Diversifying Images of Older Adults

A special issue of Social Sciences (ISSN 2076-0760).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2022) | Viewed by 4397

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Leyden Academy on Vitality and Ageing, Leiden, The Netherlands
Interests: image of older people; social networks; life satisfaction; older adults with low literacy; migration

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Leyden Academy on Vitality and Ageing, Leiden, The Netherlands
Interests: gender and ageing; loneliness; collective memory and reminiscence; meaningful ageing; intersectionality;ageism

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Many previous studies on the images of older adults have shown that older people have primarily been looked upon in accordance with two typical archetypes: either as the relatively affluent golden-ager or as the rather frail and dependent older person. These archetypes fit within a larger frame of categorizing social groups along a continuum of warmth and competence, following the stereotype content model (SCM) as proposed by Fiske et al. (2002). In public media worldwide, older people are underrepresented and presented stereotypically. Despite the ample research on images of older people, the current research is dominated by studies from the USA and UK. Furthermore, study samples are overwhelmingly based on student and general populations. 

In an effort to look at the diversity within images held, we intend to pay particular attention to the countries and subgroups that are not often included in current studies in order to expand our understanding of how older adults are viewed. For instance, we are interested in (inter)national qualitative and quantitative research detailing images of older adults, in studies presenting the views of older adults themselves, the views of older females, representatives of the LGBTQ community or various ethnic and other groups. All these groups may have different views on how older people are (re)presented and whether the dominating images of older adults do justice to the actual diversity within the groups. 

On top of this, we seek articles that shed light on factors that may influence the images held, to further understand the diversity within groups in view of older adults. This aspect of images of older adults has received relatively little attention thus far, mainly because of a predominance of larger-scale studies of an explorative nature. These studies do not address various societal roles that older adults can fulfill at the same time and the complexity of their identities shaped by the categories of difference such as sex, gender, ethnicity, SES and others. Such an intersectional lens will help us to further understand the mechanisms at play when images of older adults are shaped.

Dr. Jolanda Lindenberg
Dr. Elena Bendien
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • images of older adults
  • ageism
  • self-ageism
  • diversity

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

12 pages, 856 KiB  
Article
Ageism in Nursing Education: Students’ Views of Ageing
by Andreia Ferreri Cerqueira, Ana Lúcia Ramos and José Palma
Soc. Sci. 2023, 12(3), 142; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci12030142 - 28 Feb 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2308
Abstract
The world is ageing, families are changing, and a new view of society is needed. Since nursing students will be the health professionals caring for older adults, working with nursing students from an early stage is critical. With this study, we intend to [...] Read more.
The world is ageing, families are changing, and a new view of society is needed. Since nursing students will be the health professionals caring for older adults, working with nursing students from an early stage is critical. With this study, we intend to assess ageism levels among nursing students and analyse students’ views on ageing, improving nursing education and care for older adults, and promoting well-being in society. An exploratory mixed-methods study with first-year nursing degree students was conducted. Two instruments were used: the Fraboni Scale of Ageism and a sociodemographic questionnaire with an open question: what does ageing mean to you? Sixty-four students participated in the study. A mean total ageism score of 80.05 (SD = 12.23) was found, indicating a positive attitude towards older adults. In this study, no statistically significant relationship was found between the total score of ageism and the variables age, gender, and contact with older adults. Two visions emerged regarding the “meaning of ageing”: the subcategory “positive view”: experience and knowledge; psychological and social growth; skills development; and good feelings/emotions. The following subcategories emerged from the subcategory “negative view”: finitude; disabilities; physiological decline; and bad feelings/emotions. The results achieved allow for a more effective educational response, integrating personalised and innovative strategies in the training of nursing students. However, it is crucial to develop more studies about the educational strategies that promote a more positive view of ageing among nursing students, which may influence the way older adults are cared for in society. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Diversifying Images of Older Adults)
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20 pages, 308 KiB  
Article
Shuffling Softly, Sighing Deeply: A Digital Inquiry into Representations of Older Men and Women in Literature for Different Ages
by Lindsey Geybels
Soc. Sci. 2023, 12(3), 112; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci12030112 - 22 Feb 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1506
Abstract
When gender is brought into concerns about older people, the emphasis often lies on stereotypes connected to older women, and few comparative studies have been conducted pertaining to the representation of the intersection between older age and gender in fiction. This article argues [...] Read more.
When gender is brought into concerns about older people, the emphasis often lies on stereotypes connected to older women, and few comparative studies have been conducted pertaining to the representation of the intersection between older age and gender in fiction. This article argues that not only children’s literature, traditionally considered to be a carrier of ideology, plays a large part in the target readership’s age socialization, but so do young adult and adult fiction. In a large corpus of 41 Dutch books written for different ages, the representation of older men and women is studied through the verbs, grammatical possessions and adjectives associated with the relevant fictional characters, which were extracted from the texts through the computational method of dependency parsing. Older adult characters featured most frequently in fiction for adults, where, more so than in the books for younger readers, they are depicted as being prone to illness, experiencing the effects of a deteriorating body and having a limited social network. In the books for children, little to no association between older adulthood and mortality was found in the data. Ageist stereotypes pertaining to both genders were found throughout the corpus. In terms of characterization, male older adults are associated more with physicality, including matters of illness and mobility, while character traits and emotions show up in a more varied manner in connection to female older characters. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Diversifying Images of Older Adults)
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