Stereotypes and Attitudes Toward Older People ...

Gerontology & Geriatrics Education

ISSN: 0270-1960 (Print) 1545-3847 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/wgge20

Stereotypes and Attitudes Toward Older People Among Children Transitioning From Middle Childhood Into Adolescence: Time Matters Barbra Teater & Jill M. Chonody To cite this article: Barbra Teater & Jill M. Chonody (2015): Stereotypes and Attitudes Toward Older People Among Children Transitioning From Middle Childhood Into Adolescence: Time Matters, Gerontology & Geriatrics Education, DOI: 10.1080/02701960.2015.1079708 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02701960.2015.1079708

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Date: 16 March 2016, At: 06:02

Stereotypes and Attitudes Toward Older People Among Children Transitioning From Middle Childhood Into Adolescence: Time Matters

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BARBRA TEATER

Department of Social Work, College of Staten Island, City University of New York, Staten Island, New York, USA

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Division of Social Work, Indiana University Northwest, Gary, Indiana, USA

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Ageism is fueled by stereotypes and negative attitudes about aging and older adults, which can lead to individual level prejudice and discrimination. Through survey methodology, this study explored stereotypes and ageist beliefs of youth transitioning from middle childhood into adolescence (aged 11-13 years) (N=69) in the South West of England. The results indicate that

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positive more than negative stereotypes were acknowledged, and more positive stereotyping was positively correlated with more positive attitudes towards older adults. Contact with older adults

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and age that one considers “old” were significant in predicting attitudes towards older people. The results suggest that time matters, both in terms of contact with an older adult and time to

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reach “old age”, in shaping youths’ attitudes and stereotypes. Intergenerational and educational programs that seek to address aging myths and increase contact between youth and older adults

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Downloaded by [College of Staten Island] at 06:02 16 March 2016

JILL M. CHONODY

are discussed as ways to improve attitudes amongst youth transitioning from middle childhood

into adolescence. KEY WORDS Ageism; Intergenerational contact; Aging; Youth; Middle childhood

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Address correspondence to Barbra Teater, Department of Social Work, College of Staten Island, City University of New York, 2800 Victory Blvd., Staten Island, NY 10314. E-mail:

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[email protected]

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Introduction

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(World Health Organization [WHO], 2011). In 1950, there were 205 million persons aged 60 and

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over, which increased to 606 million in 2000, and is expected to continue to rise to nearly 2 billion by 2050 (United Nations [UN], 2001). With this increased longevity and aging population, it is essential for communities to understand and respond to the needs of older people, yet ageism remains prevalent and can act as a barrier in meeting this need (Nelson,

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2011). Ageism is fueled by stereotypes about aging and older adults, and negative attitudes towards them as a group can lead to individual level prejudice and discrimination. Age-based

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biases have been found to be present in children as young as three years old (Gilbert & Ricketts, 2008) and are reinforced by societal messages and cultural practices (Nelson, 2011). Children in

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middle childhood (ages 7-12) are found to have more positive attitudes towards older adults than children in early childhood (ages 2-6), yet negativity towards older adults tends to increase in

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The world’s population is aging, and life expectancies continue to rise in developed countries

adolescence (ages 13-17) (Montepare & Zebrowtiz, 2002). Thus, this transition from middle childhood into adolescence can serve as a crucial time for challenging and changing attitudes towards older adults.

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Responding to the needs of the increasing aging population should include examining the extent to which negative stereotypes and attitudes toward older adults exist. This can begin by tackling age-based biases during influential developmental stages. This study sought to achieve such aims

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by exploring how young people transitioning from middle childhood into adolescence perceive

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Stereotypes, Attitudes, and Ageism

Stereotypes are mental representations of group members, which may include positive or negative characteristics and encompass overgeneralizations (Harwood, 2007). Some stereotypes may represent an element of truth; however, the danger is in the application to the group as a

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whole, which can be detrimental to individual group members. Stereotypes develop over time,

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are stored cognitively, and are then recalled as a response to social cues or situations. In turn, they affect social interactions and can lead to prejudice (i.e., ageism) and even discrimination

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(Cuddy & Fiske, 2002). Ageism is defined as having particular feelings, beliefs, and behaviors towards an individual or group of individuals based on age and can occur consciously or subconsciously (Levy & Banaji, 2002). Social categorization of others in terms of race, sex, and

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Literature Review

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aging, “old age,” and their attitudes towards and stereotypes of older adults.

age is an automatic process, yet unlike race and sex, age is a non-static category in that all individuals (barring premature death) will grow from young to old (Nelson, 2002).

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“Old age” is individually and socially constructed, but research and policy commonly use the age of 65 years to constitute old age. Old age often seems to lay “just over the horizon;” 65 years may constitute old age for someone who is 30 years old, however the same person at 60 years

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old may no longer view 65 years as “old age” (Kite & Wagner, 2002). Whereas the chronological age at which someone is considered old varies based on someone’s own age, the

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defined by traits such as a loss of physical power, poor health, changes in appearance, memory loss, increasing (or stable) wisdom, and generosity (Harwood, 2007; Kite & Wagner, 2002).

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While positive beliefs (e.g., wise, warm, happy) about older adults appear to be empathetic, they may actually promote a limited view of older adults (Cherry & Palmore, 2008), which acts to narrow the meaning of older adulthood and homogenize this life stage. Just as overly negative beliefs stifle perceptions of older people, positive stereotypes support the notion that older age

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should be performed. In other words, older adults are only a certain way—wise, kind, and happy.

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Within Western societies, ageism is often fueled by the fear of getting old. Social and cultural messages are relayed via marketing, advertising, and media sources that promote youthfulness

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over aging and via messages from older to younger generations that aging is something to dread (Nelson, 2011). Old age is represented as a time of loss and decay, and the messages are spread across all age groups. For children, books and fairytales depict the villain as an older person

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stereotypes and traits that are associated with old age tend to remain the same. Old age is often

(Nelson, 2011) and messages from parents to children often, albeit unintentionally, may refer to “aging parents and grandparents [as] a nuisance to care for, demanding, needy, or unpleasant” or refer to one’s own aging as something that is dreaded, painful, and/or debilitating (e.g. “I must be getting old”; McInnis-Dittrich, 2014, p. 18). Both TV and film reinforce these views of older

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adults by presenting them as an object of ridicule (Montepare & Zebrowitz, 2002), and the impact of this representation even leads older people to view themselves more negatively (Donlon, Ashman, & Levy, 2005). In Eastern societies, aging attitudes are depicted as much

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more positive, but the research in this area indicates that these attitudes are in fact quite complex with participants only sometimes exhibiting more positive beliefs than their Western

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and reinforced through messages that reach all ages.

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Stereotypes, Attitudes, and Ageism in Children and Youth

The ability to distinguish someone based on age and harboring a negative attitude toward older

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people have been found to occur in children as young as three years old (see Gilbert & Ricketts, 2008 for a review). Research has repeatedly found that children, particularly between the ages of

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five and eight, have already developed negative attitudes and behaviors towards older people.

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For example, six-year-old children were found to have verbal and non-verbal prejudicial behaviors towards older people (Isaccs & Bearison, 1986), and three-year-old children were found to distinguish between ages and expressed negative attitudes towards older people

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counterparts (Yun & Lachman, 2006). Ageism is embedded within many societies and cultures

(Seefeldt & Ahn, 1990). Children have also been found to hold negative feelings of themselves as “old” (Newman, Faux, & Larimer, 1997). As children age, they have a better understanding of age, aging, and age differences (Gilbert & Ricketts, 2008), but their attitudes towards older adults may move back and forth between

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negative and positive views. Children in early childhood (ages 2-6) are found to have more negative feelings towards older adults than children in middle childhood (7-12), yet from middle childhood to adolescence (ages 13-17), negative attitudes are likely to increase (Montepare &

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Zebrowtiz, 2002). Montepare and Zebrowtiz (2002) argue “by the middle childhood years, children’s attitudes reflect an appreciation of the complexity of aging and a more realistic

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developmental trends in attitudes towards older adults appear to reflect and are shaped by the cognitive developmental stages of Piaget (Berk, 2012), and Erikson’s stages of development

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(Eccles, 1999).

According to Piaget, children during middle childhood enter into the concrete operational stage where they have an appropriate use of logic, particularly in solving problems, and develop a

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greater understanding of themselves as well as people, situations, and events around them in their environment (Charlesworth, Wood & Viggiani, 2011). Erikson identified the middle childhood

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stage as a time when the young person negotiates “industry versus inferiority” where they develop a sense of competence and productiveness (industry) or feel inferior, incompetent, and

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unproductive (inferiority) (Eccles, 1999). In creating a sense of industry, the young person learns to cooperate with peers and adults who can play a positive and influential part in the child’s development, view of her/himself, and others. Erikson identified middle childhood as a critical

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perception than may have been true for younger age groups” (p. 89). This is important as the

“time when children move from home into wider social contexts that strongly influence their development” (Eccles, 1999, p. 32). Therefore, being able to think more abstractly and consider the place of oneself and others in culture and society may be contributing factors to the children moving to more positive attitudes towards older adults during this stage. As children then move

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out of middle childhood into adolescence, their attitudes become more permanent and “wellentrenched for life,” particularly if they are not altered or challenged (Harwood, 2007, p. 54). Thus, fostering and supporting more positive attitudes during middle childhood could be crucial

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in sustaining, or “entrenching” the positive attitudes into adolescence and adulthood. The extent to which attitudes and stereotypes change is predicted to vary based on socialization,

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factors and influences (Nelson, 2011). Attitudes and stereotypes can either be reinforced by experiences and social and cultural messages or challenged and refuted (Gilbert & Ricketts,

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2008). Whereas intergenerational relationships have been found to help challenge stereotypes and attitudes, negative attitudes are sustained due to an absence of intergenerational contact, lack of knowledge about aging, and a belief that aging is a problem (Scott, Minichiello, & Browning,

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1998). Understanding the attitudes and stereotypes of children during this critical “middle childhood” stage could assist in developing appropriate interventions to promote more positive

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adulthood.

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attitudes towards older people that could become permanent during adolescence and into

Intergenerational Programs and Contact

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social learning, and maturation (Taylor, Peplau, & Sears, 2000) as well as cultural and familial

Intergenerational contact and relationships between older people and youth can prevent stereotypes or negative attitudes from forming, or refute existing ones (Meshel & McGlynn, 2004; Pinquart, Wenzel, & Rensen, 2000; Powers, Gray & Garver, 2013). Research exploring the outcomes of intergenerational contact illustrate positive experiences for both parties where older adults experience more positive attitudes towards youth, score higher on measures of life

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satisfaction, experience personal rewards, have opportunities to make worthwhile contributions, fulfill social needs, experience acceptance and friendship, have less depression and negative selfperceptions, and have an enhanced self-worth (Chonody & Wang, 2013; Hernandez & Gonzalez,

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2008; Holmes, 2009; Meshel & McGlynn, 2004; Underwood & Dorfman, 2006; Young & Janke, 2013). The outcomes for young people include experiencing positive attitudes towards older

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feelings of being valued, accepted, and respected, and enhanced knowledge and skills (Newman & Hatton-Yeo, 2008; Power et al., 2013; Young & Janke, 2013). However, negative stereotypes

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and ageist attitudes may be reinforced with adverse contact, such as residing with a frail relative (Allan & Johnson, 2009) or having weekly visits with frail older adults in a nursing home (Montepare & Zebrowitz, 2002). Therefore, understanding how young people perceive aging issues and their perceptions of older people can inform intergenerational programs and curricular

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activities, which can bring the young and old together to challenge stereotypes and attitudes.

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Therefore, this study explores young people’s stereotypes and attitudes toward older people while also asking about their perceptions of aging (including personal aging) and their

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relationships with older people. In particular, this study seeks the perceptions of youth transitioning from middle childhood into adolescence as this is the critical age when stereotypes and attitudes can become more entrenched (Harwood, 2007). This study addressed the following

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adults, leadership, communication and social skills, increased self-esteem and confidence,

three research questions in relation to young people transitioning from middle childhood into adolescence: 1.

How do young people perceive aging and “old age?”

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2.

What stereotypes about older adults are present amongst young people? And how are

they related to their attitudes towards older adults? 3.

To what extent does contact with an older person and perception of aging contribute to

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young people’s attitudes toward older people?

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Sample and Setting

After ethical approval of the study was granted by the University of Bath, UK, questionnaires were distributed in June of 2012 to Year 7 students (primarily 11-12 years old) at a secondary school in an urban location in the southwest of England. There were 73 students enrolled in Year

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7. A teacher from the secondary school distributed the questionnaires and informed consent forms to be completed during class time and returned them to the researcher after completion.

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Each student provided consent through completion of an informed consent form. Participation in

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the study was voluntary, but all the students were given the opportunity to complete the survey. Sixty-nine students completed the questionnaires yielding a 94.5% response rate; it is unknown why four students did not participate.

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Methods

Questionnaire Design The questionnaire consisted of 58 items that included Kogan’s Attitudes Toward Old People Scale (Kogan, 1961), a semantic differential adapted by Lynott and Merola (2007) from

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Eisendorfer and Altrocchi (1961), perceptions of aging, time spent with older adults, and demographics. The questions were considered to be appropriate with this age group as young people in middle childhood have an increased vocabulary and language proficiency, have more

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flexibility in their thinking in that they can focus on multiple parts to a problem at the same time, and have an awareness that other people have different perspectives than themselves (Berk,

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Kogan’s Attitudes Toward Old People Scale (ATOPS) is a 34-item scale that contains 17 positively rated and 17 negatively rated statements about older adults covering residence,

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homogeneity, intergenerational relations, dependence, cognitive style, personality, personal appearance, and power (Iwasaki & Jones, 2008; Kogan, 1961). A 6-point Likert-type scale was used (1=strongly disagree; 6=strongly agree). Example statements include, “Most old people are

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irritable, grouchy, and unpleasant” or “People grow wiser with the coming of old age.” To calculate an overall score for ATOPS, the value of the negative responses are reverse-scored, and

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the entire scale is summed. Theoretical range for ATOPS is 34-204 with higher scores representing a more positive attitude. The ATOPS was found to have good reliability in this

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study (α=.82).

Participants were then asked to complete a semantic differential scale consisting of 16

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2012; Rathus, 2011).

bipolar adjectives (e.g., wise vs. foolish; Eisendorfer & Altrocchi, 1961; Lynott & Merola, 2007). Participants circled one number (from 1-7) to best represent where they thought an older person would fall along the continuum. For example, “active” was listed at one end of the

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continuum with a number 7 and “not active” was listed at the other end with a number 1. Higher scores represent more positive stereotypes. Participants were also asked about their perceptions of aging and their relationship with

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an older adult. To explore stereotypes of aging based on gender, they were asked: “Is aging worse for men, women, or it’s about the same?” Next, to determine the age at which the

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would consider themselves “old.” Finally, to explore participants’ feelings about “being old,” they were asked to what extent they agreed with the statement “It doesn’t bother me to think

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about myself as old” using the same 6-point Likert-type scale. To determine whether having contact with an older adult influenced attitudes, participants were asked about the frequency with which they spend time with an older adult (1=never; 6=very frequently), and whether they have a

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personal relationship with an older adult. If they responded yes to this question, they were asked to rate the relationship (1=very poor; 7 = very good). Lastly, participants were asked to indicate

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their sex, age, and ethnicity.

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Data Analysis

Basic descriptive statistics were used for frequencies and/or measures of central tendency

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participants thought to constitute “old age,” they were asked to specify the age at which they

for all variables. Bivariate analyses were used to determine the extent to which variables were correlated and, where appropriate, any statistically significant differences between variables (e.g., sex). Pearson’s product moment correlations were conducted with the scores on the ATOPS and each of the 16 stereotypes. Due to the high number of bivariate tests (N=16), Bonferroni correction was used and an a priori significance was set at p=.003. Ordinary least

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squares (OLS) regression was used to test the extent to which the variables found to be significant at the bivariate level explained the variance in attitudes toward older people. The predictor variables consisted of the following: the age at which the participant would consider

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her/himself old (Age_Old), the extent to which the participant is bothered by thinking about her/himself as old (Bother_Old), and the frequency with which participants spend time with an

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addressed through listwise deletion of missing cases. Alpha was set at .05.

Sample Characteristics

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Results

Participants ranged in age from 11-13 years (M=11.9; SD=.4); only one participant was 13 years

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old. The majority of participants were male (69.6%) and identified their ethnicity as White

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British (69.6%). Over 8% of the participants indicated an “other” ethnicity. Table 1 depicts the

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characteristics of the sample.

Perception of Aging and Relationship with an Older Adult

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older adult (Time_Older_Adult). The outcome variable was the ATOPS score. Missing data were

Table 2 reports the descriptive statistics for participants’ perceptions of aging and relationship with an older adult. As the table indicates, 76.8% of the participants believed that aging is about the same for men and women, and the mean age at which participants would consider themselves old was 65 years; the mode was 60 years. The extent to which the participants believed aging was different for men, women, or about the same was not statistically significant based on sex,

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χ2 (2)=2.01, p=.36, nor was the age at which the participants would consider themselves old, t(67)=.24, p=.81. The majority of participants (63.1%) mildly, moderately, or strongly agreed that they are not bothered to think of themselves as old; results were not statistically significant

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based on sex, t(66)=.19, p=.78. Finally, the majority of participants reported spending time with an older adult (55.9%) either frequently or very frequently, yet only 11.9% of participants

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significant based on sex, t(65)=.29, p=.99. Only five respondents rated their relationship with an

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older adult with a mean of 3.8 indicating an “average” quality relationship.

Stereotypes of and Attitudes Toward Older People As Table 3 illustrates, participants viewed older people along more positive stereotypes in terms of being wise, intelligent, clean, happy, rich, warm, behaves appropriately, valuable,

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safe, healthy, makes a difference in the world, good, and trustworthy. Participants viewed older

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people along more negative stereotypes in terms of being weak, not active, and slow. Attitudes toward older adults were generally moderate with the mean just above the theoretical midpoint

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(M=138.23, SD=18.6) with a range from 81-178. As Table 3 illustrates, a positive and statistically significant correlation between the stereotypes and the ATOPS score were found with the exception of three stereotypes: fast vs. slow; rich vs. poor; and safe vs. dangerousness.

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reported having a personal relationship with an older adult; results were not statistically

Factors that Contribute to Attitudes Toward Older People To explore the factors that contributed to the attitudes toward older people, bivariate analyses

were employed to determine which variables were significant. Males were found to have slightly

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more positive attitudes toward older people (M=139.4; SD=19.3) than females (M=135.6; SD=17.1), but it was not statistically significant, t(67)=.78, p= .43. Likewise, no statistically significant difference between ethnicity and attitudes toward older people was found,

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F(6,62)=1.86, p=.10, nor perception of aging according to sex and attitudes, F(2,66)=1.38, p=.26. Finally, no statistically significant difference between having a personal relationship with

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The age at which participants considered themselves to be old was positively correlated with attitudes toward older people, r(69)=.41, p