Table 2.
Quality and descriptive characteristics of measures used in a single study
| Instrument example item | Paper | No. of items | Response format | Subscales | Internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha) | Reliability (test–retest interclass coefficients) | Content validity (item development) | Factor analysis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Semantic Differentials Example item: NR |
Luszcz and Fitzgerald (1986) | 28 |
Likert 1–7 |
(1) Personal acceptability vs unacceptability (2) Instrumentality versus ineffectiveness (3) Autonomy versus dependency (4) Integrity versus nonintegrity |
(1).83 (2).82 (3).83 (4).74 |
NR | NR | NR |
|
Semantic Differentials Example item: Patient–impatient |
Rothermund and Brandtstadter (2003) | 32 |
Likert 1–11 |
N/A | .92 | NR | NR | 1-factor structure confirmed |
|
Age Attributions Vignettes Example item: If you lost your keys how much would it be due to an age attribution and how much would it be due to an extenuating circumstance? |
Levy et al. (2009) | 2 |
Likert 1–6 strongly disagree–strongly agree |
(1) Cognitive (2) Physical |
(1) .59 (2) .50 |
NR | NR | NR |
|
(1) Negative age stereotypes subscale of Attitudes towards older people scale (ATOP) (Tuckman and Lorge 1953). Example item: “old people are absent minded” (2) Plus 1 self-relevance item: “at what age does someone become old?” |
Levy et al. (2012b) | 16 |
(1) Total score 0–16 (unclear how each item is rated) (2) Below own age scored as 1, above own age scored as 0 |
N/A | NR | NR | NR | NR |
|
Outer and inner selves Item examples: “when you think about yourself what are the first 5 words that come to mind?” and “when you think of an old person what are the first 5 words that come to mind?” |
Levy (1999a) | 2 | Independent raters score word positivity level as negative, neutral or positive | N/A | NR | NR | NR | NR |
|
Two subscales of the Frankfort Self-Concept Scale; (1) Self-concept of general self-efficacy; (2) Social competence (Deusinger 1986) Item example: NR |
Pinquart (2002) | 16 | Likert 1–6 completely true for me–not at all true for me | N/A | .70 | NR | NR | NR |
|
Self-other discrepancy measured with Harris Survey questions. Problem statements that participant rates in relation to people over 65 and then to themselves. Item example: Loneliness |
Schulz and Fritz (1987) | 8 | True/false | N/A | NR | NR | NR | NR |
| Identity and Experiences Scale: Specific Ageing (IES-SA) (Three subscales: assimilation, accommodation, balance) | Whitbourne and Collins (1998) | 21 | NR |
(1) Assimilation (2) Accommodation (3) Balance |
(1).59 (2).86 (3).69 |
NR | NR | 3-factor structure confirmed |
|
Illness Attributions. Level of agreement that their specific illness was partly due to several factors Item examples: “old age” “unhealthy behaviours”, “bad advice from a doctor” “bad luck”, “genetics” |
Stewart et al. (2012) | 5 |
Likert 1–6 Strongly agree–strongly disagree |
N/A | NR | NR | Attributions chosen based on theory to represent internal/external and controllable/uncontrollable factors | NR |
|
Perceived difficulty of life events. participants asked to rate extent to which life events had made life more difficult, first for themselves, and then for other older women and men Item example: Failing eyesight |
Sijuwade (1991) | 16 |
Likert 1–7 Much easier–much more difficult |
N/A | NR | NR | NR | NR |
|
A modification of the LaForge and Suczek (1955) Interpersonal adjective check list. Rated items for self and then for “most people my age” Item example: often helped by others. |
Preston and Gudiksen (1966) | 110 | T/F | N/A | NR | NR | NR | NR |
|
Personality Dimensions with scales taken from the Jackson Personality Research Form (Jackson 1967) and additional scale on physical–sexual activity created for the study Item example: Autonomy |
Ahammer and Bennett (1977) | 88 | True/false |
(1) Abasement (2) Autonomy (3) Change (4) Cognitive Structure (5) Defendence (6) Endurance (7) Harm avoidance (8) Play (9) Sentience (10) Infrequency (11) Physical–sexual activity |
NR | NR | NR | NR |
|
Ageing Anxiety Scale :items taken from Ageing Anxiety Scale (Kafer et al. 1980) Item example: I always worried about the day I would look in the mirror and see grey hairs |
Lynch (2000) | 7 |
Likert 1–4 Strongly agree–strongly disagree |
(1) Physical appearance (2) Physical health (3) General anxiety about the future (4) Financial dependence (5) Physical disability/mobility (6) Loss of social contacts (7) Loss of cognitive ability or autonomy to make decisions |
NR | NR | NR | NR |
|
Anxiety about own ageing (Lasher and Faulkender 1993) Item example: “The older I become the more I worry about my health” |
Chasteen (2000) | 20 |
Likert 1–5 Strongly disagree–strongly agree |
N/A | .84 | NR | NR | NR |
|
Self-perceived adverse age change (Smith et al. 1995) Item example: As I get older it is harder for me to get through the day. |
Minnes et al. (2007) | 6 |
Likert 1–5 Strongly agree–Strongly disagree |
N/A | NR | NR | NR | NR |
|
Perceived age vs desired age. Item examples: “Please could you tell us at what age you consider old age to start?”; “We would also like you to tell us at what age you consider middle age to end?”;“How old do you feel you are?”; “How old would you like to be? |
Demakakos et al. (2007) | 4 | Perceived boundaries coded into 5-year intervals |
(1) Self-perceived age: feeling as old as their chronological age, feeling older than it, feeling younger than it. (2) Desired age: want to be as old as their chronological age; would like to be younger than it. |
N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
|
Subjective Age Item examples: “How old do you feel”; “How old do you feel when you look at yourself in a mirror” |
Kleinspehn-Ammerlahn et al. (2008) | 2 | Scale 0–120 years |
(1) Felt age (2) Physical age |
N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
|
(1) Negative Ageing Stereotypes Assessment Questionnaire CENVE (Blanca et al. 2005) (2) Additional question: “Regardless of your age, how old do you feel” |
Sánchez Palacios et al. (2009) | 15 |
Likert 1–4 Strongly agree–strongly disagree |
(1) Health stereotypes (2) Motivation—social (3) Character—personality |
(1).67 (2).64 (3).67 |
NR | Items taken from other scales that did not perform any validity/reliability checking | 3-factor structure confirmed |
|
Present/future selves (Ryff 1991) Item example: NR |
Cheng et al. (2009) | 59 |
Likert 1–6 Extremely uncharacteristic of me–extremely characteristic of me |
(1) Physical self (2) Social self (3) Material self (4) Work self |
(1).79, .78 (2).84, .86 (3) NR (4) NR |
NR | Items based on content analysis of possible selves produced by 530 young, midlife and older adults | NR |
|
Subjective age Item: “how old do you feel” |
Kotter-Gruhn et al. (2009) | 1 | 0–120 rating scale | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
|
The RAME Questionnaire (Parnell et al. 2001) Item example: fear of the ageing process |
Law et al. (2010) | 23 |
Likert 0–3 |
N/A | “Good” (Parnell et al. 2001) | NR | NR | NR |
|
Age identity Item: “Many people feel older or younger than they actually are. What age do you feel most of the time?” |
Westerhof et al. (2012) | 1 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
|
Subjective age Item examples: How old do you feel?”; “If you could choose your age, how old would you want to be?”; “How old would you say you look?” |
Kotter-Gruhn and Hess (2012) | 3 | Proportional discrepancy scores. |
(1) Felt age (2) Desired age (3) Perceived age |
N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
|
Subjective age Item: “What age do you feel most of the time?” |
Chalabaev et al. (2013) | 1 | NR | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
|
Fear of Ageing Scale. Item example: “I fear that as I get older I will be unable to do everything I want to” |
Chasteen et al. (2015) | 25 |
Likert 1–9 Strongly disagree–strongly agree |
Fear of: (1) Dependence (2) Cognitive decline (3) Physical decline (4) Loneliness (5) Depression (6) Losing attractiveness. |
Total score: .92 | NR | Items from expectations regarding ageing scale (Sarkisian et al. 2005) and Anxiety about Ageing Scale (Lasher and Faulkender 1993) | NR |
|
Semantic differentials assessing retirement stereotypes Rating pairs of adjectives Item example: what “best describes what you think about your life in retirement—and how your life is or will be during your retirement: inactive-active” |
Ng et al. (2016) | 14 |
Likert 1–7 Extremely meaningless–extremely meaningful |
(1) Mental well-being stereotypes (2) Physical well-being stereotypes |
(1) .79 (2) .91 |
NR | NR | 2-factor structure confirmed. |
|
Age Identity Measurement Scale (Jose and Meena 2015) Item example: NR |
Jose et al. (2016) | 17 |
Likert 1–4 Strongly agree–strongly disagree |
(1) Personalised self-image (2) Personalised social image (3) Importance to age identity |
(1).59 (2).90 (3).72 Total: .85 |
(1).21a–.66 (2).66 (3).70–.71a Total: .70a |
NR | NR |
|
Images of life change. Ratings of how well adjectives and domains described people in their late 60’s. Item example: NR |
Kornadt (2016) | 13 |
Likert 1–10 Not at all/worst–very much/best |
(1) Family relationships (2) Fitness/energy (3) Work/life (4) Wisdom |
NR | NR | Based on theoretical domains of development as a frame for personality in old age. | 4-factor structure confirmed |
|
Self-perceptions of ageing Items assessing positive and negative evaluations of ageing Item example: NR |
O’Shea et al. (2016) | 8 |
Likert 1–6 Strongly disagree–strongly agree |
N/A | .80 | NR | NR | NR |
NR not reported, N/A not applicable
aTest–retest interclass correlations based on unpublished work cited by the authors