Researchers who study how older adults themselves define successful ageing have largely interpreted those lay perspectives through an individual lens, paying far less attention to context and still less to social structures, according to a systematic review published in the European Journal of Ageing.
The review, led by Paolo Martinelli with Kim Uittenhove, Daniela S. Jopp, Dario Spini and Angélique Roquet, set out to assess whether exploring older adults’ own perspectives helps address long-standing criticisms of successful ageing models, and whether it enables a more contextual understanding of the concept. The team searched systematically for articles published between 2012 and 2023.
Methodologically, the review combined human coding with AI-based coding, an approach the authors describe as large language model-assisted. Rather than coding whole papers, the researchers examined the study aim and discussion sections of the included articles, using a three-level analytical framework that distinguishes individual, contextual and socio-structural levels of analysis.
The central finding was a clear hierarchy. Researchers addressed and interpreted lay perspectives most often through an individual level approach, much less through a contextual perspective, and even less according to a socio-structural lens.
The authors describe what that individual orientation looks like in practice. Studies’ understanding of successful ageing was largely oriented towards behaviours, resources and social characteristics of the interviewed individuals. By contrast, the review found less attention to the role of territory, historical contexts, social institutions and inequalities.
According to the abstract, the findings suggest that while exploring lay perspectives, the study of successful ageing maintains its primary focus on individual issues. In other words, even when researchers turn to older adults’ own voices, the interpretive frame applied to those voices remains centred on the person rather than on the surroundings or structures in which ageing takes place.
The review also points forward. The authors note that increasing demographic ageing calls for future research to place greater emphasis on contextual and socio-structural levels of analysis. They additionally call for harmonizing the heterogeneous use of these analysis levels around a successful ageing framework that would enable cross-cultural comparisons, an acknowledgement that current studies apply the levels in inconsistent ways.
For policy, the authors draw a direct implication: policymakers need to acknowledge the importance of considering contextual and socio-structural influences in order to promote an inclusive approach to successful ageing. The argument is that an inclusive conception of successful ageing cannot rest only on individual behaviours and resources if institutions, places and inequalities shape the conditions of later life.
The article is published open access and was shared early as a peer-reviewed, accepted version of record, citable under a permanent DOI and subject to further editorial edits before the final version replaces it. As a systematic review of the 2012–2023 literature, it maps how researchers have framed lay perspectives rather than reporting new primary data from older adults, and its conclusions concern the research literature itself: where scholarly attention has concentrated, and where the authors argue it should now turn as populations age.
Subject of Research: How researchers analyse lay perspectives on successful ageing across individual, contextual and socio-structural levels
Article Title: Successful ageing criticisms and lay perspectives: a large language model-assisted systematic review (2012–2023) using a three-level analytical framework
Article References: Martinelli, P., Uittenhove, K., Jopp, D. S., Spini, D., & Roquet, A. (2026). Successful ageing criticisms and lay perspectives: a large language model-assisted systematic review (2012–2023) using a three-level analytical framework. European Journal of Ageing. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10433-026-00942-9
Image Credits: AI Generated
DOI: 10.1007/s10433-026-00942-9
Keywords: successful ageing, lay perspectives, systematic review, older adults, ageing research, socio-structural analysis, contextual factors, large language models, European Journal of Ageing, demographic ageing, cross-cultural comparison, social inequalities
News Source: Beatrice Stafford. (October 29, 2026). Older Adults’ Views of Successful Ageing Still Seen Through an Individual Lens, Review Finds. Scienmag.
