A World of Difference? Domain-Specific Views on Aging in China, the US, and Germany

Research on cross-national differences in views on aging has often focused on a comparison between Asian and Western countries. However, the results are mixed showing either more positive views in Asia, no difference at all, or even more positive views in Western countries. A potential moderator of country differences that might explain some of the heterogeneity is the fact that views on aging differ in their content and valence depending on life domains such as health versus family relations. Therefore, our aim was to systematically address domain-specific views on aging in a cross-national study, also considering that cross-national differences are age group-specific. We examined differences in views on aging between China, the United States, and Germany in eight life domains using samples with a broad age range. For most of the domains, cross-national differences indicated more negative views on aging in China compared with the Western countries and more positive views among the American compared with the German participants. Intriguingly, the differences between China and the United States or Germany were absent or even reversed in the domains friends, personality, and finances. Cross-national differences also varied by age group. Our results show that explanations of cross-national differences in views of aging probably do not apply uniformly across all life domains or age groups. They underline the importance of acknowledging the domain-specific nature of views on aging in cross-national research.