Study Finds Generation X Women Experience Age in Seven Distinct Ways, Influenced by Various Factors
A recent study conducted by Nottingham Business School (NBS) has revealed that Generation X women, born between 1965 and 1980, experience age in seven distinct ways. The study delved into the self-perception of age among these women and examined if they experience aging in a chronological sense.
The research also considered the potential implications for marketers, as Generation X is a demographic closely linked with consumer culture and has increased disposable spending power.
The study involved 19 women with varying life circumstances, aged between 41 and 55. Over a period of three weeks, these women reflected and reported on day-to-day incidents of personal age-related significance using online diaries.
Analysis of over 250 diary entries revealed seven intersecting and overlapping “frames” of aging: Affective, Protest, Acceptance, Camouflage, Life-Stage, Inequities, and Inconsequence. These frames range from viewing age as an attitude to rejecting age as a culturally imposed label. Some participants accepted their chronological age, while others used beauty products and clothing to camouflage theirs.
The study found that caring responsibilities and the menopause strongly influenced personal age perception. The women in this generation also felt the weight of inequalities, unfairness, and bias that implied they were comparatively less valued.
Interestingly, some participants professed to regularly forgetting their chronological age, regarding it as irrelevant or unrelated to their personal identity.
Sharon-Marie Gillooley, the principal lecturer in Marketing at NBS and research lead, commented on the findings. She highlighted the difficulty in pinning down the age of a GenX woman, as they all experience and deal with aging in different ways. Gillooley mentioned that marketing to Generation X women presents a particular challenge for companies, as traditional demographic age-informed targeting is unlikely to work.
As a significant demographic group with increasing disposable income, GenX women are an attractive market. However, the study suggests that generalizing or stereotyping them using an age-related appeal poses a major risk for brands. Their understanding of age is distributed and dispersed across many groups, making them a moving and unpredictable target.
The study, titled “The self-perceived age of GenX women: prioritising female subjective age identity in marketing,” was authored by Sharon-Marie Gillooley, Sheilagh Mary Resnick, Tony Woodall, and Seamus Allison. It was published in the European Journal of Marketing on May 24, 2023.