Age and Anomia in Middle and Later Life: A Multivariate Analysis of a National Sample of White Men

Some social gerontologists have argued that the aged status in America results in distrust of and despair with the social order (anomia) independent of other determinants: lack of access to the means of achievement of life goals and social isolation. This argument was tested with a multivariate regression analysis utilizing data on 354 white men aged forty and older from the 1974 General Social Survey. The Srole anomia scale was used as the dependent variable. Multiple indicators of life chances and social participation were used; health and verbal intelligence were employed as controls. The results showed no relationship between age or other indicators of life chances and anomia, net of education and/or verbal intelligence. Prior studies reporting that age and anomia are causally related probably have done so due to lack of adequate control variables and/or due to cohort effects from the lesser education of the older population in the United States. Compared when employing appropriate controls, aged American males are not more anomic than middle-aged males.