Table 2.

Rotated factor matrix of the French AAQ : Factor loadings* (N = 238).

Items	Factor 1 Physical Change	Factor 2 Psychological Growth	Factor 3 Psychosocial Loss
1. As people get older they are better able to cope with life	–0.209	0.578	v0.050
2. It’s a privilege to grow old	0.029	0.418	–0.334
3. Wisdom comes with age	0.094	0.386	0.295
4. There are many pleasant things about growing older	0.023	0.603	–0.103
5. I am more accepting of myself as I have grown older	0.253	0.453	0.057
6. It is important to pass on the benefits of my experience to younger people	0.039	0.581	0.040
7. I believe my life has made a difference	–0.021	0.361	–0.254
8. I want to give a good example to younger people	–0.002	0.497	0.071
9. Old age is a time of loneliness	0.159	–0.008	0.752
10. Old age is a depressing time of life	–0.161	0.255	0.491
11. I find it more difficult to talk about my feelings as I get older	–0.296	0.199	0.412
12. I see old age mainly as a time of loss	0.058	–0.113	0.617
13. I am losing my physical independence as I get older	–0.386	0.184	0.514
14. As I get older I find it more difficult to make new friends	0.049	–0.139	0.596
15. I don’t feel involved in society now that I am older	–0.085	0.002	0.547
16. I feel excluded from things because of my age	–0.070	–0.214	0.532
17. It is important to take exercise at any age	0.641	–0.037	0.248
18. Growing older has been easier than I thought	0.357	0.322	–0.136
19. I don’t feel old	0.271	0.399	–0.135
20. My identity is not defined by my age	0.190	0.231	–0.049
21. I have more energy now than I expected for my age	0.737	0.157	0.044
22. Problems with my physical health do not hold me back from doing what I want to do	0.537	0.128	–0.167
23. My health is better than I expected for my age	0.735	0.007	–0.124
24. I keep myself as fit and active as possible by exercising	0.752	–0.056	–0.066

Note. *Items with the highest loadings within each factor are in bold type.