Kdo je mladý/střední/starý?

The aim of this study is to find out which characteristics affect the age identity of individuals. The main question is: What determines whether the people in the Czech Republic find themselves young, middle aged or old? Two alternative hypotheses were tested: a) the age identity is mainly influenced by person’s family and working roles; b) the age identity is primarily a function of person’s chronological age and his health. While the second hypothesis understands the age identity as an ordinal variable, the first hypothesis views values of youth, middle age and old age as three different nominal constructs. The question is answered by analysis of quantitative data from European Social Survey Round 4. The sample contains 1864 respondents aged 20-95. Author uses binary logistic regression to find models for adopting age identities in different age categories. The second hypothesis of age identity being primarily an effect of age and health is proved. The influence of some family and working roles on age identity are, however, also discussed.