Perceptions of Turkey and Germany’s young adults regarding the phenomenon of old age

Abstract

This study aims to examine young adults’ perceptions of aging through intercultural research. The participants of the study were 100 young adults living in Türkiye and Germany. In the study, the perceptions of the participants about aging were evaluated through metaphors, and the data was analyzed by content analysis. According to the results age was perceived as a process of physical change, illness, and health problems; experience, wise and respectable features; a process that continues to develop and learn; waiting for death, at the stage of death by participants living in Germany. For participants living in Türkiye old age was perceived as in need of care, weakness, and attention and that individuals are inadequate; with experience, wise and respectable features; childlike, emotional and fragile features, pessimistic, rigid, and prejudiced; waiting for death. The results of this study are presented and future directions are discussed in detail.

Keywords: Germany; metaphors; old age; Turkey