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Individual ageing

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Individual ageing  (INDIVIDUAL ageing)


Ageing (326-5) of a population must also be distinguished from individual ageing1 or senescence1, and from an increase in the duration of human life or increased longevity2 which is the result of improved standards oi living and of medical discoveries. An individual’s physiological age3 will depend on the state of his tissues and organs. In the case of children we speak of mental age4, which is defined as the age at which the attainments of the individual child as measured by certain tests can be performed by the average child. In studies of mental and physiological age, a distinction is made between these ages and chronological age measured by the time elapsed since the individual’s date of birth5. The ratio of mental to chronological age is called the intelligence quotient6 (often abbreviated to I.Q.).

  • 1. senescence n. — senescent adj.


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