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Young adults’ experiences of ageism in the United Kingdom: Forms, sources, and associations with intergenerational attitudes
Journal of Social and Personal Relationships
Abstract
Although previous research suggests that a large proportion of young adults experience ageism, information is scarce regarding exactly how often they encounter different forms of age-based discrimination. To address this lacuna, we recruited young adults from the U.K. to complete four weekly surveys in which they reported the number of days during the preceding week on which they experienced various forms of ageism. More than three-quarters of our respondents experienced some form of ageism at least once during the reporting period, and more than one-quarter of respondents experienced ageism (on average) at least once per week during the reporting period. The most oft-encountered forms of ageism encountered by young adults involved being shown a lack of respect/being patronized and having other people make assumptions about their cognitive or social characteristics. Most commonly, the perpetrators of ageism were middle-aged and later middle-aged persons (rather than older people) encountered in the course of employment. The number of days on which young adults experienced ageism was inversely correlated with the degree to which they believed middle-aged and later-middle aged adults held positive stereotypes of young adults, and positively predicted the desire to avoid interaction with middle-aged, late middle-aged, and older adults.
... The involvement of YALLE-leading research manuscripts is notably scarce [39], a phenomenon that we feel is attributed to several underlying factors, a few of which we will discuss below. As YALLE, we have experienced firsthand the challenge of navigating a landscape that often sees us more as symbols of inclusivity than as true collaborators. ...
... Despite the growing trend to involve us in health research, there is a disconnect between the enthusiastic inclusion and the depth of our engagement. This disconnect is exacerbated by pervasive societal narratives that paint modern young adults as clueless, fragile and burdensome [37,39]. This image regularly emerges in the form of derogating young people as narcissistic, lazy, and entitled [37,39]. ...
... This disconnect is exacerbated by pervasive societal narratives that paint modern young adults as clueless, fragile and burdensome [37,39]. This image regularly emerges in the form of derogating young people as narcissistic, lazy, and entitled [37,39]. Youngism, defined as ageism toward younger adults [37,39] misrepresents us and hinders our potential to bring fresh perspectives and innovative ideas to participatory research. ...
Background
This commentary article critically assesses the inclusion and recognition of young adults with lived and living experiences (YALLE) in academic publishing. Stemming from our involvement in a health research study, this analysis interrogates the disparity between the stated importance of YALLE contributions in health research and their actual recognition, specifically in academic publications, which serve as the principal “currency” in research. This tokenism limits the potential for their unique insights to substantially enrich the discourse and dissemination of knowledge. Set against a backdrop of systemic biases and structural barriers, this discussion underscores the persistent minoritization of YALLE, despite increasing nominal recognition within academic and health research communities.
Main text
The commentary begins by placing the engagement of young adults in health research within its current context, showing that this inclusion often remains superficial, serving more as a symbolic gesture toward inclusivity rather than fostering genuine participatory research. It critiques the implicit biases within institutional frameworks that continue to shape research culture detrimentally, thus stifling the transformative potential of research led and partnered by young adults. The core of the narrative addresses the complex challenges faced by YALLE, including discrimination, underrecognition, and inadequate participatory roles in research processes. These issues are magnified by the prevalent “publish or perish” culture in academia, which prioritizes the quantity of scholarly output over the quality and inclusivity of research contributions.
Conclusions
The commentary advocates for a crucial shift in academic publishing to genuinely appreciate and integrate the contributions of young adults. We call for a transition from a “publish or perish” model to a “publish with purpose” approach, which necessitates rethinking what is considered valuable knowledge and who is acknowledged as its creators. This shift aims to cultivate an academic culture where knowledge is treated as a communal resource, and publications are used as tools to advance societal understanding and progress.
Plain English summary
This commentary discusses how young adults who have direct personal experiences with health issues are often left out when their research studies are published in academic journals. Journals are important because they share new discoveries and ideas with scientists, doctors, and the public, helping everyone understand more about health problems and treatments. Unfortunately, even though these young adults offer valuable insights from their own lives and have many other skills to contribute, they are rarely included or given opportunities to be included as authors in the final published articles. The commentary calls for changes in how academic research is done. It suggests that research should not just be about producing a lot of papers quickly—which has been called “publish or perish” but should focus on making sure that everyone who contributes, especially young adults, is recognized and valued. This would make research more inclusive and the results more helpful and relevant to everyone in society.
Ageism is a significant global problem which has been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. This article addresses an important gap in the literature by analysing 3241 age discrimination Employment Tribunal judgments over a 5-year period, which coincided with the Covid-19 pandemic. Using a qualitative case by case analysis and quantitative content analysis the article examines recent judgments from England and Wales to highlight their extent, nature, and outcomes. Despite reports of heightened ageism and age stereotyping and the use of ageist policies to control the Covid-19 pandemic, this research reveals no corresponding increase in successful age discrimination judgments. This research identifies new emerging trends, including an increase in judgments striking out claims for lack of active pursuit from 2021 to 2023, alongside a rise in judgments striking out claims for being out of time and also judgments for redundancy-related claims. The study emphasises the inadequacy of relying solely on individual enforcement to combat age discrimination, confirming previous findings of enforcement gaps, especially for younger workers. Furthermore, the study provides insights into the prevalence of age stereotypes, the inadequacies of the legal framework for addressing stereotypical assumptions and the risks associated with retirement discussions. Ageist stereotypes, such as linking age with job performance and retirement pressure, were prevalent throughout the study period, showing no significant changes throughout the pandemic. Overall, this research provides important insights into age discrimination judgments during Covid-19, emphasising the urgency of comprehensive strategies to address ageism effectively in the workplace.
Background:
Older adults are stereotyped in a paternalistic manner (warm, but incompetent), deserving of assistance regardless of their need; however, little is known about how gender contextualizes these attitudes. The purpose of this study was to extend previous work that examined the malleability of the paternalistic older adult stereotype using a two-part experimental vignette. The goals of the current study included: (1) to examine attitudes of benevolent ageist behavior toward a male target, (2) to confirm whether attributions made toward an older male target change if they defy or confirm the paternalistic stereotype, and (3) to examine the distinct roles of age and gender on an act of benevolent ageism.
Method:
In prior work, a female target was offered unnecessary assistance, which is replicated in the current study with a male target. The age (young vs. old), response (accepting vs. declining assistance), and gender (male vs. female) of the target were manipulated and then rated by a young adult sample (N = 698).
Results:
Our findings replicated earlier work in that overaccommodative behaviors were endorsed more so for the older target than the younger target, which corroborates support for the Stereotype Content Model in that older adults are viewed paternalistically. Additionally, the older male target and the older female target were viewed differently when they respectively defied the paternalistic stereotype indicating distinctness between benevolent ageism and benevolent sexism.
Conclusions:
These findings add to the growing body of benevolent ageism literature and highlight the intersection of gender and age.
Research on ageism has focused largely on perceptions of and biases targeting older adults, implicitly assuming that age-based stigma increases throughout the life span and that young adults benefit from favorable views relative to their older counterparts. In a series of eight studies (N = 2,323), we provide evidence to the contrary. We theorize that, in sharp contrast with ageism toward older adults, which revolves around fear and discomfort with the target’s later life stage, youngism (i.e., ageism toward young adults) is primarily generationally focused, aiming at contemporaneous generations of young adults rather than young adults in general. Consistent with this theorizing, we find that today’s young adults are ascribed a mixed stereotype content (Study 1a–1c), subject to harsher social judgments than both older age groups (Study 2) and recollections of former generations at the same age (Study 3a and 3b), and victim of discriminatory behaviors (Study 4 and 5). By comprehensively documenting cognitive, emotional, and behavioral evidence of youngism, the present work challenges the idea that ageism only reflects a plight of later-life aging. Instead, we show not only that ageism can target other age groups but also that the nature and content of ageism vary across the life span.
What are the consequences for older adults who confront ageism and the perpetrators who engage in ageist behaviors? We compared young (n = 265), middle-aged (n = 338), and older adults' (n = 235) impressions of an older target and the perpetrator of an ageist action. Participants read a vignette about a pedestrian offering unwanted help to an older woman crossing the street. We manipulated the type of ageism (benevolent or hostile), the reaction of the older target (acceptance, moderate confrontation, or strong confrontation) and assessed perceptions of perpetrator appropriateness and how evaluations of warmth, competence, and overall impression of the target changed over time. The perpetrator's act of benevolent ageism was perceived to be more appropriate than hostile ageism, and middle-aged and older adult participants reported the benevolent act to be more acceptable than young participants. This finding supports an age stereotype assimilation account. For target perceptions, accepting a hostile ageist behavior led to lower warmth and competence ratings but accepting benevolent ageism reduced warmth but not competence evaluations. Age differences in target perceptions were predicted by social identity theory, in that older adults rated the older target more positively overall. Perceptions of targets who confronted varied by type of ageism and the intensity of the confrontation. When participants perceived the target's reaction to be disproportionate to the ageist act, the target was viewed more negatively overall. The findings suggest that ageism directed toward older adults is perceived to be normative by adults of all ages and that confrontations of ageist behavior result in negative perceptions of the older target. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
While ageism can be understood as an unconscious defence mechanism against a feeling of apprehension toward ageing on behalf of young and middle-aged groups, older persons themselves are not exempt from such internalized and implicit psychological machinations. Internalized ageism constitutes an insidious form of ageism that compels older adults to embrace social norms that devalue or marginalize same-aged peers by either acting in ways that reinforce the youth norm by battling the visible markers of ageing such as grey hair and wrinkles or denying any commonality and camaraderie with same-aged peers. This article explores that interface between internalized ageism and older adult learning by analyzing one of its hallmark institutions, the University of the Third Age (U3A), in the context of psychosocial interventions that are utilized by older people to defuse or counterbalance the noxious effects of negative self-perceptions of ageing. Research evidence demonstrated that U3A members generate counter-stereotypes by constructing a “third age” mental imagery and positioning themselves firmly in it while also practicing self-differentiation strategies to ameliorate or even prevent the negative impact of internalized ageism on their self-esteem and confidence. The U3A not only functions to meet the expressive and coping needs of older persons but also serves as a safe haven and buffer zone for older persons to stretch their middle-aged identity and at the same time distance themselves from being labelled as members of the “old age” cohort.
Age is an important dimension that is used by people to categorize others. Age-based discrimination is directed toward specific age groups (young and old). In spite of their importance, attitudes toward the elderly have hardly been studied from a cross-country perspective. The fourth round of the European Social Survey (ESS) from 2008-2009 offers, for the first time, the opportunity to study ageism and attitudes toward age groups from a cross-country perspective (European Social Survey Round 4 Data, 2008). However, this opportunity also bears the risk of drawing wrong conclusions, if the scales measuring ageism are not comparable across the countries under study. Such comparisons require measurement equivalence across countries. In the current study, utilizing ESS fourth round data from 29 European countries we examine the cross-country measurement equivalence properties of two concepts that are measured by multiple indicators in the module: (1) competence and warmth and (2) experience of age discrimination. We test for measurement equivalence using two analytical methods: multi-group confirmatory factor analysis (MGCFA) and the alignment optimization. Our findings suggest that cross-country comparisons of these measures are trustworthy. We briefly discuss cross-country differences in competence and warmth and experience of age discrimination. Finally, we underline the importance of testing the cross-group equivalence of measurement instruments before using them in different groups (such as countries) so that meaningful substantive conclusions can be drawn.
Ageism is the most prevalent form of prejudice and is experienced by both older and younger people. Little is known about whether these experiences are interdependent or have common origins. We analyze data from 8,117 older (aged 70 and over) and 11,647 younger respondents (15-29 years) in representative samples from 29 countries in the European Social Survey. Using multilevel structural equation modeling, we test the hypothesis that older people are less likely, and younger people more likely, to suffer age discrimination if they live in a country with stronger structural support for older people. We also test the hypothesis that although stronger social norm against age discrimination reduce age discrimination suffered by older people it does not inhibit discrimination against younger people. These hypotheses are supported, and the results underline the neglected problem of ageism toward youth. Findings highlight that strategies for reducing age prejudice must address ageism as a multi-generational challenge, requiring attention to intergenerational cohesion and resource distribution between ages.
Stereotypes of older adults fit a paternalistic pattern, including elevated warmth and lowered competence, yet little effort has been made to elucidate this in an everyday context. This phenomenon was examined with an experimental vignette, in which a woman was offered unnecessary help; specifically, the age (young vs. old) and the independence (accepting vs. declining assistance) of the woman were manipulated. Attributions from a college-age sample toward the woman were examined. In the older conditions, hypotheses were confirmed that participants approved overaccommodative behaviors, endorsed higher warmth and lower competence, and attitudes were modified when the older women contradicted the paternalistic stereotype by declining assistance. That is, competence was modifiable for older women, whereas warmth was not. Implications of these findings as possible evidence of benevolent ageism and the malleability of the Stereotype Content Model are discussed.
Since 1960, the lives of young people in their late teens and twenties have changed so dramatically that a new stage of life has developed. In his provocative work, Jeffrey Jensen Arnett has identified the period of emerging adulthood as distinct from both the adolescence that precedes it and the young adulthood that comes in its wake. Arnett's new theory has created an entire thriving field of research due to his book that launched the field, Emerging Adulthood.
On the 10th Anniversary of the publication of his groundbreaking work, the second edition of Emerging Adulthood fully updates and expands Arnett's findings and includes brand new chapters on media use, social class issues, and the distinctive problems of this life stage. Merging stories from the lives of emerging adults themselves with decades of research, Arnett covers a wide range of other topics as well, including love and sex, relationships with parents, experiences at college and work, and views of what it means to be an adult. As the nature of growing up and the meaning of adulthood further evolve, Emerging Adulthood will continue to be essential reading for understanding ages 18-29.
In the United States, adultism creates dynamics in which youth are oppressed and their experiences dismissed. Youth participatory action research (YPAR), a research method and theoretical construct, provides one forum through which to challenge adultism by providing youth with voice and input. Such an approach contrasts with traditional banking models of education to focus on the assets youth possess. In this article, I argue that YPAR can serve as a tool for liberation when approached as a contact zone, problem-posing education, and a process rather than a product. I then advocate for key considerations of YPAR work to include the need to challenge research norms, encourage reflexivity, and promote youth-centered approaches. These considerations span individual, collective, and institutional measures to support equitable and just applications of YPAR work.
Stereotype research emphasizes systematic processes over seemingly arbitrary contents, but content also may prove systematic. On the basis of stereotypes' intergroup functions, the stereotype content model hypothesizes that (a) 2 primary dimensions are competence and warmth, (b) frequent mixed clusters combine high warmth with low competence (paternalistic) or high competence with low warmth (envious), and (c) distinct emotions (pity, envy, admiration, contempt) differentiate the 4 competence-warmth combinations. Stereotypically, (d) status predicts high competence, and competition predicts low warmth. Nine varied samples rated gender, ethnicity, race, class, age, and disability out-groups. Contrary to antipathy models, 2 dimensions mattered, and many stereotypes were mixed, either pitying (low competence, high warmth subordinates) or envying (high competence, low warmth competitors). Stereotypically, status predicted competence, and competition predicted low warmth.
Ageism is recognized as a significant obstacle to older people’s well-being, but age discrimination against younger people has attracted less attention. We investigate levels of perceived age discrimination across early to late adulthood, using data from the European Social Survey (ESS), collected in 29 countries (N = 56,272). We test for approximate measurement invariance across countries. We use local structural equation modeling as well as moderated nonlinear factor analysis to test for measurement invariance across age as a continuous variable. Using models that account for the moderate degree of noninvariance, we find that younger people report experiencing the highest levels of age discrimination. We also find that national context substantially affects levels of ageism experienced among older respondents. The evidence highlights that more research is needed to address ageism in youth and across the life span, not just old adulthood. It also highlights the need to consider factors that differently contribute to forms of ageism experienced by people at different life stages and ages.
This article develops and tests an argument about the origins and consequences of reverse ageism. Specifically, we argue that the hype about generational differences gives credence to reverse-ageist ideologies, and we test the notion that such ideologies engender reverse-ageist discriminatory behaviors directed at young nonprofit professionals. We surveyed 282 Millennials, Xers, and Boomers employed in the nonprofit and human services sector. Participants completed a Generational Stereotypes Index, rated the work skills of young professionals, and shared examples of reverse age discrimination. Compared with Millennials, members of prior generations (Boomers and Xers) view 'the typical young professional' more stereotypically. Moreover, these stereotypical perceptions of young professionals predict older employees' beliefs that young professionals lack general work skills. Qualitative analyses show that a majority of older employees (over 60% in our sample) describe their young colleagues negatively, and that young employees (close to 30% in our sample) experience reverse age discrimination. These results illustrate how the seemingly benign conversation about generational differences escalates into a serious issue'reverse age discrimination experienced by today's young employees, the Millennials.
Due to rising pressure to appear egalitarian, subtle discrimination pervades today's workplace. Although its ambiguous nature may make it seem innocuous on the surface, an abundance of empirical evidence suggests subtle discrimination undermines employee and organizational functioning, perhaps even more so than its overt counterpart. In the following article, we argue for a multidimensional and continuous, rather than categorical, framework for discrimination. In doing so, we propose that there exist several related but distinct continuums on which instances of discrimination vary, including subtlety , formality , and intentionality . Next, we argue for organizational scholarship to migrate toward a more developmental, dynamic perspective of subtle discrimination in order to build a more comprehensive understanding of its antecedents, underlying mechanisms, and outcomes. We further contend that everyone plays a part in the process of subtle discrimination at work and, as a result, bears some responsibility in addressing and remediating it. We conclude with a brief overview of research on subtle discrimination in the workplace from each of four stakeholder perspectives—targets, perpetrators, bystanders, and allies—and review promising strategies that can be implemented by each of these stakeholders to remediate subtle discrimination in the workplace.
Seeking help from an outgroup can be difficult, especially when the outgroup is known to stereotype the ingroup negatively and the potential recipient cares strongly about its social image. However, we ask whether even highly identified ingroup members may seek help from a judgmental outgroup if doing so allows them to disconfirm the outgroup's negative stereotype of the ingroup. We presented participants with one of two negative outgroup stereotypes of their ingroup. One could be disconfirmed through seeking help, the other could not. Study 1 (n = 43) showed group members were aware of the strategic implications of seeking help for disconfirming these stereotypes. Study 2 (n = 43) showed high identifiers acted on such strategic knowledge by seeking more help from the outgroup when help-seeking could disconfirm a negative stereotype of their group ( than when it could not). Implications for the seeking and acceptance of help are discussed.
Increasing age diversity in the workforce points to the need to understand the dynamics of interpersonal relations across age groups. An important element of these interactions involves interpersonal perceptions, including both what an individual believes about members of other age groups (stereotypes) and what individuals believe other age groups think of their own group (metastereotypes). We explore the content and accuracy of the stereotypes and metastereotypes in a sample of 247 younger, middle-aged, and older workers. We compare the stereotypes and metastereotypes of and by different groups in terms of their affective valence (positive/negative) and compare the results produced by open-ended and closed-ended methods. We map out the usefulness of these data for future work towards enhancing cross-aged interactions in the workplace.
Extant research suggests subtle, interpersonal forms of discrimination, though often normalized and overlooked, may be just as detrimental to targets as compared to more traditional, overt forms of discrimination. To further examine this question, we meta-analyzed the current literature to estimate the relationship between discrimination and a host of psychological, physical health, and work-related correlates as a function of its form (subtle or overt). Analysis of 90 effect sizes suggested that subtle and overt forms of discrimination hold relationships of comparable magnitude with a host of adverse correlates. By demonstrating that these two forms of discrimination are not differentially related to relevant outcomes, our findings call into serious question the pervasive belief that subtle discrimination is less consequential for targets as compared to overt discrimination (Landy, 2008; McWhorter, 2008). Taken together, our results suggest that subtle discrimination is at least as important to consider and address as its overt counterpart. Implications for organizational scholars and practitioners are discussed.
Limited academic attention has been afforded to young workers relative to their adult counterparts. This study addresses a phase of the employment relationship for young people that is very infrequently examined - during or around the time when the relationship ends. It examines the relative frequency of different forms of dismissal and the circumstances preceding the dismissals via a content analysis of 1259 cases of employee enquiries to a community advocacy organisation in Australia. Results indicate that dismissal was most commonly associated with bullying, harassment, and taking personal leave. Young men, compared to young women, were disproportionately likely to report allegations of misconduct as preceding dismissal, while females experienced higher rates of sexual harassment and discrimination. The research highlights the types and circumstances of dismissal across a range of employment contexts and reveals the complexities of youth employment relationships which may differ from those of the general workforce.
Identifying with one’s ethnic group can contribute to the well-being of racial/ethnic minorities; however, little research has investigated the mechanisms that account for this relationship. Using a sample of South Asian Canadians, we examined whether this relationship can be explained in part by appraisals of intergroup coping options— beliefs about how one’s ingroup as a whole can respond effectively to discrimination. Participants appraised the availability of 2 individual coping options and 2 intergroup coping options. The 2 individual coping options included appraisals about personally being able to avoid potential instances of discrimination (proactive avoidance), as well as being able to successfully regulate the negative emotions stemming from perceived discrimination (emotion regulation). The 2 intergroup coping options included appraisals about one’s ethnic group working together to better their status (collective action) as well as ingroup members being able to effectively deal with negative societal beliefs about their group (social creativity). Participants who highly identified with their ethnic group reported greater satisfaction with their lives. Of the 4 coping options, collective action and social creativity were simple mediators of the relationship between ethnic identification and life satisfaction. Collective action emerged as the lone unique mediator when using the more robust test of multiple mediation. The results provide further evidence that group identification promotes well-being for racial/ethnic minorities, in part, because it encourages beliefs about one’s group effectively responding to discrimination.
Three experiments were conducted in the United States and Germany to test whether women and men endorse sexist beliefs because they are unaware of the prevalence of different types of sexism in their personal lives. Study 1 (N = 120) and Study 2 (N = 83) used daily diaries as a method to encourage individuals “to see the unseen.” Results revealed that encouraging women to pay attention to sexism, in comparison to attention to other social interactions, led to a stronger rejection of Modern Sexist, Neosexist, and Benevolent Sexist beliefs (Studies 1 and 2) and to negative evaluations of Modern and Benevolent Sexist men described in profiles as well as to more engagement in collective action on behalf of women (Study 2). In contrast, for men, paying attention to sexism did not have these effects. Results from Study 2 suggest, and from Study 3 (N = 141) confirm, that men’s endorsement of Modern and Neosexist beliefs can be reduced if attention to sexism and emotional empathy for the target of discrimination is encouraged. Finally, a follow-up survey indicated that the attitude change in women and men was stable over time. The implications of these findings for interventions to reduce women’s versus men’s endorsement of sexist beliefs are discussed.
Within a communication predicament of aging framework, this study examined assertiveness as an option for older adults confronted with a problematic health care conversation. Older and younger participants evaluated scenarios in which senior client targets with or without hearing loss employed either assertive, passive, or aggressive responses. As predicted, assertive seniors were evaluated as most competent and likely to be satisfied with future encounters. Compared to older adults, young adults gave equivalent ratings for assertiveness but viewed the senior’s passive response especially positively and the aggressive response especially negatively. Hearing loss made no difference in evaluations of the three response styles. Findings are discussed in terms of the benefits for older adults of developing skills in selective assertiveness, with emphasis on their successful management of health care encounters.
This chapter focuses on African Americans' experiences with racism and women's experiences with sexism. A goal of the research has been to study targets of prejudice not as passive victims who are unable or unwilling to try to deflect the negative consequences of encountering prejudice and discrimination but as active agents who make choices in their lives about when to face potential prejudice and when to challenge or confront prejudice. We take an approach of understanding targets of prejudice as persons who are empowered to make choices about their lives, while still acknowledging the limiting, threatening, and hurtful aspects of being a target of prejudice. Our aim is to examine how targets manage aspects of their social worlds rather than how they are only manipulated by the prejudice of others. This includes an examination of how targets make choices about which situations to enter and which to avoid and when and how to publicly respond to prejudice. By examining the ways in which targets anticipate, describe, and react to specific events, we hope to provide insight on the breadth and depth of targets' personal experiences with prejudice and discrimination. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Contact researchers have largely overlooked the potential for negative intergroup contact to increase prejudice. In Study 1, we tested the interaction between contact quantity and valence on prejudice toward Black Australians (n = 1,476), Muslim Australians (n = 173), and asylum seekers (n = 293). In all cases, the association between contact quantity and prejudice was moderated by its valence, with negative contact emerging as a stronger and more consistent predictor than positive contact. In Study 2, White Americans (n = 441) indicated how much positive and negative contact they had with Black Americans on separate measures. Although both quantity of positive and negative contact predicted racism and avoidance, negative contact was the stronger predictor. Furthermore, negative (but not positive) contact independently predicted suspicion about Barack Obama's birthplace. These results extend the contact hypothesis by issuing an important caveat: Negative contact may be more strongly associated with increased racism and discrimination than positive contact is with its reduction.
Three daily diary studies were conducted to examine the incidence, nature, and impact of everyday sexism as reported by college women and men. Women experienced about one to two impactful sexist incidents per week, consisting of traditional gender role stereotypes and prejudice, demeaning and degrading comments and behaviors, and sexual objectification. These incidents affected women's psychological well-being by decreasing their comfort, increasing their feelings of anger and depression, and decreasing their state self-esteem. Although the experiences had similar effects on men's anger, depression, and state self-esteem, men reported relatively fewer sexist incidents, suggesting less overall impact on men. The results provide evidence for the phenomena of everyday prejudice and enlighten our understanding of the experience of prejudice in interpersonal encounters from the perspective of the target.
Ageism is a form of prejudice and discrimination as virulent as racism and as pervasive as sexism. It has been described as it affects the elderly but has not been sufficiently recognized as it affects the young. Institutional juvenile ageism exists when social systems ignore the interests of children. Individual juvenile ageism exists when the developmental interests of a child are not respected. This article describes the dynamics, manifestations, and approaches to the amelioration of juvenile ageism.
Following Schmidt and Boland's (1986) method, college student informants sorted a trait set into 1 or more groups with reference to elderly or young adults. Analysis of these data confirmed the existence of multiple stereotypes of both age groups but showed little similarity between stereotypes of the elderly and the young. Other informants made attitude, age, and typicality judgements of persons representing either the elderly or young adult stereotypes. Results showed that attitudes varied with the stereotype activated and were similar for analogous elderly and young adult stereotypes. Results also suggested that young adults do not view negative stereotypes as more typical of the elderly than positive ones; however, they believe the negative stereotypes are more characteristic of the old-old than are the positive and see positive stereotypes as more typical of young adults than negative ones.
Two studies tested the impact of alternative communication in accommodation strategies. Nursing home staff and residents (and community-residing seniors in Study 2) rated nurse-resident conversational scenarios in which a resident responded passively, directly assertively, or humorously (indirectly assertively) to a patronizing nurse. The nurse then either maintained a patronizing manner or accommodated with a more respectful speech style. Even though all groups devalued the nurse who maintained a patronizing speech style, nursing home residents predictably showed the most acceptance. The directly assertive response by the resident elicited more devaluation of the nonaccommodating nurse than did either passive or humorous responses, but also the least favorable ratings of the resident. Ratings of the humorous response in Study 2 suggested that humor could be a good compromise response style for allowing the receiver of patronizing speech to express opposition to a request, yet still maintain an appearance of competence and politeness.
This is the original book presenting the theory of emerging adulthood, which offered a new conception of development from the late teens through the 20s. The book presents emerging adulthood as a new life stage that has arisen over the past half century in developed countries. It is not merely “late adolescence,” because emerging adults are not going through puberty, are not as dependent on their parents, and are not minors under the law. Nor is it the beginning of a settled “young adulthood” in which the structure of an adult life has been built that is likely to continue for decades to come. Instead, emerging adulthood is a life stage in which explorations and instability are the norm. As they focus on their self-development, emerging adults feel in-between, on the way to adulthood but not there yet. Nevertheless, they have a high level of optimism about the possibilities the future holds for them. For this 20th anniversary edition, all the chapters have been updated, and a new chapter has been added on cultural and international variations. The other chapters cover a wide range of topics in the lives of emerging adults, including relations with parents; love, sex, and marriage; college and the transition to work; religious beliefs and values; common problems; media use; social class variations; and how emerging adults perceive their transition to adulthood. Throughout the book, vivid interview material is combined with large-scale survey research, including a national survey of 18-to-29-year-olds directed by the author.
Most ageism research has focused on prejudice against older people without considering their multiple intersecting identities. We investigated perceptions of ageist acts that targeted older individuals with intersecting racial (Black/White) and gender identities (men/women). Both young (18-29) and older (65+) adult Americans evaluated the acceptability of a variety of instances of hostile and benevolent ageism. Replicating prior work, benevolent ageism was seen as more acceptable compared to hostile ageism, and young adults rated ageist acts as more acceptable than older adults. Small intersectional identity effects were observed such that young adult participants perceived older White men to be the most acceptable targets of hostile ageism. Our research suggests that ageism is viewed differently depending on the age of the perceiver and the type of behavior exhibited. These findings also suggest intersectional memberships should be considered, but further research is needed given the relatively small effect sizes.
The increase of older workers has resulted in more diversified demographics with a wide spectrum of employees’ ages. This change calls for a better understanding of intergenerational conflict, in particular ageism. This study aimed to synthesize study findings on workplace ageism by examining the relationship between ageist attitudes and chronological age. A systematic literature review was conducted in accordance with PRISMA; then, 15 studies were included. The results of an intercept-only meta-regression model, using robust variance estimation with a random-effects approach, showed that an increase in workers’ age had a significant negative association with the severity of their workplace-based ageist attitudes: b = −.159 (95% CI: −.21, −.11). Thus, the younger the workers, the more severe their ageist attitudes toward others in different age groups in the workplace. The findings offer implications for occupational social work practice in terms of priority in anti-ageism education and training among different age groups.
This essential volume explores the vital role of communication in the aging process and how this varies for different social groups and cultural communities. It reveals how communication can empower people in the process of aging, and that how we communicate about age is critically important to - and is at the heart of - aging successfully. Giles et al. confront the uncertainty and negativity surrounding “aging” - a process with which we all have to cope - by expertly placing communication at the core of the process. They address the need to avoid negative language, discuss the lifespan as an evolving adventure, and introduce a new theory of successful aging - the communication ecology model of successful aging (CEMSA). They explore the research on key topics including: age stereotypes, age identities, and messages of ageism; the role of culture, gender, ethnicity, and being a member of marginalized groups; the ingredients of intergenerational communication; depiction of aging and youth in the media; and how and why talk about death and dying can be instrumental in promoting control over life’s demands. Communication for Successful Aging is essential reading for graduate students of psychology, human development, gerontology, and communication, scholars in the social sciences, and all of us concerned with this complex academic and highly personal topic. © 2022 Howard Giles, Jessica Gasiorek, Shardé M. Davis, and Jane Giles.
Objectives:
Although the prevalence of ageism against older people has been well-established, less is known about the characteristics of those experiences or the experiences of young and middle-aged adults. The present study addressed these gaps by examining young, middle-aged, and older adults' self-reports of an ageist action they experienced.
Methods:
Participants' descriptions were coded for the domain in which the ageist experience occurred, the perpetrator of the ageist experience, and the type of ageist experience.
Results:
Young adults most commonly reported experiencing ageism in the workplace with coworkers as perpetrators. Middle-aged and older adults also reported ageism in the workplace; however, they also frequently reported experiencing ageism while seeking goods and services. Perpetrators of ageism varied more widely for middle-aged and older adults. Regardless of one's age, ageism was commonly experienced in the form of a lack of respect or incorrect assumptions.
Discussion:
. The findings enhance our understanding of ageism across adulthood by considering the domains, perpetrators, and types of ageist expressions that adults of all ages encounter. They also suggest that interventions to reduce age bias will require multifaceted approaches that take into account the different forms that individuals experience across the lifespan.
Ageism in the workplace has documented detrimental consequences for its victims, but its effects on those who hold ageist views are rarely investigated. A cross‐sectional study and a longitudinal study examined ageism toward both younger and older workers and its relation to intergroup contact, work behaviors, organizational identification, and the well‐being of prejudiced individuals. It was hypothesized that ageism would predict prejudiced individuals’ behaviors toward co‐workers, identification with their organization, and vitality at work, indirectly through intergroup anxiety and quality of intergroup contact. Overall, 647 employees aged 24–62 years provided data on the variables of interest. Both studies suggested that ageist views worsened the quality of intergroup contact, which in turn increased counterproductive behaviors toward co‐workers and decreased identification with the organization. Moreover, ageism marginally predicted vitality at work longitudinally through the mediation of quality of intergroup contact. No support emerged for the mediational role of intergroup anxiety. Theoretical explanations for these findings and their practical implications are discussed.
Population ageing is escalating rapidly now worldwide. This is an important time to determine if ageism or discrimination against older people is of concern, such as it being prevalent and/or increasing in prevalence. Over the years, many ageism measurement tools have been developed, with research findings from their use of prime consideration then for determining the prevalence of ageism and any prevalence trends. All print and open access English-language research articles published in 1953+ that used one or more ageism measurement tools in a study were sought using the Directory of Open Access Journals and EBSCO Discovery Service. A total of 25 ageism measurement tools were identified. However, only six had been used one or more times to measure the prevalence of ageism. The identified prevalence levels varied considerably, but most investigations using small convenience samples, with limited generalizability of findings. This paper highlights the need to continue developing ageism measurement tools to estimate ageism or use other measures, such as census and population-representative polling, to assess the extent and impact of ageism. This foundational measurement is needed, as ageism could be prevalent and growing in effect.
Objectives:
This study investigated the perceived acceptability of benevolent and hostile ageist behaviors targeting older adults and whether the acceptability varied depending on the age of the perceiver and the relationship between the person engaging in the ageist behavior and the recipient of the ageist behavior.
Method:
Young, middle-aged, and older adult participants rated the acceptability of 13 benevolent and 17 hostile ageist behaviors targeting older adults for five different relationship types: younger family members, same-age family members, familiar service workers, unfamiliar service workers, and friends.
Results:
Participants, regardless of age, rated benevolent ageism to be more acceptable than hostile ageism. Young adults were more accepting of hostile ageist acts than middle-aged and older adults were. However, overall acceptability of hostile ageist acts was low. Familiarity with the perpetrator also affected perceptions of the acceptability of ageist acts.
Discussion:
Perceptions of the acceptability of ageism targeting older adults differed as a function of participant age, ageism type, and relationship type. Findings are discussed in light of social identity theory and intergroup contact theory.
Metastereotypes, the stereotypes a person believes that those outside of their group hold of a social group to which (s)he belongs, have been implicated in problematic intergroup relationships and communication. Using an online survey administered to participants (aged 18–30, or 65 and older) recruited via Amazon’s MTurk (final N = 311), we tested the degree to which eliciting positive versus negative age-based metastereotypes affected perceptions of interage distance and the desire to avoid interage contact. The results of conditional process model analyses suggest that metastereotype valence has an indirect effect on these outcomes via intergroup anxiety, but that this is only the case when individuals believe that age-related stereotypes are applied to them personally by members of an age-based outgroup. These findings suggest that thinking of positive metastereotypes rather than negative ones could be a route to facilitating or improving interage contact, and that personalization could amplify these potential benefits.
Despite a large and growing literature on workplace discrimination, there has been a myopic focus on the direct relationships between discrimination and a common set of outcomes. The aim of the current meta-analytic review was both to challenge and advance current understanding of workplace discrimination and its associations with outcomes by identifying the pathways through which discrimination affects outcomes, examining boundary conditions to explain when discrimination is most harmful for employees, and exploring a potential third variable explanation for discrimination-outcome relationships. Mediation tests indicated that workplace discrimination is associated with employee outcomes through both job stress and justice. Moderator analyses showed that discrimination appears to be most detrimental when it is observed rather than personally experienced, interpersonal rather than formal, and measured broadly rather than specifically. We also found that discrimination-outcome relationships differ across work and non-work contexts and as a function of the social identity targeted by discrimination. Discrimination generally explained meaningful incremental variance in outcomes after controlling for the effects of negative affectivity, but the relationships between discrimination and health were substantially decreased. We conclude by offering a constructive critique of the empirical discrimination literature and by detailing an agenda for future research.
Prejudice, stereotyping and discrimination: Theoretical and empirical overview This chapter has two main objectives: to review influential ideas and findings in the literature and to outline the organization and content of the volume. The first part of the chapter lays a conceptual and empirical foundation for other chapters in the volume. Specifically, the chapter defines and distinguishes the key concepts of prejudice, stereotypes, and discrimination, highlighting how bias can occur at individual, institutional, and cultural levels. We also review different theoretical perspectives on these phenomena, including individual differences, social cognition, functional relations between groups, and identity concerns. We offer a broad overview of the field, charting how this area has developed over previous decades and identify emerging trends and future directions. The second part of the chapter focuses specifically on the coverage of the area in the present volume. It explains the organization of the book and presents a brief ...
This article challenges all of us—policymakers, practitioners, scientists, members of the medical profession, the public at large—to intervene in the most basic of all problems of old age: “ageism,” a term the coinage of which I lay claim to. In concluding this special issue of The Annals on interventions designed to enhance the quality of aging, I begin with a history of ageism as a disease. I specify many of its manifestations, which still linger today despite years of effort to dispel the false stereotypes and myths about older people. Concerning the treatment of ageism as a disease, I find that knowledge is the most basic intervention, serving as antidote to numerous erroneous but widely held beliefs. I conclude with a brief rehearsal of a few interventions of special interest, including support for older people's sense of mastery, provision of specially designed self-help books, and the recognition of older people both as constituting an important market and as potential contributors to the productive capacity of the society.
This article examines the impact on employee attitudes of perceived age discrimination, drawing on a study of a local authority. Survey respondents report that discrimination on the grounds of being ‘too young’ is at least as common as discrimination on the grounds of being ‘too old’. Findings suggest that perceived age discrimination, whether for being too old or too young, has negative consequences for affective commitment to the organisation. Those who feel that they have been discriminated against because they are considered too old have higher levels of continuance commitment. There is partial support for the hypothesis that older workers who feel that they have been discriminated against have a stronger intention to retire early.
Two studies investigated intergroup contact with immigrants in Italy. In Study 1 (N = 310 students) contact had direct positive effects on perceived out-group variability and out-group attitude, and a direct negative effect on subtle prejudice; the last two effects were mediated by intergroup anxiety. Contact also had a greater effect on reduced anxiety and improved out-group perception and evaluation when group salience was high. In Study 2 (N = 94 hospital workers) contact at work had direct effects on out-group attitudes and rights for immigrants, and an effect on attitudes toward ethnic coworkers that was mediated by intergroup anxiety at work. The effects of contact were again moderated by group salience. These findings show that the combination of positive contact with individuals from the out-group and group salience is effective in improving intergroup relations, and often does so via reduced anxiety.
Past lab and scenario research on sexism suggests that women are more likely to contemplate than to engage in assertive confrontation of prejudice. The present study was designed to explore how the competing cultural forces of activist
norms and gender role prescriptions for women to be passive and accommodating may contribute to women’s response strategies.
Women were asked to keep diaries of incidents of anti-Black racism, anti-Semitism, heterosexism, and sexism, including why
they responded, how they responded, and the consequences of their responses. Participants were about as likely to report they
were motivated by activist goals as they were to report being motivated by gender role consistent goals to avoid conflict.
Those with gender role-consistent goals were less likely to respond assertively. Participants were more likely to consider assertive responses (for 75% of incidents) than to actually make them (for 40% of incidents). Assertive responders did, however,
report better outcomes on a variety of indicators of satisfaction and closure, at the expense of heightened interpersonal
conflict. Results are discussed with respect to the personal and social implications of responding to interpersonal prejudice.
This paper traces the emergence and evolution of the concept of ageism with
respect to employment matters in the UK, and challenges some features of the
emerging concept as defective and undermining of efforts to eradicate age
discrimination in employment. Also revealed is some loosening in recent years
of the association of the term ‘ageism’ with older employees. This latter
observation informed the focus of our empirical work, which examined the
views of 460 Business Studies students concerning age and employment. A
significant proportion had experienced ageism directly in employment, and a
large majority favoured the introduction of legislative protection against age
discrimination, with blanket coverage irrespective of age. Though negative
stereotypes regarding older workers were by no means uncommon among the
sample, little firm evidence emerged of intergenerational tensions or
resentment towards older people. The concluding section considers the policy
implications of our findings, including the relative merits of weighting policy
responses towards older employees. It is argued that initiatives restricted in
this way, and further constrained by commercial imperatives and macro-economic objectives, are likely to prove divisive and self-defeating as a means
of combating ageism.
Research on age in geography has become highly compartmentalized into separate literatures on younger and older generations that rarely intersect. As such, the geographies of intergenerational relationships – and particularly, extrafamilial intergenerational relationships – remain substantially under-researched. This essay reviews how geographers have approached issues of intergenerational relationships while also drawing on recent work from other fields (including sociology, anthropology and queer theory) that can extend current thinking on the geographies of intergenerationality and age relations. How does space facilitate and limit intergenerational contact and relationships? How do the geographies of intergenerational relationships vary between social groups and contexts? And if generational separation and segregation are problems (as a substantial body of work suggests), how can this be ameliorated? Throughout the essay, I examine how social scientists have attempted to address these questions while also identifying the significant gaps that remain in our understanding.
For decades, researchers have discovered much about how humans automatically categorize others in social perception. Some categorizations—race, gender, and age—are so automatic that they are termed “primitive categories.” As we categorize, we often develop stereotypes about the categories. Researchers know much about racism and sexism, but comparatively little about prejudicing and stereotyping based on age. The articles in this issue highlight the current empirical and theoretical work by researchers in gerontology, psychology, communication, and related fields on understanding the origins and consequences of stereotyping and prejudicing against older adults. With the aging baby boomer demographic, it is especially timely for researchers to work to understand how society can shed its institutionalized ageism and promote respect for elders.
Although inter-group contact reduces prejudice, intra-group contact is most typically preferred. Understanding factors contributing to out-group avoidance, therefore, is imperative. Unlike previous correlational studies, other-stereotype (out-group is biased) and meta-stereotype (out-group sees one's in-group as biased) information was manipulated in an inter-group contact setting, at the personal (you/partner) or group (in-group/out-group) level. Whites under threat generally indicated positive expectations and intentions to approach Black interaction partners. However, at the behavioural level, personal meta-stereotype manipulations (your partner thinks you are biased) generated out-group avoidance several times stronger than in the other threat conditions. Implications for the development of prejudice interventions are discussed within an aversive racism framework.
Across four experiments, we test the idea that power decreases metastereotyping, and that this effect is mediated by reduced perspective taking. Metastereotypes refer to the beliefs that members of group A share about the stereotypes that members of specific outgroup B typically have about ingroup A. We propose that the dominant psychological orientation of the powerless is aimed at seeing how others see them. In an intergroup situation they are therefore inclined to activate and apply metastereotypes. In the first three experiments we consistently find that low power leads to more metastereotyping than high power and control (in Experiment 3). Specifically, we show this effect with three different manipulations of power, namely a role manipulation (Experiment 1), experiential priming (Experiment 2), and parafoveal priming (Experiment 3). In the fourth experiment we uncover the mediating role of perspective taking. Together these findings provide strong evidence that powerlessness leads to metastereotyping.