Nearly all older adults (93%) have experienced some form of ageism in their everyday lives and this may have affected their health, according to researchers from the University of Michigan.
Julie Ober Allen, PhD, MPH, Erica Solway, PhD, MSW, MPH, and Matthias Kirch, MS found that these acts of ageism can include:
Ageist messages and images
Encountering people who imply their less capable
Encountering people who believe the stereotypes about aging
The results of the study showed that 93% of older adults reported experiencing ageism on a regular basis. The most common act of discrimination, according to 80% of the respondents, was people telling them that health problems are part and parcel of getting older. Those that reported to have good health suggested that hearing their health will decline leads to a kind of ageism that can make someone feel helpless or depressed about getting older.
Julia Ober Allen, Ph.D., M.P.H from the University of Oklahoma said in the media release to their study that “these finding raise the question of whether aging-related health problems reflect the adverse influence of ageism and present the possibility that anti-ageism efforts could be a strategy for promoting older adult health and well-being”.
However, the study goes further and finds another 65% of the respondents said they regularly faced jokes about older people. 45% found that they experienced an interpersonal ageism, where other people assumed older adults would have trouble with day to day tasks, such as using technology.
Those who dealt with the most ageism came from lower incomes. Also, older adults who spent time interacting with the media experienced a high rate of ageism than those with less media exposure.