Stereotypes in Aging: Ageism, Discrimination, and Health Outcomes

This essay examines the pervasive stereotypes associated with aging and their detrimental impacts on older adults, focusing on ageism as a form of discrimination that affects their health, employment opportunities, and social inclusion. The essay highlights how media stereotypes and societal biases contribute to negative perceptions of older individuals, leading to reduced employment prospects and feelings of inadequacy. It also addresses how stereotypes influence the care and treatment of elderly residents in nursing homes, potentially leading to dissatisfaction, distrust, and adverse health outcomes. The author reflects on personal biases and preconceived notions about the elderly, emphasizing the importance of patience, love, and understanding in providing care and support to older individuals. The essay cites various research articles to support its claims, providing a comprehensive overview of the challenges and consequences of ageism in contemporary society. Desklib provides similar essays and resources for students.

STEREOTYPES IN AGEING
Students’ name
Institution affiliated

Task 2
Ageism and its impacts
Ageism is the discrimination against people in terms of their age. Ageism poses a
challenge to older people and has harmful effects on their health. It makes them overlooked in
terms of employment, media stereotypes them, restriction from social services and also excluded
from the community. Media can be biased and at the same time have high tendencies in
promoting reliance on stereotypes(Dionigi, 2015). Their reference to older workers in terms of
skills and qualities affect their employment negatively. They associate older workers with poor
health and low productivity which have a greater and long-lasting impact on them as it creates
opportunities for age discrimination. This evokes fear for older people as being inadequately
valued (Palmore, Branch & Harris, 2016). They step aside to avoid confrontations with
employers (Abrams, Swift & Drury, 2016).

When it comes to caring for residents, stereotypes based on race, socioeconomic status,
weight, age and gender affect people. For example, viewing nursing homes as institutions for
housing people waiting to die affects the family and their loved one making them feel guilty
about their decisions which can affect their health mentally and physically. There are also
notions that older people are mean and bitter, have no family and cannot take care of
themselves(Dionigi, 2015). These stereotypes affect the care of the resident in such a way that
they feel dissatisfied with their care, distrustful of their doctors and health issues like
hypertension while some may avoid the care (Chasteen, et al, 2015) (Makris, et al, 2015).
To some extent, I have always thought that the aged people under carehave no family.
And those who have are not loved by them and that is why many are taken to the healthcare
facility to ease the burden to the family members. Most of them also cannot take care of
themselves, need assistance and are lonely with no visitors.

References
Abrams, D., Swift, H. J., & Drury, L. (2016).Old and unemployable? How age‐based stereotypes
affect willingness to hire job candidates. Journal of Social Issues, 72(1), 105-121.
Allan, L. J., Johnson, J. A., & Emerson, S. D. (2014).The role of individual difference variables
in ageism.Personality and Individual Differences, 59, 32-37.
Allen, J. O. (2015). Ageism as a risk factor for chronic disease.The Gerontologist, 56(4), 610-
614.
Chasteen, A. L., Pichora-Fuller, M. K., Dupuis, K., Smith, S., & Singh, G. (2015). Do negative
views of aging influence memory and auditory performance through self-perceived
abilities?.Psychology and Aging, 30(4), 881.
Dionigi, R. A. (2015). Stereotypes of aging: Their effects on the health of older adults. Journal
of Geriatrics, 2015.
Nelson, T. D. (2016). Promoting healthy aging by confronting ageism.American Psychologist,
71(4), 276.
Makris, U. E., Higashi, R. T., Marks, E. G., Fraenkel, L., Sale, J. E., Gill, T. M., & Reid, M. C.
(2015). Ageism, negative attitudes, and competing co-morbidities–why older adults may not seek
care for restricting back pain: a qualitative study. BMC geriatrics, 15(1), 39.
Palmore, E. B., Branch, L., & Harris, D. (2016).Encyclopedia of ageism.Routledge.