Suchergebnisse

Rigidity has been previously associated with the propensity of dominant group members to target stigmatized groups with negative stereotypes. It was considered in this study whether or not rigidity predicts that members of a stigmatized group, the elderly will target their own group
with negative aging stereotypes; and, if so, whether these stereotypes predict aging self-perceptions, or thinking about themselves growing old. As expected (1) older individuals with more rigidity held significantly more negative aging stereotypes over time, (2) older individuals with more
negative aging stereotypes had significantly more negative aging self-perceptions over time, and (3) negative aging stereotypes partially mediated the relationship between rigidity and negative aging self-perceptions. The sample of 405 community-living individuals, aged 50 or older, was studied
in 6 waves over 20 years. The findings suggest that flexibility can benefit older individuals' self-views.

ABSTRACTStudies of the relationship between retirement and subsequent health, including longevity, have produced mixed findings. One reason may be that these studies have not taken attitudes toward retirement into account. In the current study we examined whether attitudes toward retirement can impact longevity. The cohort consisted of 394 participants who were followed for 23 years. As predicted, participants with positive attitudes toward retirement at the start of the study lived significantly longer than those with negative attitudes toward retirement. The positive attitudes-toward-retirement group had a median survival advantage of 4.9 years. This survival advantage remained after controlling for relevant covariates, including age, functional health, socio-economic status, and whether employed or retired. Our findings suggest that psychological planning for retirement is as important as the more traditional forms of planning.

Older military veterans are at greater risk for psychiatric disorders than same-aged non-veterans. However, little is known about factors that may protect older veterans from developing these disorders. We considered whether an association exists between the potentially stress-reducing factor of resistance to negative age stereotypes and lower prevalence of the following outcomes among older veterans: suicidal ideation, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Participants consisted of 2031 veterans, aged 55 or older, who were drawn from the National Health and Resilience in Veterans Study, a nationally representative survey of American veterans. The prevalence of all three outcomes was found to be significantly lower among participants who fully resisted negative age stereotypes, compared to those who fully accepted them: suicidal ideation, 5.0% vs. 30.1%; anxiety, 3.6% vs. 34.9%; and PTSD, 2.0% vs. 18.5%, respectively. The associations followed a graded linear pattern and persisted after adjustment for relevant covariates, including age, combat experience, personality, and physical health. These findings suggest that developing resistance to negative age stereotypes could provide older individuals with a path to greater mental health.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the association between country-level structural ageism and prevalence of violence against older persons. DESIGN: Country-level ecological study. SETTING: Structural ageism data were drawn from the nationally representative World Values Survey 2010–2014 (WVS), global databases from the WHO, United Nations and the World Bank. Violence data were based on the Global Burden of Diseases (GBD) study 2017. PARTICIPANTS: Analysis of 56 countries that represented 63.1% of the world's ageing population aged 60 and over across all six of WHO regions. EXPOSURE: Structural ageism, following established structural stigma measures, consisted of two components: (1) discriminatory national policies related to older persons' economic, social, civil and political rights, based on the four core components of human rights protection in Madrid International Plan of Action on Aging and (2) prejudicial social norms against older persons, measured by negative attitudes toward older persons in 56 national polls in WVS aggregated to country-level. These components were z scored and combined such that higher score indicated greater structural ageism. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Prevalence rates of violence per 100 000 persons aged 70 and over in each country was based on extensive epidemiological surveillance data, survey, clinical data and insurance claims in GBD and compiled by the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington. RESULTS: There was a wide variation in levels of structural ageism across countries. As predicted, structural ageism was significantly associated with the prevalence rates of violence in multivariate models (β=205.7, SE=96.3, p=0.03), after adjusting for relevant covariates. Sensitivity analyses supported the robustness of our findings. That is, structural ageism did not predict other types of violence and other types of prejudice did not predict violence against older persons. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides the first evidence of the association between higher ...

Studies examining the association between retirement and health have produced mixed results. This may be due to previous studies treating retirement as merely a change in job status rather than a transition associated with stereotypes or societal beliefs (e.g., retirement is a time of mental decline or retirement is a time of growth). To examine whether these stereotypes are associated with health, we studied retirement stereotypes and survival over a 23‐year period among 1,011 older adults. As predicted by stereotype embodiment theory, it was found that positive stereotypes about physical health during retirement showed a survival advantage of 4.5 years (hazard ratio = 0.88, p = .022) and positive stereotypes about mental health during retirement tended to show a survival advantage of 2.5 years (hazard ratio = 0.87, p = .034). Models adjusted for relevant covariates such as age, gender, race, employment status, functional health, and self‐rated health. These results suggest that retirement preparation could benefit from considering retirement stereotypes.