 11: 156–160. DOI: https://doi.org/10.31857/S013216250014015-9. (In Russ.)
  8. Ermilova A. V., Isakova I. A. (2022) The concept of active longevity or the concept of survival of the elderly? In: The older generation of modern Russia. Nizhny Novgorod: N. I. Lobachevsky National Research University: 111–130. (In Russ.)
  9. Kiselev I. Yu., Mikhailova E. V., Smirnova A. G. (2024) Associative Image of “Life in Retirement” as an Element of Social Conceptualization of the Pension Period by Russians in Working Age. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. No. 5: 89–102. (In Russ.)
  10. Kiselev I. Yu., Zagrebin V. V., Ovchinnikova N. V. (2024) Preparing Russians for Retirement from the Perspective of the Active Longevity Concept (Based on the Yaroslavl Region). Vestnik instituta sotziologii [Bulletin of the Institute of Sociology]. Vol. 15. No. 4: 110–132. doi: 10.19181/vis.2024.15.4.5. (In Russ.)
  11. Kosharnaya G. B., Shchanina E. V. (2019) Deprivation factors for the elderly in the social labor sphere: a regional aspect. Vestnik RUDN. Seriya: Sociologiya [RUDN Journal of Sociology]. No. 19 (3): 481– 493. (In Russ.)
  12. Maximova O. (2020) Old Age or “Third Age”? Discourses of Individuals’ Subjective Perceptions of Their Own Age-Related Changes. Laboratorium: zhurnal social’nyh issledovanij [Laboratorium: Russian Review of Social Research]. No. 12(2): 22–44. (In Russ.)
  13. Myers D. (2008) Psychology. Minsk: Potpourri. (In Russ.)
  14. Novoselov V. M. (2022) Fear of old age and aging as psychological problem of mod ern man. Uchenye zapiski Instituta psihologii Rossijskoj akademii nauk [Proceedings of the Institute of Psychology of the Russian Academy of Sciences]. Vol. 2. No. 4: 36–44. doi: 10.38098/proceedigs_2022_02_04_04. (In Russ.)
  15. Rupprecht F. S., Martin K., Lang F. R. (2019) Aging-related Fears and Their Associations with Ideal Life Expectancy. European Journal of Ageing. No. 19: 258–597.
  16. Shestopal E. B. (2021) Why don’t we have an image of the future? Sotsiodigger [Sociodigger]. Vol. 2. Iss. 9(14): 91–95. (In Russ.)
  17. Tatarova G. G., Chirkova A. V. (2024) Health behavior of young people: formation of typological attributes using the sentence completion method. Sociologicheskaya nauka i social’naya praktika [The Journal Sociological Science and Social Practice]. No. 1: 25–61. (In Russ.)
  18. Varshaver E. A. (2015). Contact Theory. Monitoring obshchestvennogo mneniya: ekonomicheskie i social’nye peremeny [Monitoring of Public Opinion: Economic and Social Changes]. No. 5: 183–214. doi: 10.14515/monitoring.2015.5.13. (In Russ.)
  19. Vidiasova L. А., Grigoryeva, I.A. (2023). Subject field of active/delayed aging research: Results of scientometric analysis and mapping. Vestnik Sankt-Peterburgskogo universiteta. Sociologiya [Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Sociology]. Vol. 16. No.1: 4–26. doi: 10.21638/spbu12.2023.101. (In Russ.)
  20. Zdravomyslova E. A. (2021) Late Soviet Sociology about Old Age and Gender: There Were Theoretical Insights. Interakciya. Interv’yu. Interpretaciya [INTER. Interaction. Interview. Interpretation]. Vol. 13. No. 3: 65–91. DOI: 10.19181/ inter.2021.13.3.3. (In Russ.)

Supplementary files

Supplementary Files
Action
1. JATS XML
Download

Copyright (c) 2025 Russian Academy of Sciences