Age Discrimination and Perceived Work Ability: The Mediating Effect of Self-Efficacy

As the number of older workers in the U.S. workforce increases, perceived work ability, which indicates a worker’s capacity to perform job-related tasks or to remain employed, becomes increasingly important. However, age discrimination may undermine the ability of older adults to remain active in the workplace as it poses a significant barrier to their work ability. The purpose of this study was to examine how age discrimination affects perceived work ability among older workers. We also evaluated the role of self-efficacy as a potential mediator between age discrimination and perceived work ability. Self-efficacy can contribute to older adults’ productive aging since it helps them view age-related situations more positively. Using 2,011 respondents (aged 50+) data from the 2018 Health and Retirement Study, structural equation modeling analysis was conducted. Our findings indicated that age discrimination had a direct negative effect on perceived work ability (B = -.230, p < .001). Older workers who experienced more age discrimination were more likely to have low levels of perceived work ability. The indirect effect of self-efficacy (B = -.177; 95% CI = -.240, -.135) was significant. Older workers who experienced more age discrimination were more likely to have low levels of self-efficacy, and this relationship led to lower levels of perceived work ability. These results suggest that greater efforts are required to reduce age discrimination and its negative consequence on perceived work ability and self-efficacy among older workers. Furthermore, age discrimination laws should be more explicitly enforced in the policy direction for older workers.

Anti-Racism and Health Equity as Missing Values to Productive Aging: Implications for Emerging Professionals

Productive aging scholarship has grown in scope and rigor over the last four decades, yet anti-racism and health equity have not been formally integrated into the conceptual framework. Furthermore, there is a dearth of research that explicates heterogeneity among a growing diverse older adult population. This presentation will integrate anti-racism and health equity as core values to productive aging scholarship in order to explore risk and protective factors to employment, volunteering, and caregiving among a growing diverse older adult population. Part of this presentation will include major findings from longitudinal population-based studies as well as key findings from a Consensus Statement by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) on work and retirement trajectories. Dr. Gonzales will also share professional strategies (e.g., grant submissions, publishing, teaching) with ESPO members who want to center anti-racism, health equity, and social justice in their scholarship.

Internalized age stereotypes as a mediator between volunteering and psychosocial health for adults 50+

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.

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.

Living to Help Others: Volunteering in Late Life to Promote Generativity and Well-Being

Date Presented 04/20/21 OT contributes to productive aging by facilitating occupation-based groups, such as volunteering, in order to increase older adults' participation in the community. This poster will address the effectiveness of a volunteer program on community-dwelling older adults' self-perceptions. Volunteer exploration and participation may serve to promote an individual's psychosocial well-being and quality of life. Primary Author and Speaker: Bridget Houghton Additional Authors and Speakers: Margaret Wilhelm, Sara Crandall, Angela Deblasio, Hannah Manczka, and Jeanette Koeth

The Stroll Safe Outdoor Fall Prevention Program: Feasibility and Future Directions

Date Presented Accepted for AOTA INSPIRE 2021 but unable to be presented due to online event limitations. Using a quasi-experimental design, the feasibility of the Stroll Safe outdoor fall prevention program was examined. Process, scientific, management, and resource assessments were conducted. Results reveal that the program is feasible to implement among active, community-dwelling older adults. Further study using an efficacy trial is warranted. This study helps to build the body of knowledge in outdoor fall prevention, an area of research and practice that is critical to productive aging. Primary Author and Speaker: Tracy Chippendale

(Re)production of Inequalities in Retirement Practices and Meanings Assigned to the Term ‘Retiree’ in the Post-Communist Context

In the institutionalized life course transition from work to retirement is the transition that culturally defines the beginning of later life. However, there is no universal way of experiencing retirement or understanding retirees’ social roles. Especially in the context of the post-communist, liquid modern reality in Poland. The social role of the retiree, defined as a set of rules and expectations generated for individuals occupying particular positions in the social structure, is constructed at the intersection of what is culturally defined and individually negotiated. Therefore, the way in which individuals (re)define term “retiree” and “do retirement” reflects not only inequalities in individual resources and attitudes, but also in social structure in a given place and at a given time. In this contribution, I draw upon data from 68 qualitative interviews with retirees from Poland to analyze retirement practices and meanings assigned to the term “retiree.” Applying practice theory, I explore the inequalities they (re)produce, mirror and reinforce at the same time. Results show that there are four broad types of retirement practices: caregiving, working, exploring and disengaging. During analysis of meanings assigned by participants to the term “retiree,” two definitions emerged: one of a “new wave retiree” and the other of a “stagnant retiree.” Results suggest that in the post-communist context, retirement practices and meanings assigned to the term “retiree” are in the ongoing process of (re)negotiation and are influenced on the one hand by the activation demands resulting from discourses of active and productive aging, and on the other by habitus and imaginaries of retirement formed in the bygone communist era. Retirement practices and definitions of the term “retiree” that emerged from the data reflect structural and individual inequalities, highlighting intersection of gender, age and socioeconomic status in the (re)production of inequalities in retirement transition in the post-communist context.

Health Literacy Mediates the Association Between Socioeconomic Status and Productive Aging Among Elderly Chinese Adults in a Newly Urbanized Community

Productive aging, or older adults engaging in paid or unpaid activities that produce socially valued goods or services, has been suggested to have the beneficial impact on older adults' health and well-being. We performed a cross-sectional study to examine the influence of health literacy on the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and productive aging among older Chinese adults in a newly urbanized community. Data was collected from 995 older adults from a newly urbanized community between June and August 2013 in Chengdu, China. We used structural equation modeling (SEM) to test the hypothesized relationship among SES, health literacy and productive aging. Results showed that education attainment and income had a direct positive effect on health literacy (β = 0.47and β = 0.15, respectively). Education had a partial indirect effect on productive aging through health literacy (β = 0.27). And health literacy was an important factor in improving the productive aging of the elderly. Interventions targeting health education and health promotion should be taken to improve health literacy of older adults under the background of urbanization, especially for those with lower SES.