Ageism: The Path to Elder Abuse

January 17, 2011

By Jack Halpern

The number of Americans 60 and older is growing, but society still isn't embracing the aging population, geropsychologists say. Whether battling "old geezer" stereotypes or trying to obtain equal standing in the workplace, those who are 60 or older may all too often find themselves the victims of ageism. Fueling the problem is the media's portrayal of older adults.

At a Senate hearing last fall, experts testified before the Special Committee on Aging about the effects of age stereotypes. Doris Roberts, the Emmy-award winning actress in her seventies from the television show "Everybody Loves Raymond," also testified at the hearing.

"My peers and I are portrayed as dependent, helpless, unproductive and demanding rather than deserving," Roberts testified. "In reality, the majority of seniors are self-sufficient, middle-class consumers with more assets than most young people, and the time and talent to offer society."

The world of aging portrayed in the mass media has not traditionally been an enjoyable or positive one.

Old people today are generally not appreciated as experienced "elders" or possessors of special wisdom; they are simply seen as sometimes remaining competent enough to be included in the unitary role category of "active citizen." Old people are respected to the extent that they can behave like young people, that is, to the extent that they remain capable of working, enjoying sex, exercising and taking care of themselves.

An advertisement for a calcium dietary supplement, recently seen in numerous national magazines, depicts a woman's silhouette frame by frame as she moves rightward across a page. She is apparently aging before our eyes, growing progressively older and more stooped as she succumbs to osteoporosis. By the last frame she needs the support of a cane.

Another ad, obviously directed to the over-50 age group, pictures a stereotypical white-haired old lady leaning out of a car window and holding a glass of dark liquid. The headline reads: 'Prune Power To Go." Accompanying copy describes the virtues of a prune product in dealing with a failing digestive system.

Both ads reflect the lack of respect and fear of aging in short, the ageism typical of the media's treatment of older people. For years, advertising and entertainment media alike reflected the prevailing stereotype of seniors as bumbling, crotchety or senile. With perpetual frowns on their faces, the older people in shows and commercials lived only to criticize younger people and nurse their aches and pains.


The effects of ageism:

Not only are negative stereotypes hurtful to older people, but they may even shorten their lives, finds psychologist Becca Levy, PhD, assistant professor of public health at Yale University. In Levy's longitudinal study of 660 people 50 years and older, those with more positive self-perceptions of aging lived 7.5 years longer than those with negative self-perceptions of aging. The study appeared in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (Vol. 83, No. 2).



Abridged
SOURCE:     MyElderAdvocate


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