"Is there age anxiety in your country?" A Look at How Anxiety May Be Connected to Expectations

Studies have shown that in United States anxiety decreases as a person ages. Over seventy is the group with the least anxiety. Why is that? One reason may be that expectations decrease with aging.

Let's follow the part expectations play throughout a person's life:

A child is expected to perform well in school. Get good grades. To be well-behaved in classes. Fit in with the their peers. Make their parents proud. Most children are protected from serious anxiety simply by their childish innocence. For a child everything seems like a game.

But as the child becomes a young adult, in their twenties and thirties, pressure begins to build to really make something out of their lives. A career, a good income, nice family, home, etc., etc., etc... The famous question, "What are going to do with your life?" is full of anxiety. Who can say what life will give us?" We may have our plans but God has his," as the famous saying goes.

The body of a young adult is vibrant with strength and hormones pumped up around the age for producing children. There's a lot of stress involved there being expected to provide for and look after a family with children. Working hard everyday at some sort of occupation. Expectations from the boss. Expectations from coworkers. Expectations from customers, clients or patients. Along with expectations of oneself. And expectations "of" others who very, very often disappoint us and let us down.

As a person's children grow and leave the home to make their own life pressure is relieved. There is time for travel or hobbies. Anxiety begins to decrease.

When old age comes there is very little that is expected of an older adult. For one thing they may not be able to actually do very much. So expectations are at an all-time low. To one degree or another, others step in to help in this way or that. And as the aging process increases the older person may not even remember what they were worried about a few minutes ago. If there was some anxiety it was very short-lived.

Another considerations is that along with aging comes the disappearance of family members and friends as they pass away. All those people who may have been a source of anxiety by their dealings are gone.

I found it very interesting to look at expectations and to see how they might correlate with anxiety. It appears expectation is the culprit that opens the door for anxiety.

Image: https://lalive.info/bgmuseum/dioramas/d3.html