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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Attitudes toward aging
— a comparative analysis of young adults from the United States and Germany | | Author(s) | Jasmin Tahmaseb McConatha, Frauke Schnell, Karin Volkwein |
| Journal title | International Journal of Aging and Human Development, vol 57, no 3, 2003 |
| Pages | pp 203-216 |
| Source | http://baywood.com |
| Keywords | Young adults [20-25] ; Attitudes to the old of general public ; Comparison ; United States of America ; Germany. |
| Annotation | Social and cultural attitudes toward ageing provide a framework for assessing one's own ageing experiences as well as one's attitudes towards older men and women. Ageism, or prejudicial attitudes and discriminatory practices toward older adults has been found to be widespread around the world. This study on German and American young adults' attitudes specifically evaluates similarities and differences in the anxiety associated with four measurable dimensions associated with ageism: fear of older people; psychological concerns associated with ageing; concern over changes in physical appearance as a result of ageing; and fear of losses associated with ageing. The study also evaluates the age at which young adults from Germany and the US might consider themselves to be "old". The findings indicate significant country and gender differences across the dimensions. German participants tended to view ageing much more negatively than American participants. However, Americans considered themselves as "old" at a much younger age than Germans. Gender differences indicated that women in both countries were more concerned with age-related changes in their physical appearance than were men. Results are discussed in relation to the influence of ageism and negative cultural stereotypes of ageing on people's self-image across the life-span. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-040629201 A |
| Classmark | SD6: TOB: 48: 7T: 767 |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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