Are Asian cultures really less ageist than Western ones? It depends on the questions asked

Abstract

Ageism is an increasing concern in ageing populations such as Asia and Europe. A prevalent assumption in psychology is that Eastern cultures may be less prone to ageism because of norms and values that honour and respect elders. Yet, evidence for this culture hypothesis is inconclusive. The current study examines this issue by comparing attitudes towards older people in an Eastern and Western samples of 184 young people from the UK and 249 from Taiwan. Attitudes to old age were measured both as meta‐perceptions (the perceived normative context) and personal attitudes in regard to the cognitive, affective and behavioural components of ageism. Consistent with the culture hypothesis, meta‐perceptions about competence and admiration were more positive in Taiwan than in the UK, yet other meta‐perceptions were more negative pointing to the existence of old age subtypes. Personal attitudes about older people in regard to the affective and behavioural, but not the cognitive component, were more negative in Taiwan than in the UK. Thus, cultural differences in ageism are more nuanced than suggested by previous research. The importance of distinguishing between the normative context and personal attitudes as well as the different components of ageism is highlighted by the present findings.

Nursing students’ preferences for clinical placements in the residential aged care setting

“…The key study limitation is that the student comments that comprise the data for this study are about the students’ subsequent placement preference and so cannot necessarily be equated with more general attitudes towards aged care placements and to working in this setting. The literature documents the presence of ageist attitudes within nursing (Phelan, ), and society more broadly (Levy & Macdonald, ; Vauclair et al., ), that undergraduates may also ascribe to. However, one would reasonably expect that such attitudes would not be openly expressed in the data explored.…”

“…The literature documents the presence of ageist attitudes within nursing (Phelan, 2011), and society more broadly (Levy & Macdonald, 2016;Vauclair et al, 2016), that undergraduates may also ascribe to.…”

“…Undergraduate nursing students are not immune to the commentary surrounding the aged care sector (Gould et al., ; Haron et al., ); however, there are mixed research findings around their attitudes towards aged care (Chi, Shyu, Wang, Chuang, & Chuang, ; Gould et al., ; Neville, ). It is also possible that ageist attitudes that pervade societies (Vauclair, Hanke, Huang, & Abrams, ) may also shape perceptions of the values of working with older persons, both within the aged care sector and more generally (Algoso, Peters, Ramjan, & East, ; Ben‐Harush et al., ).…”

Aging in America: Ageism and General Attitudes toward Growing Old and the Elderly

“…Interestingly, a number of studies have found that students attitudes toward the elderly is generally less positive (and more negative) in Asian societies. In their study on ageism in Asian and Western cultures, Vauclair, Hanke, Huang, and Abrams (2017) found that Taiwanese students generally held more negative perceptions and attitudes toward the elderly than students in the United Kingdom [13]. Another study with 44 Thai students and 44 American students concluded that the Thai students held more negative attitudes about elders.…”

Priming effects of age stereotypes on memory of older adults in Korea

“…Multiple studies have reported that older adults are perceived more positively in Asian countries than in Western countries (Levy & Langer, ; Ryan, Jin, & Anas, ; Yoon, Hasher, Feinberg, Rahhal, & Winocur, ). This tendency is related to the fact that Asian culture emphasizes respecting and caring for older adults under the influence of Confucianism (Vauclair, Hanke, Huang, & Abrams, ). Both Americans and Koreans respect the elderly, but the forms of respect tend to be more prominent and diverse in Korea (Sung, ).…”