Positive and Negative Perceptions of Ageing Identity Compared to Lived Experience: A Comparative Study of Older People in Zambia and Northern Ireland

Abstract

This research considers how people come to understand their changing sense of identity as they reach older age in two different geographical areas: Northern Ireland and Zambia. Employing an identity theory frame, it considers how perceptions of ageing, based largely on memories of older relatives, inform how strongly people identify with – and internalise – a sense of being ‘old’. The comparative framework allows exploration of the role of cultural expectations of ageing in the construction of an ageing identity. The different areas produced contrasting results. Ageing was perceived as a negative life-stage in Northern Ireland, but the lived experience was found to be positive, where the perception of ageing was largely positive in Zambia, with the lived experience being extremely negative.

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