Ageism toward older adults during the COVID‐19 pandemic: Intergenerational conflict and support

Abstract

A cross‐national representative survey in Canada and the U.S. examined ageism toward older individuals during the first year of the COVID‐19 pandemic, including ageist consumption stereotypes and perceptions of older people's competence and warmth. We also investigated predictors of ageism, including economic and health threat, social dominance orientation, individualism and collectivism, social distancing beliefs, and demographics. In both countries, younger adults were more likely to hold ageist consumption stereotypes, demonstrating intergenerational conflict about the resources being used by older people. Similarly, young adults provided older people with the lowest competence and warmth scores, though adults of all ages rated older individuals as more warm than competent. Particularly among younger individuals, beliefs about group‐based dominance hierarchies, the importance of competition, and the costs of social distancing predicted greater endorsement, whereas beliefs about interdependence and the importance of sacrificing for the collective good predicted lower endorsement of ageist consumption stereotypes. Support for group‐based inequality predicted lower perceived competence and warmth of older individuals, whereas beliefs about interdependence and the importance of sacrificing for the collective good predicted higher perceived competence and warmth of older individuals. Implications for policies and practices to reduce intergenerational conflict and ageist perceptions of older individuals are discussed.

Reducing ageism toward older adults and highlighting older adults as contributors during the COVID‐19 pandemic

“…Debates about whether the local, state, and the federal government should continue to risk economic hardship (e.g., layoffs, restrictions on which business could operate) with prolonged stay‐at‐home orders reinforced negative views of older adults as a burden on society (Levy & Macdonald, 2016 ; Monahan et al., 2020 ). This aligns with survey data collected during the pandemic, in which younger adults were more likely to endorse consumption‐based stereotypes suggesting that older adults used too many resources such as healthcare or were a burden than older adults (Sutter et al., 2022 ). The COVID‐19 pandemic has influenced perceptions of threat among both younger and older adults in a way that may be harmful for intergenerational cohesion.…”

“…In the past few decades, researchers, gerontologists, and public health officials have raised concerns about ageism toward older adults including rising rates of abuse (economic, physical, psychological, and sexual), discrimination (in employment and healthcare) and negative depictions of older adults (Ayalon & Tesch‐Roemer, 2018 ; Levy et al., 2020 ; Levy & Macdonald, 2016 ; Lytle et al., 2022 ; Nelson, 2016 ; Palmore, 1990 ). Older adults have often been portrayed negatively as senile, sickly, and a burden on families, healthcare, the economy, and society as a whole in countries such as Canada, China, Colombia, Israel, the United Kingdom, and the United States (Abrams et al., 2015 ; Bai et al., 2016 ; Cohn‐Schwartz & Ayalon, 2021 ; Derrer‐Merk et al., 2022 ; Levy & Apriceno, 2019 ; North & Fiske, 2013b ; Ramírez et al., 2019 ; Sutter et al., 2022 ; WHO, 2021 ).…”

“You are stealing our present”: Younger people's ageism towards older people predicts attitude towards age‐based COVID‐19 restriction measures

“…More importantly, the results confirmed our hypotheses according to which greater ageism towards older (vs. younger) individuals would increase the perceived importance and the support towards age‐based COVID‐19 isolation measures involving older (vs. younger) populations and selective lockdown because older (vs. younger) people are perceived as responsible for the severity of the already adopted COVID‐19 restriction measures. It is well‐established that when the resources are scarce, intergroup tensions might be particularly strong, strengthening prejudice and discrimination towards the outgroup(s) (e.g., Becker et al., 2011 ; Glick, 2002 ; Schlueter & Davidov, 2013 ; Stephan & Stephan, 2017 ). Within this literature, the research by Becker et al.…”

“…Albeit not directly investigated from an intergroup perspective, similarly to other forms of prejudice, ageism has been explained as the result of tension between groups (North & Fiske, 2012 ). When the resources are scarce, intergroup conflict might arise with perceived symbolic and realistic threat increasing hostility and disputes over the resources’ allocation among groups (Sherif et al., 1961 ; Stephan & Stephan, 2017 ). While realistic threats regard tangible harms (e.g., economic power and physical or material wellbeing), symbolic threats refer to intangible harms (e.g., differences in values, morality, and norms) to the ingroup (Stephan & Stephan, 2017 ).…”

“…When the resources are scarce, intergroup conflict might arise with perceived symbolic and realistic threat increasing hostility and disputes over the resources’ allocation among groups (Sherif et al., 1961 ; Stephan & Stephan, 2017 ). While realistic threats regard tangible harms (e.g., economic power and physical or material wellbeing), symbolic threats refer to intangible harms (e.g., differences in values, morality, and norms) to the ingroup (Stephan & Stephan, 2017 ). Public discourses and media portrayals that accentuate the distinctions between the groups exacerbate this conflict.…”