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Cultural aging stereotypes in European Countries: Are they a risk to Active Aging?

ABSTRACT: A growing body of literature acknowledges the association between negative stereotypes and individual components of active aging, but very few studies have tested this association, at both individual and population levels. The Stereotypes Content Model (SCM) states that the cultural aging stereotyping of higher warmth than competence (called paternalistic or ambivalent prejudice) is universal. Our aims in this study are to test the extent to which the universality of this stereotype is confirmed in European Countries as well as how far "positive", "negative" or "ambivalent" views towards older people, and other negative attitudes such as prejudice and behaviours such as discrimination, predict active aging assessed both at individual and population levels. We have analyzed data from the European Social Survey-2008 (ESS-2008), containing SCM stereotypical and other appraisal items (such as direct prejudice and perceived discrimination) about adults aged over-70 from 29 European countries. First, SCM cultural stereotypes about older adults ("friendly", "competent", and "ambivalent") were calculated; secondly, after developing a typology of countries based on their "negative", "ambivalent" and "positive" views about older adults, the universality of cultural stereotypes was tested; thirdly, taking into consideration ESS data of those older persons (over 70s) who self-reported indicators of active aging (health, happiness, satisfaction and social participation), multilevel analyses were performed, taking our inter-individual measure of active aging as dependent variable and our stereotypical classification (positive/negative/ambivalent), direct prejudice and perceived discrimination as predictors; finally, relationships between stereotypical and appraisal items on older adults were examined at population level with country data from Active Aging Indexes. Our results show cultural stereotypes about older people (more friendly than competent) are widespread in most European countries, and negative cultural views of older adults are negatively associated with active aging both at individual and population level, supporting that negative cultural views of older adults could be considered as a threat to active aging.

SUBMITTER: Fernandez-Ballesteros R

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7228050 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Cultural aging stereotypes in European Countries: Are they a risk to Active Aging?

Fernández-Ballesteros Rocío R Olmos Ricardo R Pérez-Ortiz Lourdes L Sánchez-Izquierdo Macarena M

PloS one 20200515 5

A growing body of literature acknowledges the association between negative stereotypes and individual components of active aging, but very few studies have tested this association, at both individual and population levels. The Stereotypes Content Model (SCM) states that the cultural aging stereotyping of higher warmth than competence (called paternalistic or ambivalent prejudice) is universal. Our aims in this study are to test the extent to which the universality of this stereotype is confirmed ...[more]

PMID: 32413041

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Project description:BackgroundTo compare the prevalence of healthy aging among adults age 70 and older from 5 European countries recruited for the DO-HEALTH clinical trial. Participants were selected for absence of prior major health events.MethodsCross-sectional analysis of DO-HEALTH baseline data. All 2,157 participants (mean age 74.9, SD 4.4; 61.7% women) were included and 2,123 had data for all domains of the healthy aging status (HA) definition. HA was assessed based on the Nurses` Health Study (NHS) definition requiring four domains: no major chronic diseases, no disabilities, no cognitive impairment (Montreal Cognitive Assessment, MoCA ≥25), no mental health limitation (GDS-5 <2, and no diagnosis of depression). Association between HA and age, BMI, gender, and physical function (sit-to-stand, gait speed, grip strength) was assessed by multivariate logistic regression analyses adjusting for center.ResultsOverall, 41.8% of DO-HEALTH participants were healthy agers with significant variability by country: Austria (Innsbruck) 58.3%, Switzerland (Zurich, Basel, Geneva) 51.2%, Germany (Berlin) 37.6%, France (Toulouse) 36.7% and Portugal (Coimbra) 8.8% (p <0.0001). Differences in prevalence by country persisted after adjustment for age. In the multivariate model, younger age (OR = 0.95, 95% CI 0.93 to 0.98), female gender (OR = 1.36, 95% CI 1.03 to 1.81), lower BMI (OR = 0.94, 95% CI 0.91 to 0.96), faster gait speed (OR = 4.70, 95% CI 2.68 to 8.25) and faster performance in sit-to-stand test (OR = 0.90, 95% CI 0.87 to 0.93) were independently and significantly associated with HA.ConclusionsDespite the same inclusion and exclusion criteria preselecting relatively healthy adults age 70 years and older, HA prevalence in DO-HEALTH varied significantly between countries and was highest in participants from Austria and Switzerland, lowest in participants from Portugal. Independent of country, younger age, female gender, lower BMI and better physical function were associated with HA.Trial registrationDO-HEALTH was registered under the protocol NCT01745263 at the International Trials Registry ( clinicaltrials.gov ), and under the protocol number 2012-001249-41 at the Registration at the European Community Clinical Trial System (EudraCT).

Dataset Information

Cultural aging stereotypes in European Countries: Are they a risk to Active Aging?

Publications

Cultural aging stereotypes in European Countries: Are they a risk to Active Aging?

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