Structural and Individual Ageism Predicts Elder Abuse Proclivity and Perpetration

Considering that elder abuse affects one in six older persons worldwide, a need exists to identify factors that predict this abuse. Previous studies have found that ageism operates at both structural (i.e., societal-level stigmatizing views toward older persons) and individual levels (i.e., negative age beliefs) to affect health. However, it was not known whether and if so, how these two levels work together to impact perpetrators committing elder abuse. Thus, examining the mechanism between ageism and elder abuse was the aim of the current study. We hypothesized that structural and individual ageism would simultaneously predict elder abuse. In addition, following Stereotype Embodiment Theory, the impact of structural ageism on elder abuse would be mediated by individual ageism. In Sample 1, participants described their proclivity to abuse older people if they could do so without punishment (n=1,580). In Sample 2, family caregivers described actual abuse of their older care recipients (n=400). Overall, elder abuse proclivity (33% in Sample 1) and perpetration (56% in Sample 2) were prevalent. As hypothesized, structural ageism and individual ageism simultaneously predicted elder abuse proclivity and perpetration. Also as predicted, individual ageism significantly mediated the association between structural ageism and elder abuse in both samples. This the first study that examined the mechanistic pathways between structural and individual levels of ageism in the context of elder abuse. Effective solutions to prevent elder abuse should incorporate upstream interventions to mitigate the adverse effects of ageism.

Toward interventions to reduce internalized ageism

Ageism is an insidious form of injustice that is internalized from an early age with accumulating negative health impacts across the lifespan. Internalized ageism is associated with numerous public health outcomes, including physical and mental health, functional impairment, cognition, cardiovascular stress, hospitalizations, and longevity. Research has begun to document how ageism negatively impacts health through psychological, behavioral, and physiological pathways. Yet, limited research has addressed interventions to reduce internalized ageism. This study integrates stereotype embodiment theory, theories of successful and productive aging, and recent scholarly literature to present a conceptual model with potential downstream, midstream, and upstream interventions at micro, meso, and macro levels. Micro interventions include: social, physical, and cognitive engagement, as well as stress management. Meso interventions include: education, intergenerational contact, and narrative reframing. Macro interventions include anti-ageism policy, such as amendments to the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). The conceptual model is described in detail, and implications for practitioners are discussed. The need to examine how policy influences health through the three pathways in stereotype embodiment theory is discussed. This study provides a working model for scholars and practitioners to use when considering paths toward reducing internalized ageism and optimizing well-being for aging adults.

Embodiment in gender studies - How does the embodiment paradigm appear in relation to gender and the context of experiencing gender roles?

The issue of body and embodiment bears strong roots in feminist theories, philosophy, gender studies, women’s studies and men’s studies. According to some previous publications, the impact of patriarchal power structures and hegemonic (heterosexual) masculinity on gender roles, sexuality, and the (social) position of women and minorities can also be construed in connection with (body) perception and embodiment.The experience of one's “sex” as a purely biological phenomenon is influenced by norms and values of parents, relatives and institutional systems from a very young age, and is thus exposed to the effects of the social and cultural environment. Contrasting the experience of manhood and womanhood, masculine (activity, aggression, resilience) and feminine (passivity, fragility) attributes, male (strong) and female (delicate) bodies is an important tool in creating, justifying, and maintaining gender dichotomies and power relations. Some previous studies on the body and the embodiment of gender also highlight that queer culture, transsexuality, and other marginalized groups (ethnic minorities, people with disabilities) questions the legitimacy of this gender binarity.The aim of the present study is to investigate the presence of embodiment theory in gender studies.

On body and culture - medicine and embodiment.

Embodiment theory shows up in several fields of (clinical) medicine, it has been applied in studying various diseases, conditions, and treatments. The aim of this short review - due to its extent limitation - is to provide some insight into the diversity of interpretation and application of the embodiment paradigm within medicine.The question of embodiment was often discussed regarding diseases and conditions with physical modifications or lesions, as well as in case of those with notable changes in perception (e.gpregnancy, cancer or organ transplantation). However, studies were also performed in seemingly distant areas such as psychiatry (schizophrenia, dementia, depression, anorexia), pulmonology (asthma and COPD), or endocrinology (perimenopause). Meanwhile embodiment was most frequently explored in connection with the lived experience of femininity-masculinity, physical symptoms, movement limitations, altered body sensations, some of these articles discussed more general concerns such as therapeutic relationship, (disease) perceptions, compliance and therapeutic efficiency.

The Phenomenology of the Body After 85 Years

The aim of this study was to describe the phenomenology of the body after 85 years, addressing the following question: What is the experience of the body at this age? Within the paradigm of existential phenomenology, this study was philosophically and methodologically underpinned by embodiment theory, positioning the body as the starting point for the exploration of lived experience. In-depth interviews with 20 purposively selected individuals were analyzed using van Manen’s context-sensitive phenomenological orientation. Findings indicated that the body was experienced primarily in negative terms, as compromising engagement in meaningful activity, independence, safety, vitality, dignity, and identity. Participants coped with bodily changes through adaptation, humor, and acceptance. In addition, participants viewed their unreliable and at times unfamiliar body, as distinct from their sense of self. This research addresses the current lack of subjective accounts of bodily and embodied experiences in this group, combating assumptive views and contributing insightful understanding.

Spatial and Motor Aspects in the “Action-Sentence Compatibility Effect”

The Action-sentence Compatibility Effect (ACE) is often taken as supporting the fundamental role of the motor system in understanding sentences that describe actions. This effect would be related to an internal “simulation,” i.e., the reactivation of past perceptual and motor experiences. However, it is not easy to establish whether this simulation predominantly involves spatial imagery or motor anticipation. In the classical ACE experiments, where a real motor response is required, the direction and motor representations are mixed. In order to disentangle spatial and motor aspects involved in the ACE, we performed six experiments in different conditions, where the motor component was always reduced, asking participants to judge the sensibility of sentences by moving a mouse, thus requiring a purely spatial representation, compatible with nonmotor interpretations. In addition, our experiments had the purpose of taking into account the possible confusion of effects of practice and of compatibility (i.e., differences in reaction times simultaneously coming from block order and opposite motion conditions). Also, in contrast to the usual paradigm, we included no-transfer filler sentences in the analysis. The ACE was not found in any experiment, a result that failed to support the idea that the ACE could be related to a simulation where spatial aspects rather than motor ones prevail. Strong practice effects were always found and were carved out from results. A surprising effect was that no-transfer sentences were processed much slower than others, perhaps revealing a sort of participants’ awareness of the structure of stimuli, i.e., their finding that some of them involved motion and others did not. The relevance of these outcomes for the embodiment theory is discussed.

The Development of Self-Perceptions of Aging: The Interplay Between Society and the Self Across the Lifespan

Our thoughts and beliefs about our own aging, known as self-perceptions of aging, are found to greatly impact our health and well-being across the lifespan (Wurm et al., 2015). A large body of research suggests that positive and negative views on aging are associated with long-term health benefits and detriments, respectively. According to stereotype embodiment theory, stereotypes are incrementally internalized across the lifespan, forming our aging stereotypes, which then become self-stereotypes once we identify as older adults, eventually shaping our self-perceptions of aging (Levy, 2003b, 2009). Based on the postulates of this theory, it is unclear how individuals develop positive self-perceptions of aging when negative aging stereotypes are more prevalent than positive stereotypes in most societies. Two studies were conducted to understand how the internalization of negative aging stereotypes can potentially be reduced and identify factors associated with longitudinal changes in positive and negative self-perceptions of aging. Using cross-sectional data from 612 U.S. citizens over the age of 60, Study 1 found that having a weak identification with the older adult social category or having positive affect towards the older adult social category was related to a weaker relationship between the negative aging stereotypes and the negative self-stereotypes endorsed by individuals. In addition, having more positive aging experiences was related to a weaker relationship between the two types of stereotypes. Thus, it appears that our identity and lived experiences may attenuate the degree to which negative stereotypes are internalized. Utilizing parallel process growth curve models on four waves of data from the German Aging Study, Study 2 analyzed the average growth trajectories of positive and negative self-perceptions of aging and the factors associated with the growth trajectories. Differences in the development of self-perceptions of aging between middle- (40-59 years old), third- (60-74 years old), and fourth-aged adults (75 years old and higher) were also explored. Study 2 found that, on average, positive self-perceptions of aging declined linearly, while negative self-perceptions of aging increased linearly across measurement occasions. However, the opposite pattern was found for middle-aged adults. Furthermore, the intercept and slope of positive self-perceptions of aging were inversely related to the intercept and slope of negative self-perceptions of aging. Additionally, the intercept and slope within both perceptions of aging were inversely correlated, meaning that higher baseline positive self-perceptions of aging were related to steeper decreases in these self-perceptions across time, and higher baseline negative self-perceptions of aging were related to shallower increases in these views on aging across measurement occasions. Beyond replicating certain findings from past studies, Study 2 uniquely identified satisfaction with life, older age identification, and perceived age discrimination as factors associated with the development of self-perceptions of aging. Moreover, when comparing results from parallel process growth curve models specific to each phase of adulthood, it was found that the factors most strongly associated with the development of self-perceptions of aging differed between the three age groups. Such differences suggest that future interventions aimed at enhancing self-perceptions of aging may be maximized if tailored to the participants' ages. However, with life satisfaction and depressive symptoms related to better and worse self-perceptions of aging for each age group, respectively, public policies designed to support mental health may be best for enhancing self-perceptions of aging at the population-level. The findings from this dissertation further our empirical understanding of how self-perceptions of aging are internalized and develop across time. While stereotype embodiment theory has postulated that the harmfulness of negative aging stereotypes is more salient when one identifies as an older adult, Study 2 was the first to provide longitudinal evidence for the damaging association between older adult identification and self-perceptions of aging. However, results from Study 1 suggest the nuances of social identity must be taken into account as holding positive in-group affect may reduce the harm associated with identifying as an older adult. Additionally, whereas past research has found positive and negative self-perceptions of aging to be independent constructs, the use of parallel process growth curve models in Study 2 revealed that the development of the two are related. Lastly, Study 2 was the first to the author's knowledge to identify middle age as a period of life associated with the development of more positive and less negative self-perceptions of aging. Findings from the two studies provide evidence for how positive self-perceptions of aging can develop in light of ageism's pervasiveness and begin to suggest avenues for the creation of interventions to bolster self-perceptions of aging.

Volunteers’ Embodied Experiences at a Sport Festival

In this paper we argue that extant research in event studies on volunteering has predominantly been conducted through disembodied managerial lenses using formulaic conceptual frames. This has resulted in the neglect of more phenomenological approaches which explore volunteers’ lived experiences. Using the example of the 2018 Tall Ships festival in the provincial North East English city of Sunderland, we draw on embodiment theory to fill this gap in event management research. Utilising in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 31 local volunteers, our main findings are two-fold. First, they highlight the complexities and fluidity of local volunteers’ lived experiences of the festival which reflect a multitude of interrelated elements that are corporeal, emotional, and multisensory. Second, these embodied experiences, combined with knowledge of self and place, create fresh, vivid, and subjective meanings which collapse the past, present and future of post-industrial places riddled by economic decline. Our focus on the volunteer experience in the medium term after the event has occurred represents a distinctive timeline as it provides insights into how volunteers interpret, remember, and reconfigure their experience beyond initial euphoria and before long-term nostalgia.