age stereotypes
Recently Published Documents


TOTAL DOCUMENTS

213
(FIVE YEARS 74)

H-INDEX

30
(FIVE YEARS 2)

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 592-593
Author(s):  
E-Shien Chang ◽  
Sarah Lowe ◽  
Natalia Provolo ◽  
Martin Slade ◽  
Becca Levy

Abstract During the COVID-19 pandemic, stigmatization of older persons has increased in traditional and social media. It was unknown whether this negative messaging could be detrimental to the mental health of older individuals, and whether the relatively uncommon positive messaging about older individuals could benefit their mental health. To address these gaps, we designed age-stereotype interventions based on actual news stories that appeared during the pandemic. As expected, the exposure of older individuals to the negative-age-stereotype-messaging interventions led to significantly worse mental health (more anxiety and less peacefulness), compared to a neutral condition; in contrast, the positive-age-stereotype-messaging interventions led to significantly better mental health (less anxiety and more peacefulness), compared to a neutral condition. The results demonstrate the need for media messaging aimed at empowering older individuals during the pandemic and beyond.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 694-694
Author(s):  
Andrew Steward ◽  
Leslie Hasche ◽  
Julie Anne Laser-Maira

Abstract The productive aging literature describes a wide range of psychosocial benefits of volunteerism for older adults. A growing, compelling body of literature drawing from stereotype embodiment theory identifies significant, negative public health impacts of internalized age stereotypes. Yet, little research has explored which activities may reduce internalized ageism and enhance psychosocial health as people age. This cross-sectional study examined whether internalized age stereotypes mediate the relationship between volunteering and social connectedness for adults 50+. A convenience sample of volunteers (n = 112) 50+ years of age residing in the U.S. Mountain West were recruited. A 15-minute, online survey was utilized. The independent variable was number of volunteer hours per week (mean = 6.25, SD = 4.85). The dependent variable was social connectedness measured by five items positively worded from the five-point, Likert-type UCLA loneliness scale (α = .85; mean = 4.26, SD = 0.59). Drawing from the self-stereotypes of aging scale, the indirect effects of five internalized positive (e.g., “wise” and “capable”) and five negative (e.g., “grumpy” and “helpless”) age stereotypes were tested. Results indicate that increased internalized positive, not negative, age stereotypes partially mediated the relationship between volunteer hours and increased social connectedness, while holding constant age, gender, race, functional limitation, education, employment, length of volunteering, and previous volunteer experience. Although positive age stereotypes have long been considered a form of ageism, the results of this study suggest that internalizing positive age stereotypes may function as a form of esteem to promote enhanced psychosocial health as people age.


2021 ◽  
pp. 20-37
Author(s):  
Howard Giles ◽  
Jessica Gasiorek ◽  
Shardé M. Davis ◽  
Jane Giles
Keyword(s):  

Author(s):  
Jerod C White ◽  
Tara S Behrend

Abstract Virtual interviews have become ubiquitous, yet research on the psychological effects of their technological characteristics remains sparse. Many practitioners caution that malfunctions that commonly occur during interviews may negatively influence interviewers’ perceptions of an applicant. This concern is heightened for some groups of applicants, particularly those of certain age groups. Age stereotypes characterize older adults as technologically inept, and per the similarity effect, the dual ages of an applicant and an interviewer likely influence an interviewer’s attributions of a technology malfunction. We explored these propositions by investigating the effects that one such malfunction, an echo, has on raters. This experiment used a 2 (younger applicant vs. older applicant) × 2 (younger rater vs. older rater) × 3 (no echo vs. minor echo vs. severe echo) between-subject design to test hypotheses. Results showed that raters generally made situational attributions of malfunctions. Raters blamed the echo on older applicants slightly more than younger applicants, but attributions did not predict perceptions of interview performance, decisions to hire, or salary recommendations. Malfunctions and age similarity were generally not related to hiring outcomes. These findings advance theories surrounding attributions and age biases while offering no clear evidence that specific age groups are at a disadvantage in virtual interviews.


Author(s):  
Reuben Ng

Recently, 194 World Health Organization member states called on the international organization to develop a global campaign to combat ageism, citing its alarming ubiquity, insidious threat to health, and prevalence in the media. Existing media studies of age stereotypes have mostly been single-sourced. This study harnesses a 1.1-billion-word media database comprising the British National Corpus and Corpus of Contemporary American English—with genres including spoken/television, fiction, magazines, newspapers—to provide a comprehensive view of ageism in the United Kingdom and United States. The US and UK were chosen as they are home to the largest media conglomerates with tremendous power to shape public opinion. The most commonly used synonym of older adults was identified, and its most frequently used descriptors were analyzed for valence. Such computational linguistics techniques represent a new advance in studying aging narratives. The key finding is consistent, though no less alarming: Negative descriptions of older adults outnumber positive ones by six times. Negative descriptions tend to be physical, while positive ones tend to be behavioral. Magazines contain the highest levels of ageism, followed by the spoken genre, newspapers, and fiction. Findings underscore the need to increase public awareness of ageism and lay the groundwork to design targeted societal campaigns to tackle ageism—one of our generation’s most pernicious threats.


GeroPsych ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clara De Paula Couto ◽  
Ronja Ostermeier ◽  
Klaus Rothermund

Abstract. We examined the domain-specific views of young and old people held by young (18–30 years, n = 278) and older adults (60–85 years, n = 289) in Germany, the USA, and India. Views about old and young people differed between life domains but were mostly similar across age groups and countries. Older adults in the USA and Germany – but not in India – held slightly less negative views about old people than did young people in some domains, possibly indicating a projection of better-than-expected own aging experiences of older adults into their in-group stereotypes in Western countries. The findings of our study can be explained by socialization processes, supporting mostly a developmental perspective regarding the acquisition and endorsement of age stereotypes.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (1) ◽  
pp. 12452
Author(s):  
Christoph Daldrop ◽  
Astrid Carlotta Homan ◽  
Claudia Buengeler

Author(s):  
Martin Söllner ◽  
Mirjam Dürnberger ◽  
Johannes Keller ◽  
Arnd Florack

AbstractIn a cross-sectional (Study 1) and a longitudinal study (Study 2), the authors examined whether the association between age stereotypes and well-being is mediated by self-regulatory engagement in goal pursuit. In Study 1 (N = 666), engagement in self-regulatory strategies of selection (e.g., selecting appropriate goals), optimization (e.g., acquiring resources for goal achievement), and compensation (e.g., searching for help) were assessed as potential mediators and, concurrently, regulatory focus was explored as a moderator of the association of age stereotypes and well-being. The results demonstrated consistent positive associations of positive age stereotypes and different kinds of well-being. These associations were partially mediated by optimization, but not by selection or compensation. Furthermore, the relationships between positive age stereotypes and well-being were attenuated for promotion-focused individuals. In Study 2 (N = 2325), we measured age stereotypes at baseline and several well-being measures at baseline as well as 6 and 9 years later. Age stereotypes at baseline predicted well-being at the later measurement times. Also, the associations between age stereotypes and different aspects of well-being were mediated by self-regulatory engagement in selection, optimization, and compensation.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document