printStudy of Retirement and Aging Fears (based on research in the Yaroslavl region)
Kiselev I.Yu.
Dr. Sci. (Sociol.), Prof., Head of the Chair of Sociology, Yaroslavl State University named after P.G. Demidov, Yaroslavl, Russia. igkisselev@mail.ru
Mikhailova E.V.
Cand. Sci. (Sociol.), Assoc. Prof. Chair of Sociology, Yaroslavl State University named after P.G. Demidov, Yaroslavl, Russia nmev.649@mail.ru
Smirnova A.G.
Cand. Sci. (Polit.), Assoc. Prof., Chair of Sociology, Yaroslavl State University named after P.G. Demidov, Yaroslavl, Russia. agsmirnova2001@mail.ru
Kiselev I.Yu., Mikhailova E.V., Smirnova A.G. Study of Retirement and Aging Fears (based on research in the Yaroslavl region). Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. 2025. No 4. P. 46-60
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.
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